jamescuarterodotcom

photo by oliver j. lopena: oliverlopena.com

despite what the photo above would indicate, last night’s metric show was disappointing. while the energy and packed house was there, they played too many new songs (at one point there were three in a row) that may or may not make up the next album. there’s nothing wrong with introducing new material but they should have put a lot more thought into how the set list was arranged. also on first listen, the new tracks weren’t anything to write home about. maybe in time they will be but they were mostly in the same mid-tempo, dancey vein made famous on the last two albums, only this time around they much more straightforward and missing the hooks and weird/interesting chord resolutions and keyboard lines. metric’s still great; i am in love with james shaw’s guitar sounds, josh winstead is everything a rock bass player should be and emily haines was downright hypnotic at times. they did manage to throw a few bones to fans like “monster hospital”, “dead disco”, “handshakes” and “poster of a girl”. the crowd went nuts over those songs and then would totally die out during the next unknown number. mike noted, “wow, i’ve never seen a crowd turn like that before”. the show ended way too early as well, we were at the PATCO line with a bunch of partying commerce bank employees by 10:30. better luck next time.