Live review: Metric in Spirit, Dublin, 2006
And so, another member of the musical juggernaut known as Broken Social Scene came to town last night. Emily Haines and her band Metric were present for an early show in Spirit. From the moment they stepped out on stage, it was very clear the audience were there to see Ms Haines. And why not? The woman is a sprightly performer and likes to ROCK out. Case in point, the refrain of set-opener “Empty” with the lyrics “Shake your head it’s empty” she puts her hands to her hips and does exactly that, writhing to the crunch of the guitar.
They played a lot of songs from Live it Out as well as some older unreleased stuff. There was no airing of material from her debut solo album (it was hardly the right atmosphere for such dark elegies), “Monster Hospital”, “Poster of a Girl” and “The Police And The Private” were obvious highlights but it was Emily’s voice that was the real draw. She has a striking ambience to her voice that can just floor you and it is utterly captivating. If she ever comes back to tour her solo record, I’ll be there.
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the cohost of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, event curator and producer of gigs, parties & events.