Metric @ La Zona Rosa (12/1)

A sold out show at La Zona Rosa indicated that Metric has finally reached a point in their careers where  you couldn’t argue with their growing popularity.  Fresh on the heels of the release of their latest album, Fantasies, the group came to Austin with the intention of showing just why you love them so much.  Follow the jump for full review and some fancy photos.

Opening band Band Of Skulls wasn’t too much to shake a fist at.  Sure, their Zepplin meets Silversun Pickups sound was interesting enough, but as they rocked on past the thirty minute mark, you could tell that the interest began to wane, and the crowd grew anxious for the main course of the evening.

Metric bounced out on the stage, coming off more like a mature rock band than I’ve ever seen them before.  Long ago, in 2004, they were just a band in a small club with a solid set of songs and a sultry singer.  No more.  The second track of the evening was “Help, I’m Alive” which may seem odd to open with one of your biggest hits, but it shows that Metric are not a band to rest on their laurels; it also shows that their underrated catalog is chock full of hits.

They rocked through the evening, belting out a combination of hits, most of which came from their latter two albums, Live It Out and Fantasies. Some of the more electric moments came via “Gold Gun Girls” and “Gimme Sympathy,” but the crowd seemed to enjoy the sing-along moments of the chorus in “Stadium Love.” Still, there were some minor, and I do mean minor, complaints to toss out.

You could tell that backing tracks were being used, far too frequently for my liking, though I suppose as you try to reproduce a more mature album, it takes more to get that across in the live performance.  It all added up to a set that seemed much more business like and professional than what I remembered, as the band barely addressed the audience until the end of the set…though they were most gracious in the closing moments of the evening.

And you can’t go to a Metric show without commenting on the performance of Emily Haines.  Yes, she’s beautiful, but what makes the show is her endless amounts of energy, bouncing and rocking across the stage.  In her silver sequined dress, she bore a striking resemblance to the Joan of Arc characater in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  May seem odd to some, but if you ask me, it was both endearing and sexy as all get out.

And to close the night off, Jimmy Shaw and Emily took to the stage to play an acoustic rendition of “Combat Baby” which seemed to win us all over, though they left out some significant tunes from Old World Underground; it still ended up the night as we wanted it: us and our favorite band.

Many thanks to Eric Uhlir for the great photography. Be sure and visit Eric on Flickr.