By Jessica Ford

Last Thursday night, a lucky few who thoughtfully pre-ordered Metric’s new album filed into a secret show on Queen Street West to get an early taste of what they invested their dollars in. The event’s details, aimed to promote the April 7 release of their latest album Fantasies, was kept under wraps until hours before doors opened, but the late notice didn’t prevent the house from filling up with around 150 fans who were willing to cancel their evening plans. The deceptively named Great Hall was actually quite small for the figurative size of the band, but perfect to set the cool, secret vibe of the exclusive show.

Metric took the stage around 9:30 p.m., with lead chanteuse Emily Haines in a bold but predictably “her” metallic mini. The set was a solid balance of both old hits and future old hits from the new album. They started with “Stadium Love,” which pits all of Noah’s creatures against each other in a lyrical cage fight; its catchy repetitiveness made it easy for the crowd to sing along, despite being a relatively new release. Emily addressed the appreciative crowd and said, “It’s nice to be home. I can walk home from here” (write that in your notebooks, Emily stalkers). Their latest single “Gimme Sympathy” posed the eternal freshman dormitory debate, “Who would you rather be: the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?” With her on-stage antics more reminiscent of Jagger, Emily illustrated her preference by leaning into the grasping hands of the front row.

Bass player Josh Winstead conducted the crowd through “Poster of a Girl” and “Combat Baby,” clearly confident that this was an audience of die-hards who knew every word. After the band left the stage, the crowd barely got five chants of “Metric!” in before the band came back for an encore, closing the show with the up-beat rock favourite “Monster Hospital” and the mellow and melodious “Live it Out,” during which some felt obliged to whip out their lighters, or their lighter iPhone app.
All photos by Jessica Olga.