REVIEW: METRIC @ House of Blues 2/13

By Damon Musso

Last Wednesday, Metric performed at The House of Blues in Boston. Watching them perform is like a watching a well-oiled machine pump equal parts adrenaline and dance rock. The lead singer of the group, Emily Haines, feels at some moments too powerful and enigmatic and at other moments she’s down to earth and approachable. She makes the transition between these two facets feel completely organic. It’s hard to take your eyes off her. She has complete control of the crowd at seemingly every moment of the show, and with her band behind her, she’s an unstoppable force.

That’s not to say the band itself wasn’t anything less than stellar. The everyone in the group is a veteran to their respected instrument, and their experience shows. James Shaw on the guitar sounds liberating and active while Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott-Key on the bass and drums respectively provide a powerful and sturdy backing throughout the majority of the songs. On multiple occasions, either Shaw, Key, or Haines would use one of the four synthesizers sitting center stage. The electronic sounds feels intrinsic with the hard sounding rock elements in a way that most bands could never think about combining so succinctly.

Their setup was sparse. On the stage was only the artists musicians and four keyboards sitting center stage. The lights, however, were hypnotizing. Metric’s backdrop was black with silver lines going parallel to each other, and with each new song they would light up and change in color and pulse. The lights complemented the sound in an incredibly integral way. The way the show felt perfectly matched how it looked.

Organic feels like the best way to describe the show. It was a great show because the performers felt at the element of being larger than life rockstars, but also people you could see yourself having a drink with after the show. Metric has been around for almost 20 years and with every new change they seem to continue to find themselves. They always sound original, and their lives show was no exception.