Metric + Broken Social Scene + Stars @ Place Bell▪

It’s a lineup of Canadian Alt Royalty at Place Bell tonight, as the “All The Feelings” tour which has rolled across North America since early June reaches its grand finale at Place Bell. It’s probably one of the best-value tickets in the history of live music. A little research on setlist.fm tells you to expect 40 minutes of Stars, 60 minutes of Broken Social Scene, and 90 minutes of Metric. And yet, around supper time, you could scoop a ticket on the Resale sites for around $10 USD. How could any self-respecting Canadian music lover not be here tonight?!

Stars

Torquil Campbell seems to be almost joking around as he arrives on stage to announce “we’re Stars from Montreal, thanks for coming early!” As if anyone who made it through the Wednesday rush hour traffic to be here for 7pm doesn’t know who they are! Their sound has always been a dreamy one, and it resonates true to form across the relatively intimate confines of Place Bell (which is in its half-size configuration tonight). Elevator Love Letter is as resplendent as always, as is Take Me to the Riot, Torquil’s harmonies with Amy Millan absolutely flawless.

Dead Hearts is introduced with a tearful tribute to the late, great Montreal music photographer Susan Moss, who passed away last month. Amy encourages the crowd to raise fists to the sky in tribute, until Torquil notes that Susan would have been more likely to raise a middle finger. Fists turn to fingers for a few touching moments; there’s not a dry eye in the house. Rest In Power, Susan.

The first of the show’s many guest appearances arrives with Broken Social Scene’s Andrew Whiteman adding guitar layers on The Theory of Relativity, which sounds wonderful, before Torquil dedicates Trap Door “for the 465 people on the guest list tonight, we love you!” Probably not an exaggeration; I’m pretty sure I saw the bassist of Ribbon Skirt picking up their ticket at the box office right before me! The iconic Your Ex-Lover Is Dead closes out a masterful set.

Stars Setlist

Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It
Build a Fire
Elevator Love Letter
Take Me to the Riot
Dead Hearts
The Theory of Relativity
Trap Door
Ageless Beauty
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

When watching Broken Social Scene, beyond frontman Kevin Drew, it’s hard to figure out exactly who is in the band, and who is a guest; the stage is basically a revolving door of musicians. The set starts off with the classic Cause = Time, that squealing riff sounding just as perfect live as on record, and is swiftly followed by 7/4 (Shoreline), which sees Amy Millan arrive on stage, where she remains for the rest of the set. A brass section arrives too; I think I count 15 people on stage already!

Hug of Thunder continues the improv jam session vibe, with Hannah Georgas and Jill Harris joining Amy for a triple harmony vocal under a bright spotlight at centre stage; sounds majestic, for sure, but visually, it kinda reminds me of that scene with Wilson Phillips at the end of the movie Bridesmaids! Jimmy Shaw from Metric guests on Sweetest Kill, busting out a huge solo midway through, and Emily Haines is out for her lead on Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, which sounds ghostly wonderful in conjunction with Amy, Jill, and Hannah. The slow-fast-slow-fast KC Accidental ends the hour triumphantly.

Broken Social Scene Setlist

Cause = Time
7/4 (Shoreline)
Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)
Paying for Your Love
Hug of Thunder
Sweetest Kill
Fire Eye’d Boy
The Call
Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Parking Lot Dreams
KC Accidental

Metric

Metric’s last show in Montreal was a triumphant celebration of their Fantasies record at MTelus last year, so it seems that celebratory shows are par for the course for them these days. The set draws heavily from new record Romanticize The Drive, and kicks off with new song Victim of Luck, which feels almost stadium-anthem already thanks to an enormous light scaffold at the back of the stage. Oh Please sounds good too, but it feels weird watching Metric sat on my butt. Of course, if you’re gonna stand, you need everyone behind you to do the same…but they seem content to sit and nod. Fair enough. I notice 3 empty rows in the block next to me where the dancers of the crowd seem to be assembling to jump around a little; sign me up! I head over that way during the churning Youth Without Youth, joining the dancing crazies, and continue through Monster Hospital, which is, unsurprisingly, a monster. Yep, I’m staying here I think!

The deliciously synth Crush Forever is followed by Antigravity, which sees the band turned into sound wave outlines on the big back screen, before the Broken Social Scene vibe returns, with Amy Millan joining Emily on Breathing Underwater, and then Jill Harris duetting on Dressed to Suppress, which sounds ultra-sultry under dim red lights. BSS’s Sam Goldberg arrives to strum the acoustic parts of Gold Guns Girls, and then another ruck of BSS members join stage left for Loyal, including a few of their kids. It typifies the feel of the whole show; a group of friends hanging out, having fun, making music… and we are lucky enough to listen in.

The set ends strongly, with the euphoric Gimme Sympathy getting the floor bouncing, followed by the mammoth Combat Baby, the only survivor from the iconic Old World Underground debut record in the set tonight. An encore of Help I’m Alive and the colossal Black Sheep is about as perfect as an encore can be, and makes sure that we do indeed leave Place Bell with “All the Feelings” of a perfect night out.