Canadian alt rockers Metric are no strangers to Kansas City, but the popular band has mostly performed as an opening act for Kansas City shows. Finally, the band was playing the city in a much deserved headlining spot and the difference in this performance compared to the other ones in the last few years was astounding. This was Metric’s best Kansas City performance to date.

I hate to claim that Emily Haines’ past Kansas City performances weren’t her at 100%, but if they were, then this show was her at 120%. The frontwoman was a dancing machine and embraced the audience more than I’ve ever seen her do. She fiercely played the keyboards then jumped away from her instrument in this little stomp-strut dance move. Her bandmates also had an added energy that not only made them more entertaining to watch, but it made their sound a lot tighter and better too.

It helped that as a headlining band, the group was able to run their own light show. The strobes and occasional fog were nice additions to their club-ready dance tunes. It really just seemed like everything just clicked for this performance and I think the audience knew it – the reception here was 1000 times better than Metric’s June visit and it made for a more fun show all around. Everyone was jumping, dancing and waving their arms around.

Again, it’s not to say Metric wasn’t enjoyable in June or other KC visits, but they just seemed to really excel when in control of the tour and being able to enjoy a full, rich set that a headlining spot allows. I hope this means that we’ll get more of these headlining shows rather than Metric falling back into 5-song sets at radio shows. After the high bar set from this performance, it would be hard to settle for anything less.

Check out the set list and photos from the show below:

Set List
Nocturne
Youth
Speed (with Outro)
Dreams
Kitten
Empty
Help
Synthetica
Clone
Breathing
Sick
Dead
Stadium
//
Monster
Gold Guns Girls
Gimme