PHOENIX — It’s always interesting how tours come together. By and large, most tours have a similar structure: interesting newcomer, established second band, and the headliner, with the lineup usually put together by the headliner’s management and approved by the headliner. What made Metric’s “All The Feelings Tour,” with support from Broken Social Scene and Stars, special was that it was put together by Metric and based on two things: long-standing friendship and Canadian indie-rock history, but mostly friendship. All three bands hail from Toronto and have spent decades as friends, collaborators, tourmates, and guests on one another’s albums. Their show at Arizona Financial Theatre was as much about community, friendship, and love as it was about the music.
Stars
Toronto-born and Montreal-formed band Stars opened the show with their beautiful brand of eloquent indie pop. Their set pulled from seven of their nine albums, but more importantly, it set the tone of fun and community for the night. Opening with “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It,” the band immediately established the themes that would define the evening: connection, compassion, and finding joy together.

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Stars delivered a set that felt both intimate and celebratory, moving from the soaring “Build a Fire” and “Elevator Love Letter” to some fan favorites like like “Take Me to the Riot” from In Our Bedroom After the War and “Dead Hearts” from the fantastic The Five Ghosts album. At one point in the set, singer Torquil Campbell joked about performing Shakespearean monologues to kill time, adding a sense of warmth and playfulness that made us feel like part of a gathering of friends rather than the audience at a large concert.

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What has always made Stars special was on full display in the co-lead vocals of Campbell and Amy Millan. The two have a magic that manifests lush harmonies as their voices merge as one, creating songs that feel deeply personal while somehow belonging to everyone in the room. That shared emotional space was especially on the night’s standout performances of “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” and “Ageless Beauty,” songs that remain as moving now as when they were first released on their 2004 masterpiece Set Yourself on Fire.

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Stars closed out their set with the joyous “No One is Lost,” complete with its call to the crowd to “Put your hands up if you ever feel afraid, yeah/Until then, that will listen/No one is lost.” On this night, certainly, no one was lost because we had the music and we had each other.
Broken Social Scene
“Well, it only took us 26 years to finally get to Phoenix,” Broken Social Scene singer Kevin Drew said, opening the band’s set.

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On a night built on the idea of friendship and community, this group took the evening to another gear, as Broken Social Scene is as much a musical collective as they are a band. With the group’s membership ranging from as few as six to as many as nineteen, the current eleven members approach music like a neighborhood potluck, with each person bringing their own style to the mix and everyone making the pieces work together. They are chamber pop by way of a good-time neighborhood jamboree.

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Before going into their set-opener “Cause = Time” from their album You Forgot It In People, Drew told the audience “This tour is about friendship, and friendship is a form of protest so let’s do this!”

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In a set that spanned all but their debut album and leaned heavily on their recently-released sixth album, Remember the Humans, Broken Social Scene created a party atmosphere that allowed moments not only for their eleven members, but also for their friends. Campbell and Millan from Stars came out for “Hug of Thunder,” “Only the Good I Keep,” “Texico Bitches,” and “Fire Eye’d Boy,” while Emily Haines and James Shaw from Metric joined for “Anthems of a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” and “Parking Lot Dreams.”

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Before closing their set with “KC Accidental,” Drew left everyone with this: “Phoenix, don’t let them weaponize community. Their tragedy will end.” It was a good reminder that our future can be one built on the ideas of friendship and love. That’s beautiful.
Metric
Headliner, tour masterminds, and Toronto-trio completists Metric understood the assignment on this Wednesday: “With the ‘All The Feelings Tour,’ we’re bringing Saturday to every show. This is Saturday night in Phoenix,” singer Emily Haines told the crowd just after their opening song “Victim of Love.” Their set was the complete deal: the music, their performance, and their stage show. It’s not just a band playing their songs, but a totally immersive experience.

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Metric also knows how to give their crowd an irresistible desire to dance. Their music moves through you. It gets you out of your seat and directs your body how to move. You don’t dance? Metric makes you dance. You hate dancing? Metric makes it what you want to do more than anything. You could walk into a Metric show as John Lithgow in Footloose and, within a few songs, you’re transformed into Kevin Bacon.

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Toward the end of the night, musicians from all three bands in the lineup gathered for a spirited performance of “Loyal.” The night’s setlist could not have been better chosen. It felt like the perfect Metric mixtape, pulling from most of their albums and moving easily between newer material from their just-released Romanticize the Dive, and older songs like “Combat Baby” from their debut, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

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Haines articulated the night’s ethos: “Our sole purpose in the world is to bring good feelings into this broken-hearted world. We do what we can. You do what you can!” Metric and their supporting bands brought the energy, the feelings, and the music, and the crowd brought the dancing. We all did our part.
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