Metric & Sam Roberts Band
June 6, 2025
Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
Toronto’s Budweiser Stage was packed with energy and nostalgia on June 6, 2025, as Canadian rock heavyweights Metric and Sam Roberts Band took the stage (with supporting act The Dears) for a night that doubled as a time machine for fans.
Originally billed as a co-headlining tour with Metric and Bloc Party, the lineup shifted dramatically after creative differences saw Bloc Party exit the tour. In a move that delighted many Canadian music fans, Sam Roberts Band joined the tour.
Sam Roberts Band stepped in with a full performance of their 2003 debut, We Were Born in a Flame. From the driving Hard Road, to Don’t Walk Away Eileen and radio hit Brother Down, the band delivered each track with a warmth that had the crowd singing along from the first note. Roberts was relaxed and charismatic, engaging the audience and encouraging everyone to raise their hands in the air.
Metric followed with an electrifying set that leaned heavily into their 2009 breakout album Fantasies, treating fans to a full-album performance that included indie rock staples like Help I’m Alive, Gimme Sympathy, and Blindness. The band—led by the ever-magnetic Emily Haines—balanced the synth-laced edge of Fantasies with selections from across their catalogue, pulling in hits like Breathing Underwater and Black Sheep. Haines commanded the stage with her signature mix of intensity and elegance, sharing that she hoped the experience and their music in general could help listeners out.
Despite the lineup shake-up, the evening was a triumph—one that reminded fans just how much these two acts have shaped the Canadian music landscape over the past two decades.