Metronomy – (Photo: Garret Torres for Live4ever)
Metronomy love New York and, from the look of back to back sold out shows at Irving Plaza (photo) and the Warsaw on Friday night, New York loves them right back.
Visit our full gallery of Metronomy @ Irving Plaza.
The UK outfit took to the stage at Brooklyn’s iconic Warsaw venue clad in matching white suits – indicative of the almost mechanical synchronization which would underpin the entire performance. Opener ‘Holiday‘, with Joseph Mount on bongos and lead vocals led into ‘Radio Ladio‘, both ‘Nights Out‘ singles which immediately locked in Metronomy’s groovy trance, a trance propelled by the mesmerizing, tight low-end licks of bass player Gbenga Adelekan and drummer Anna Prior.
‘Love Letters‘, the title track from the band’s most recent album, concluded a distinctly dance-heavy portion of the set, strong with on point full-band backing vocals that continued to support Mount’s easy voice throughout.
Addressing his audience for the first time, Mount professed to being humbled by the packed Brooklyn venue before him, and proceeded into the mellow pop-rock of ‘Everything Goes My Way‘, Prior taking on lead vocals and synths dropped for the more textural roles of shaker and acoustic guitar, while Mount himself pulled out a beautiful semi-hollow guitar.
‘The Look‘ had pumping red lights and mellow dance elements of two-step driving all the way to the final note, ending with a huge build into a fantastic keyboard solo. By now, the multi-instrumental capabilities demonstrated by each member had created real versatility, staying true to Metronomy’s unique sonic footprint.
‘I’m Aquarius‘ finished with Mount soloing on his own synthesizer, creating a well-layered wall of chill pads that carried into ‘Reservoir‘. From here, ‘Side 2‘ broke the mold as Anna Prior delivered some thick, heavy rock n roll drums. The super funky instrumental allowed the band to shine together as a cohesive unit under strobing lights and a near-perfect segue into ‘Corinne‘; more dancey, but still rocking and lights still strobing.
After another audience address, Mount returned to the semi-hollow body for the first real ballad of the night, ‘The Upsetter‘. With Prior on toms, Adelekan on bass and Michael Lovett moving to acoustic guitar, the track brought a welcome moment of calm, offering a reprieve from the gig’s non-stop high energy. It ended with a masterful Lovett solo, and lead unexpectedly into the jolting 4-on-the-floor qualities of ‘Boy Racers‘.
‘A Month Of Sundays‘ later brought another unexpected change of pace. It’s a powerful pop-rock track with an amazing interlude, if a little uncharacteristically heavy, but quickly remedied by ‘The Bay‘; more 4-on-the-floor erupting into an unprecedented rainbow light show, easily the most dazzling of the night.
‘Love Underlined‘ is dancefloor killer, mellow with more splashes of two-step, bringing the main set to an end before the drum loops and synth lines of ‘Some Written‘ launch a first encore with a 3/2 Clave pattern building into a dance break with a Soca feel. Finally, Metronomy then delve into the heaviest track of their set in the shape of ‘You Could Easily Have Me‘, an instrumental epic, Mount and Lovett both on guitar supporting the driving pop-rock to its very end, closing the show with a wild synth break.
Powerful from the first note to the last, Metronomy kept both high energy and their crowd locked into a tight, groovy grip. It’s all clearly very well rehearsed and, in turn, very well executed.
