By Brooke Martin

Artist:  Metric

Date / Venue:  Saturday December 14th, The Powerstation, Auckland

It was to be my last concert for the working year. Canadian "synth poppers" Metric were in town for oneNew Zealand performance only, and their show at Auckland's Powerstation was following a highly rated tour of Australia. Metric have a dedicated and loyal following and it would seem that they couldn't have graced our shores soon enough.

Formed in 1998 Metric have five albums under their belt, with their most recent offering 2012's 'Synthetica'winning three categories at this year's Canadian Juno Awards (Producer of the Year, Album of the Year andRecording Package of the Year). All signs were pointing to us being in for a treat!

Fronted by the delicious Emily Haines, Metric launched into the show starting with the hauntingly beautiful'Nothing But Time' before heading into 'Youth Without Youth' and 'Speed The Collapse' (all taken from Synthetica).

Watching the band on stage it became strikingly obvious that was where they genuinely enjoyed being with a fantastic display of stage presence. Guitarist James Shaw, Joshua Winstead on bass and Joules Scott-Keysolid on the drums, provided a near perfect backdrop to give Haines the freedom to own the stage.

Metric ran through the list of their best hits from all of their albums... the best of the best.  A superb performance of 'The Police and the Private' and 'Glass Ceiling' were arguably the highlight for me but the final number, a rousing acoustic performance of 'Gimme Sympathy' finished the night perfectly on the same high note that we came in on.

It's never an easy task to perform a show a week or so before Christmas, especially on a weekend where parties galore seemed to be on.  But Metric were pure class and certainly brought it all to New Zealand... their last show of the year after a long tour.  Come back again soon Metric, we'll be here!

Setlist

Nothing But Time
Youth Without Youth
Speed The Collapse
Dreams
Empty
Help, I'm Alive
Love Is A Place
Synthetica
Clone
Breathing Underwater
Sick Muse
Dead Disco
Stadium Love

Encore -

Black Sheep
The Police And The Private
Glass Ceiling
Gold Guns Girls
Always On My Mind
Gimme Sympathy