After five albums and 10 years of touring, Canadian indie-rock band Metric built a worldwide following. This proved apparent during their recent stop in the Valley.
A crowd mostly in their 20s and 30s filled most of Tempe's Marquee Theater on Wednesday night to watch the indie veterans promote their most recent album, “Synthetica.”
The opening act, Half Moon Run, began the evening with a stellar performance in front of an eager crowd. Most of the younger members of the audience arrived early in order to cheer on the band's first Phoenix performance.
Metric Singer Emily Haines and guitarist James Shaw lead the quartet onto the stage shortly after 9 p.m. A series of stacked LED squares lined the rear of the stage, and a collection of lights provided aesthetics with the music.
Despite their extensive discography, the band kept to playing songs off of “Synthetica.” Most of the crowd cheered enthusiastically to the synthesized singles “Artificial Nocturne” and “Speed the Collapse.”
Given that Wednesday was the third to last stop on the bands’ tour, they seemed lethargic throughout the set. They overcompensated the tiresome set by blasting full volume and distorting vocals in hopes that louder was better.
The audience responded well to the audio, waving their arms and jumping along with Haines. The energy in the crowd remained at a constant high throughout the evening as the performance progressively quickened pace.
Metric stunned the venue through the gapless series of the final three songs, which included “Stadium Love.” Following the bold rendition of the epic single from their 2009 album “Fantasies,” a two-minute timer appeared out of the LED strips.
After the audience helped count down the final ten seconds, Haines and her crew returned with the ominous performance of “Black Sheep.” The female vocalist spent the night exploring the stage and connecting with the crowd. Aside from two monologues, one about an item thrown onstage, and another reminiscing about life on tour, she kept to her lyrics and keyboard.
The band finished with an acoustic rendition of crowd favorite “Gimme Sympathy.” Shaw’s stripped down guitar from and Haines’s clean audio provided a strong spark of the evening, and even garnered support from a choral audience. The vast improvement in the simplicity of the finale unveiled the quality that was hiding behind synthesizers, blasted amplifiers and distracting lights all evening.
In accordance with the saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” sometimes a band's biggest detriment is its desire to be overly entertaining. This predicament occurred Wednesday night when Metric's theatrics overshadowed their musicianship.
Reach the reporter at mbobman@asu.edu
