by Roy Scopazzi
This was a Metric show.
I know saying that seems odd but the way that the show was advertised was that both Broken Social Scene and Stars, both headlining acts in their own right, would share about the same about of time and feel like it would satisfy fans of each group. Individually, they can’t sell out the Masonic, but the combined fans of each act and a general smattering of millennials who vaguely remember them surely did. But alas, the set times were that Metric got 90, Broken Social Scene got 60 and Stars got the opener’s typical 30. I don’t know if they should have evenly made it 60 minutes even for each act, even if it would’ve made sense, but when a poster has all three names in the same size I expected for it to be a smidge more equitable.
There was some collaboration as Metric joined Broken Social Scene to play Anthems for a Seventeen Year‐Old Girl and both of the first 2 bands joined Metric for Loyal near the end of their set. Each band did a general assortment of songs from across each of their large catalogs, never settling into one album for too long. I felt that Metric felt the most satisfying but that probably has to do with my proclivity towards a more stripped back stage presence with Emily Haines being a powerhouse frontwoman with two other bandmates as opposed to the other two acts having upwards of 15 people on stage at a time. They also had the most energy in their lighting, a wall of lights creating silhouettes of all 4 members that simply wasn’t their for the other two.
Despite that inequity, it was a wonderful time. I’m more of a Broken Social Scene fan and would love to see them have a proper headlining set, but me and the crowd at large seems to feel All of those Feelings that this tour set out to make us Feel.
