A Funkaoshi Production

Metric @ The Phoenix

   1 October 2005, early evening

I suppose at this point in time it is pretty cliché to have a crush on Emily Haines. Nevertheless, there is definitely something about her. The Metric concert at the Pheonix tonight was amazing.

Dave and I arrived around at the Phoenix 8:00, after having dinner with Carvill at Salad King. (Salad King is a crazy zoo of a Thai restaurant.) The bouncer at the Phoenix thought my K1000 was too professional a camera, and was not going to let me into the club with it. After a short conversation (“I’m not a professional photographer” “This camera looks professional” “Its not” “Yes it is, it’s got a professional lens” “That’s not a professional lens” “Yes it is” “No it’s not” “Yes, it is” “No” “Do you have a flash?” “No” “Ok, you can go in this time”) he let Dave and I in.

There were two opening acts, the first band’s name escapes me, but they were quite good. Hopefully Dave remembers their name. The second band was Jason Collet. My friend Matt passed on his album to me a little while back. His set was good, but it seemed a bit out of place at the Metric show. He’s a little too mellow I would say. He has a nice voice. The horns section from the Stars were on hand playing horns for him. Amy Millan sang back-up for a couple songs. I was impressed with both opening acts.

Metric came on shortly after Jason Collet wrapped things up. They opened with a new track, which was excellent. Midway through the song, I realized Emily Haines was particularly attractive. Her hair is longer than I had remembered it being. She wore a black dress that stopped just above her knees. She would place her hands on her hips and sort of shake from left to right during the song’s chorus. Near the end of the song, where it picked up in volume, she started kicking her knees up cabaret style. The girls standing next to Dave and I started cat-calling the moment the song ended.

Metric played a long set. The encore was probably a good half an hour or so in length. Most of the songs they played were from their new album, but a good number were from the old. They didn’t play their big single I.O.U., but played a lot of the other songs I liked on their first album. (You can download their first album from their web site for free it seems.)

Metric put on a really good show. The whole band is really amazing, but it was definitely the front-woman Emily Haines that stood out at the concert. The new CD sounds like it will be quite good.

Note: Ramanan Sivaranjan likes Shima Mirkarimi much more than Emily Haines.

Music | Life