Metro Station at the Empire
It has been a while since Metro Station landed on UK soil, so there were a lot of very excited individuals out there when they guys planned a tour. One stop along the way was the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Standing outside in the blistering heat made me, and I’m guessing a few others feel a little queasy. However, when four blokes walked past clothed in black leather jackets and holding a video camera, first thoughts were “are they crazy?” It wasn’t until a second look revealed they were actually Trace, Mason, Blake and Anthony getting a glimpse of the crowd awaiting their arrival. Considering they managed to walk from one end of a very long line to the other without anyone running up to them until they reached the end, I am assuming my first thought was probably the same as everyone else’s.
With the support acts having warmed the crowd up, Metro Station approached the stage and the inner child in every individual in the Empire took control, screams and the pounding of feet on the balcony on which I stood (praying that it didn’t chose tonight of all nights to give in to gravity) were all that could be heard. Metro Station has released minimal material but managed to get the crowd singing along as Mason and Trace took centre stage, still wearing leather but remarkably managing to perform energetically, pealing a few layers of clothes off as the set continued. Performances of ‘Shake It’, ‘I Wish We Were Older’, ‘Now That We’re Done’ and ‘Seventeen Forever’ received the most deafening of reactions, but every song was performed with great energy and passion. The disappointment came forty minutes in when the guys walked off stage with the minimalist of waves and BOOM the radio system began, the house lights came on and the set was over. With fans still in the same positions they held for the past forty minutes, no one could believe that the set was done and dusted. Not even a predictable closing “thank you London for coming out”, “you have been the best crowd of the tour”, “thanks again to our support…” or even the typical closing line ”this is our last song”, just off they walked.
I may have been disappointed for the fact the set lasted a mere forty minutes, but chuffed that they managed to pack a load of songs into this time and performed them with excitement, talent and enough energy to make the lighting spark. I just hope next time Metro Station take to a London stage they show a little more consideration for the crowd that had been standing in the heat for hours and take time out to give a few more songs, after all what is a band without the support of the fans?