In the current political and economic climate, people are increasingly looking for “Made in Canada” on the label. Well, you certainly don’t get more “proudly Canadian” than tonight’s lineup at a sold-out MTELUS!
After Toronto’s Housewife open the show, it’s local icon Sam Roberts up next, running through his iconic 2003 debut We Were Born in a Flame. I arrive about 10 minutes in (thanks, Montreal traffic), weaving my way through the already packed crowd as they bellow out the “WOAHHHH!!” outro of “Where Have All the Good People Gone?”
The 70-minute set feels like a homecoming; Sam introduces “Every Part of Me” as being “a song about growing up in the West Island.” You should see the beaming pride on my West Island wife’s face when he says that! There’s a classic line on “No Sleep” which really jumps out tonight too, when Sam declares, “Elle arrêtait le temps / Au coin de Sainte-Catherine et Saint-Laurent.” That spot is literally just a few metres from here!
Perhaps the biggest cheer of the whole set comes during the obligatory thank yous, when he thanks “all the staff at MTELUS… I still call it Metropolis!” He really is one of us!
I remember seeing Sam a couple of times back in 2004 in my native England when this record was being toured (he even bought me a drink one time!), so to hear all those songs again is awesome. There’s the chill acoustic of “Taj Mahal” and “This Wreck of a Life,” there’s the stomping rock of “Dead End” and “The Rules,” and of course, the anthemic “Brother Down”; “I think my life is passing me by” is a line that still gets me every time.
“Don’t Walk Away Eileen” gets a massive singalong too, Sam dropping off his mic entirely to let us take over vocal duties on the chorus on various occasions. The night could end here and we would go home satisfied!
Sam Roberts Setlist
- Hard Road
- Where Have All the Good People Gone?
- Taj Mahal
- Dead End
- Higher Learning
- Every Part of Me
- This Wreck of a Life
- Rarefied
- No Sleep
- The Canadian Dream
- Don’t Walk Away Eileen
- On the Run
- Brother Down
- Paranoia
But that’s not it! The other half of this co-headline is the legendary Metric, touring their stellar 2009 Fantasies record, and another hefty dose of nostalgia for this reviewer. I saw them back in October 2009 when they toured this record. In the same room. Stood in basically the same spot.
In 2009, I was with a group of friends. In 2025, one of those friends is now my wife of 12 years. So yeah, this is another set that means a lot to me, even before the band play a note.
The lights drop, and a massive screen at the back of the stage counts down from 2025 to 2009, before drummer Joules Scott-Key arrives alone to pummel the drum intro to “Help I’m Alive,” before the rest of the band join, Emily raising her fist every time her heart is “beating like a hammer.” Unlike Sam, they run through the record in order, and it’s a reminder of what an incredible record it is; no skips, that’s for sure.
Emily Haines’ voice is absolutely ageless. The frantic “Sick Muse” and sinister “Satellite Mind” showcase it perfectly. The drum machine and swirling synths of “Twilight Galaxy” set a chill tone that is promptly obliterated when the stage lights go so bright, the band appear like angels before us. A huge extended outro with drums and blaring strobes absolutely obliterates the mood of the original recorded version; it’s immense.
“Gold Guns Girls” sees Emily on electric guitar, which sounds enormous coupled with guitarist James Shaw’s frantic guitar solo outro… but not as enormous as the euphoric “Gimme Sympathy,” which follows. The stirring verse elicits a huge singalong, building and building into that euphoric chorus that gets the floor bouncing.
After “Collect Call” and “Front Row,” Emily also has a throwback moment: “It’s a trip, it’s a trip, METROPOLIS!” Cue more roars from the locals!
After the explosive “Blindness,” “Stadium Love” closes out the album in thunderous manner, arms swaying and a chunk of the floor bouncing (myself included). What a record…
The band freeze momentarily and then take off through a whistlestop tour of the rest of their stellar catalogue to close out the night. The squelchy synths of “Dreams So Real” lead into Emily’s creepy vocal, harmonizing with a whisper-distorted version of her own voice, and it’s a moment of calm before the churning bass and drums of “Youth Without Youth” ignite. James and bassist Joshua Winstead provide the distorted whisper vocal harmonies this time.
The section of the song where Emily beckons, “On the count of three / Jump with me on the count of three / One two one two three go!” always sounds kinda weird when you’re listening in the car or at your desk, but when it’s commanded live, it works amazingly—the whole floor bouncing in sync on Emily’s signal.
Without missing a beat, the song then cuts seamlessly into the timeless “Dead Disco,” from their impeccable 2003 debut, and the place goes even more crazy—though it’s in a truncated form, cutting out before the second chorus into the equally amazing “Monster Hospital,” from the sophomore 2005 Live It Out record. Man, if they ever tour either of those two records in full, I am SO there…
After an enormous “All Comes Crashing,” Emily, James, and Joshua all play synths on the First Wave-y “Now or Never Now,” before taking the tone down even further on a mellow rearrangement of “Breathing Underwater,” which starts with just Emily and James before Joules’ soft drums and Joshua’s keys rejoin the party.
A storming “Black Sheep” closes out a memorable 90 minutes with one final floor bounce and caps off a phenomenal night all around. Expect to see this one in my Top 5 of the year come December time! Just wow.
Metric Setlist
- Help I’m Alive
- Sick Muse
- Satellite Mind
- Twilight Galaxy
- Gold Guns Girls
- Gimme Sympathy
- Collect Call
- Front Row
- Blindness
- Stadium Love
- Dreams So Real
- Youth Without Youth
- Dead Disco
- Monster Hospital
- All Comes Crashing
- Now or Never Now
- Breathing Underwater
- Black Sheep
Review – Simon Williams
Photos – Ryan Rumpel
