[NXNE] Eternal Summers @ Drake Hotel – June 13, 2012

Although there isn’t much information on the Blogspot curated by Eternal Summers, a post put up on April 25th says everything you need to know about the band in only five words (and a lot of exclamation points). “One of my fave songs!!!”

The video posted underneath was a live video for Grinding Halt by The Cure, and as soon as Eternal Summers broke into their first song Wednesday night at the Drake it was clear that they wear their influences on their sleeves.

Hailing from Roanoke Virginia, Eternal Summers took this sound and ran with it. Borrowing from The Cure’s trademark flanged guitar tone, but speeding it up to a cheetah’s pace. Their set was relentlessly energetic from start to finish, and even with a new touring bass player, they didn’t miss a beat.

Although the majority of people in attendance may have been there for other bands, Eternal Summers certainly managed to steal a few fans. If the lineup for vinyl after their set was any indication, this may not be the last time we see them make a stop in Toronto.

[NXNE] Beliefs @ Drake Hotel – June 13, 2012

Toronto shoe-gaze revivalists Beliefs seem to subscribe to the My Bloody Valentine school of thought. Sway gently on stage, bare your soul while holding your offset waist guitar of choice. The more washy and reverberant the chords are, the more they’ll hide their otherwise ethereal melodies. After all, nobody in the crowd should actually hear what you’re playing. That wouldn’t be cool. It’s a model that works well, and Beliefs are good enough to pull it off.

With no formal releases to their name and only a two recorded songs to whet my palate, it was hard to know what to expect while entering the Drake Hotel’s Underground venue. Warming up a crowd of eager show goers that arrived early enough to ensure a good view of Porcelain Raft, their forty-five minute set was enough to get me excited about Toronto music again and justify my decision to avoid having poutine for the second time this week.

What started as serene took a turn to raucous as the set progressed. Closing with “Gallows Bird”, a seven minute long cut that goes from their quietest point to their loudest. Ending with all three guitars droning on the same two chords, with enough added reverberation to make the whole set seemingly fade into oblivion.

Metric @ The Opera House – June 12, 2012

An eager and lively crowd gathered at The Opera House last night to witness Metric’s new album, Synthetica, come to life. As the release party for the record, Metric of course played nearly the entire album (save for “The Wanderlust”, and “The Void” which was crossed off the set-list) and also threw in some surprise classics that had been dropped from recent shows.

Enigmatic front-woman, Emily Haines, marched onto the stage, immediately entrancing the audience with her powerful stage presence and always interesting sense of style (which consisted of a black leather vest, sparkling sequined shorts and red suede booties with a gold heel).

Without giving more than a quick wave and smile to the audience, Haines burst into their atmospheric new track, “Artificial Norcturne”, which opens with the brash line “I’m just as fucked up as they say,” and got the crowd swinging their fists and chanting in unison within seconds. The song’s building energy segued seamlessly into lead-single, “Youth Without Youth”, which surely works much better on stage than it does on radio.

After playing the up-beat yet melancholy track, “Speed The Collapse”, Haines jokingly lamented the song for being too sad and wordy. They then began the equally sad, and much more confessional track, “Dreams So Real”, which could’ve turned into an epic sing-along of the coda “I’ll shut up and carry on, a scream becomes a yawn” had Haines actually sung that part.

Brightening up the mood was new fan-favourite track, “Lost Kitten” – which Haines sung most of to guitarist Jimmy Shaw – and sounded as good, if not better, than the studio version. Surely the “hooker” line in Lost Kitten had some kind of connection to the hooker-themed Metric classic, “Hustle Rose”, which was played next. The fans joined in on Haines’ signature moves during the song’s intro and were excited to hear such a great song pulled out of the bag.

Another epic of a song – which received screams of recognition as soon as the guitar started – was “Empty” from Metric’s 2005 album, Live It Out. The song was as loud and boisterous as ever and found Haines showcasing another one of her signature head-shaking moves during the song’s chorus. Both “Empty” and “Dead Disco” featured characteristically drawn-out breakdown sections where Shaw exercised his guitar skills and Josh and Joules held down the rhythm.

But it wasn’t until “Gold Guns Girls” that Haines showed off her own guitar prowess, striking chords at pivotal moments and providing Shaw with a back-drop for another epic solo. After ripping through the bouncy Fantasies-closer, “Stadium Love”, the band returned for a three-song encore. As the lights went down and a 30 second countdown flashed on the screen while the crowd cheered for more. Thankfully they didn’t make us wait long.

Their first song of the encore was “Help, I’m Alive” and second was “Monster Hospital” (sadly missing the amazing “bam-chicka-bam” intro), which momentarily revived the rebellious, trouble-maker snare of Live It Out, before calming things down for an acoustic rendition of their “massive fucking hit”, “Gimme Sympathy”. Haines dedicated the song to all the moms out there and even got a little teary-eyed as she spoke about the family members who came to support (among them were the Shaws, the Haines, and even Amy Millan’s mother).

With screams, laughs, and proclamations of love coming from all ends of the venue, Haines gleefully said “I just can’t play music and not feel anything.” And from the looks of it, the audience couldn’t help but feel the same way.

Metric @ Sugar Beach – June 11, 2012