Metric - Melkweg Amsterdam

Ahh Metric, metric, as any Canadian roughly the same age as me can tell you we suffer from the old cross over of Imperial and Metric from being neighbours with the US, being part of the UK commonwealth and wanting to be a modern country. Most Canadians I know will still quote height and weight in feet and pounds we drive kilometers and measure our recipes in Cups and tea spoons, but somehow this confusion and angst fits with the one the only really super cool band from... well lets just say Canada.

Their gear on stage is ridiculously Low Fi (in the coolest way possible), they use stage monitors, analogue key boards and effects and the guitarist has two Super huge Marshall Amps to feed back his super cool grungy punch pop sound back at him.

Any way you slice it though, this band rocks my socks off.. well I wasn't wearing any but if I did they would do it.

The gig started a little late but with some of the great new numbers from the new album Fantasies, when I first heard it online I was already hooked to the track Help, I'm alive but so many of the other songs are even more punchy, poppy and powered then you could ever imagine. Considering that the previous album Grow Up and Blow Away was great but much more subdued in comparison.

The average age of the audience at the Milky Way in Amsterdam was about 25 and a great deal of those were not Dutch, it was interesting to hear when I was asking some of the 'kids" around me how they came to know the band they almost all quoted Grey Anatomy.. but I guess in all fairness if it was not for 90210, The Barenaked Ladies would never have hit mainstream and if not for The OC neither would Death Cab for Cutie (who I still think are boring as frac live).

Anyway back to Metric, I saw them in Rotterdam at a similarly small venue RoTown in 2005 and loved the performance and the energy (check this blog 2005 for the entry). This gig though however, kicked some serious ass. Emily seemed more relaxed, feminine and sure of her beautiful self. What a treat to see her smile so much as well... Only one question remains, why do they not play Combat Baby? People love that song.
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. I was still so wired after the gig it took me ages to actually get to sleep, and that was also after meeting so many other Metric fans on the tram and train on the way home. Interestingly enough almost all the people we met came alone since their friends did not know the band and they loved them enough to make the effort.. right on.

All I can say it does not matter if it is feet or centimeters I still Love Metric!