Saturday, July 15, 2006

Metric Concert

Last night I headed out to my one and only Ottawa Bluesfest show to see Metric. I was supposed to go with my boy Boris, but he had to bail due to health reasons so I headed down by my lonesome. The show was scheduled for 9, but I went down around 7 to check out some of the other talent.

I planned to go see the opening acts for Metric, but I got distracted by Danny Michel who was playing on the 'Blues Til Dusk' stage. He was putting on a solid rock & roll performance with a good mix of country and blues thrown in. The band did a great cover of No Doubt's 'Running'. However you want to describe it, I was entertained and actually missed the beginning of the Metric concert to see the end of this guy's show. I listened to a bit of his music on his website this morning, and it doesn't really convey the spirit and energy he put into his live show unfortunately, but then again that's pretty common for most bands who put on a good live show.

When I see a concert, I look for a number of things to define whether or not I enjoy it. 1) They must actually sing on stage 2) They must put a lot of heart into their performance. Metric delivered on both of these requirements and then some. The lead singer, Emily Haines, on whom I focused for much of the night, was a sweaty mess after giving it her all for over an hour on stage. I had heard tales of her energetic performances, and at first was surprised that she was relatively calm on stage, but as the show went on and the energy of the crowd picked up she did too and really got into the performance. Not to take away from the rest of the band though, who also gave it their all, most notably the lead guitarist Jimmy Shaw. Metric's one of my current favourite bands and I highly recommend checking out their live show if you ever get the chance.

The big headliner for the night was Rihanna, so on my way out I walked past her stage out of curiosity. 'Luckily', I managed to catch her encore performance of her big hit S.O.S. After about 1 minute of that popcorn lipsynced performance I bailed out of there to catch a bus home before the crowds. On my way out I ran into Freddy Bricks (pictured below*), an old acquantance and the world's #1 Rihanna fan apparently. I said my hellos and got the hell out of there.

* Not a photo from last night.
Posted by WRMB :: 10:21 AM :: 4 comments

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