Post by incoasterble on Jul 15, 2012 17:07:59 GMT
Metric - The Ritz Manchester - 7-Jul-12
I celebrated my 'Half-Birthday' by going to see my favourite new wave/rock band Metric play last Saturday, and I had a truly fantastic time (not something I wanted to mention just after Juanita got robbed though). They were mindblowing.
The evening started out on the right foot with support from Kyla La Grange, who's definately on the 'good' side of the folk-rock thing & well worth checking out. It's the second time I've seen her and I think she's much better suited to a big stage than some pokey packed out pub in Camden...
Metric played a set heavily based on their new album Synthetica (including all but one of it's songs in fact) alongside 5 or 6 old favourites; bold but something which makes a lot of sense once you see them - it's a very strong album and another leap up for an already brilliant band. They pull off all the electronica, synths and guitar reverb impeccably live, but they also really know how to rock. Emily Haines is some frontwoman, she performs with so much energy and style, and really works the crowd; honestly I've never found it so hard to believe a band actually do the same thing night after night after night. They also have a stunning light show, even the drum kit had lights in it!
Highlights for me were the hard hitting, rocked up take on Dead Disco (one of my favourite songs of all time) which gave it a whole new depth and character, and also their close with an acoustic version of 'Gimme Sympathy' which touched me so deeply I was holding back tears. When she thanked the crowd saying 'Thank God there are cities like Manchester, it keeps a girls soul alive' I thought she meant it by the look on her face.
On a different topic, another special thing about Metric is their approach to the record industry - like Blood Red Shoes they self-manage through their company Metric Music International and handle everything themselves, only dealing out distribution rights to record companies. They believe giving is the best way of getting; and as such you can stream all the tracks from Synthetica with official lyric videos they've uploaded onto youtube here. Certainly this worked on me, I had no hesitations about buying their CD.
All in all a really inspiring & passionate band, who's deep, emotive music I grow ever fonder of.
