The Nashville Music Renaissance: Part Two

Metric
Thursday Night, October 13th
Exit/In

As Jamye and I sat with our friends Brian and Mark at the Corner Pub in Green Hills on the night in question, the discussion turned to this show. I had written it down on a post-it at work and my calendar at home along with another, earlier show a couple of months before as a reminder to seriously consider thinking about possibly going... maybe.

The first show was on September 21st, and I was still upset about forgetting it despite my best efforts to remember to at least mull it over. It was especially troubling because the band in question, Jump (formerly Jump Little Children) had already announced their intent to stop touring indefinitely, and I had heard that their last Nashville show was amazing. Thankfully, they have since announced one more Nashville date on December 4th at 3rd and Lindsley. Jamye and I haven't been there in a good long while, so we'll probably go.

Anyway, I was bound and determined not to miss Metric too. Along with several other bands of this millennium (such as Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, The Bravery and Stellastarr to name a few), Metric has embraced the styles (if not the spirits) of New Wave Music, a label used to classify a wide range of divergent but equally experimental bands during the late 70's and early 80's. Let's just say I was in a nostalgic mood.

After our dinner/drinks companions wussed out and went home, Jamye and I headed down to Elliston Place. Even with the late hour (10:30-ish?) the band had yet to hit the stage. When they finally appeared around 11:00, Metric, channeling Blondie, Devo, The Police and New Order, proceeded to play non-stop and without banter until they had left and returned to the stage for their encore. During the encore set, the lead singer, Emily Haines, who had previously displayed some endearingly (and possibly inadvertently) geeky dance moves to accompany her strong vocals, left the stage for a short bout of crowd surfing. I was not aware that such things still happened, and to be honest, it seemed like the only clichéd moment in an otherwise excellent show.

Perhaps as a testiment to the forgettable nature of many live shows, we were (and still are) hard-pressed to remember our last visit to the Exit/In, which had changed little since the last time we were there (whenever that was), but I'm sure we'll remember this one for some time.

Look for Part Three soon.

"What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9