Emily Haines rocks - and as my concert companion frequently states when we’re on the topic - “she’s hot” too. As lead singer of Metric , she has a stage presence that is almost evokes a rock goddess of the cailbre of Kim Gordon - which is saying a hell of a lot. She can rock, she exudes strength and she’s got a great voice.

Metric played the Commodore last night with opening acts Islands and Vancouver’s Panurge. Islands were so adorably cute - the kind of band that makes the audience smile widely. I’ve already downloaded most of their CD this morning I was so impressed.

Panurge on the other hand, was weak. The first couple songs were interesting, but then we became more focussed on their complete lack of stage presence and lack of cohesion in their image and dress - not only was there instrument switching going on, but also stage position exchanges. Opening for the high voltage Metric they had very little energy themselves. And the sound and look were chaotic. I know it’s a shallow review, but they were so lacking in image that we forgot about their music.

And Islands, who have really nailed down their look, sound and worked well together on stage totally showed them up.

I haven’t had a lot of time with the general public lately so it’s was fascinating to people watch. Metric played three shows in Vancouver in two days so we figured last nights show got a good chunk of folks in from the suburbs for the night. The best floorshow was the girl trying so desperately to get her boyfriends attention that she was doing backbends and dance kicks. A bit odd for a concert. And he never did seem to notice, but everyone around her did. Train wreck I could not keep my eyes off.

Overall, great evening out (hear that Mr. Bails-on-everything?).