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TORONTO - According to guitarist Jimmy Shaw, Toronto-based band Metric, part of Broken Social Scene’s indie rock darling collective, spent a lot of time talking about what kind of festival they would put together if they had the chance.
Well, they got the chance.
The result? A three-day travelling festival called Salad Days/Dog Day Afternoon, with scheduled stops in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.
The Toronto stop went off without a hitch at the gem that is Historic Fort York this past Saturday.
But the band has posted a notice on their website saying the Montreal stop, originally slated for today, has been cancelled and that ticketholders can get a refund or redeem their ticket for admittance to the city’s Osheaga Festival in September.
Metric handpicked the remainder of the festival’s lineup, a Canadian and American indie-rock split that included The Fiery Furnaces, The Secret Machines, Electric Six, Holy F---, Wintersleep and Land Of Talk.
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The band, with the help of local do-good promoters Adam Gill and Ewan Exall, also put their efforts into ensuring the event was kept as grassroots as possible, turning away brand-name sponsors to maintain the indie arts spirit. They kept the food prices reasonable (again, staying away from commercial vendors, opting instead for catering from local Queen West diner Shanghai Cowgirl) and invited Toronto-based merchants to set up booths.
The vendor village was sparse, but the music and atmosphere outside Historic Fort York, a grassy nook nestled just north of the Gardiner, was top notch.
Texas rockers The Secret Machines, surprisingly full-sounding for a three-piece, pummelled out an impressive set of sprawling, electro-rock numbers, heavy on the drawn-out Bowie-esque vocals.
Brooklyn’s brother/sister experimental rock team Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, of The Fiery Furnaces, thanked those in the audience who came out to their stop at Lee’s palace last October. All eyes and ears were on Eleanor and her flawless, high-energy vocal performance, markedly at her best during Single Again and Benton Harbor Blues.
It was, however, Metric’s Emily Haines who stole the show.
Hitting the small stage at 9:15 p.m. in a wash of violet light and against the brilliant Toronto skyline backdrop, it was Metric — with guitarist Jimmy Shaw, bassist Josh Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key — who got the lazy festival crowd up off the grass and moving.
The audience roared for the first time all day during the group’s standard opener, I.O.U., and continued roaring through the majority of the dance-rock quartet’s set, which included crowd favourites Succexy, Combat Baby, Hustle Rose and Dead Disco (all from 2003’s Old World Underground: Where Are You Now?), plus new tracks from their latest album, Live It Out, including Patriarch On A Vespa, Poster Of A Girl and Monster Hospital.
It’s clear that touring has helped the band build up quite a strong handle on their unique brand of poppy, ’80s-influenced indie new wave.
The petite Haines, in a white sleeveless top and miniskirt, was just as charismatic as ever as she herked and jerked around the stage with the look of a toy soldier who just found her dancing legs.
She doesn’t say much, but she did make sure to announce her enthusiasm about their festival.
“We’re so excited about this festival,” said Haines. “We’re really excited about debunking the myth about humans that they only like one kind of thing or the bulls--- that’s marketed to them. But we like all kinds of things and all kinds of music!”
Given the crowd’s response, Metric’s first festival was a success. And considering the standard $60 price tag on summer concert festivals, the $40 Salad Days/Dog Day Afternoon ticket was well worth the price. Let’s hope they do it again next year.