Metric kicked off the U.S. leg of their tour in Seattle last night, and fans weren’t shy about snatching up tickets. A couple feet away from a sold out sign on the door was another that said ” Attention: Strobe lights will be used in tonight’s performance”. Thanks for the disclaimer. Metric’s front woman, Emily Haines surprised me when she came on stage in an golden bedazzled outfit that look eerily like something I’d see at Le Frock. Her hair could have used a couple brush strokes or ten, but by the end the night it was drenched with sweat and oddly sexy. Despite the various artists that she remind me of I struggled to place her vocals somewhere between the new wave rock of Blondie, and the glam-pop of the Ting Tings. Metric makes the kind of emotionally charged music that clearly distinguishes the break-up songs from the make-up songs, and the entire time you are just along for the ride. There were only a couple songs from their new album, Fantasies, that didn’t have a synth-inspired electro club beat underneath. I closed my eyes at one point when Haines was talking to the crowd, and I could have sworn that Tara Reid had showed up and stolen the mic.

Metric’s set was nearly an hour and half, and you would have had to be blind to miss all the fun they were having on stage. Haines jumped from mic to keyboard, and back again, and by the third song, I could see guitarist Jimmy Shaw and bassists Josh Winstead already starting to sweat. Haines dedicated a song to Seattle and Bear Creek, a musicians’ hideaway in Redmond where most of Fantasies’ intoxicating songs were written. Last night’s performance was a testament to perseverance, and another good excuse to finally convert to the metric system.