{"id":24740,"date":"2026-08-02T02:11:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T21:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24740"},"modified":"2026-08-02T02:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T21:11:33","slug":"metric-broken-social-scene-stars-at-brooklyn-paramount-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24740","title":{"rendered":"Metric, Broken Social Scene, Stars at Brooklyn Paramount: Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-id=\"1615236\" data-title=\"Metric, Broken Social Scene, and Stars Bring the Right Kind of Nostalgia to Brooklyn Paramount: Review\" data-url=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/08\/metric-broken-social-scene-stars-brooklyn-paramount\/\" data-page=\"1\" data-pages=\"1\">\n<p>Nostalgia is a funny thing. Through a certain lens \u2014 one I\u2019ve personally gazed through many times \u2014 it can be lazy, reductive, even dangerous. Spend your time longing for a past that you imagine to be your best years, and you hobble yourself from building a meaningful present or, for the luckiest of us, a meaningful future. This isn\u2019t a novel observation, and yet it\u2019s one so many of us have a hard time putting into practice. Don\u2019t believe me? Just scroll through the YouTube comments section of any song over 10 years old.<\/p>\n<p>For indie acts who hit their stride in the early to mid 2000s, nostalgia becomes an especially formidable force, looming like a slow-motion tidal wave as they enter middle age. These aren\u2019t just people who experience nostalgia like the rest of us \u2014 they\u2019ve created and energized it for the entire world with their art, however willingly or unwillingly. How do you handle that without going backwards? Do you surf the crest of the cascading water or just let it wash over and pummel you?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vivid-seats.pxf.io\/c\/1882189\/952533\/12730?subId1=metric%2Abrooklyn-review-button&amp;subId2=&amp;subId3=&amp;sharedid=&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vividseats.com%2Fmetric-tickets%2Fperformer%2F7704\" class=\"button button-ticket\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Find &#8216;All the Feelings Tour&#8217; Tickets Here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Which brings us to <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/artist\/stars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/artist\/broken-social-scene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Broken Social Scene<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/artist\/metric\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Metric<\/a>, legacy indie stalwarts whose bands may not all have formed in Canada, but whose members are all more or less from there. And that\u2019s important. I could draw you a byzantine family tree, Venn diagram, beehive, or \u2014 most appropriately \u2014 Ian Malcolm-esque Chaos Theory graphic that illustrates how all of these respective folks are connected; their triangulation between Toronto, Montreal, and yes, New York; their individual arteries to the central heart of Arts &amp; Crafts Productions; their various relationships, marriages, and feuds that, in some cases, date all the way back to elementary school. But I only have so many words and so much time. So just know that these artists are friends. Very, very old friends. And their triple-headed half-hydra <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/02\/broken-social-scene-new-album-remember-the-humans-2026-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cAll the Feelings Tour\u201d<\/a> was always going to feel like a grade\/middle\/high-school-cum-young-adulthood reunion custom-made for Gen-Xers and elder Millennials like myself \u2014 for better or for worse.<\/p>\n<p>Related Video<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, Thursday night\u2019s show at Brooklyn Paramount (the first of two on their schedule; tickets for all their dates are available <a style=\"display: inline !important;\" href=\"https:\/\/vivid-seats.pxf.io\/c\/1882189\/952533\/12730?subId1=metric&amp;subId2=brooklyn-review&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vividseats.com%2Fmetric-tickets%2Fperformer%2F7704\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>) was very much for the better. Because unlike some larger musical acts of <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/07\/the-beach-boys-reschedule-summer-tour-dates-mike-love\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">older generations<\/a>, all three bands have decided to confront nostalgia head on, rather than just pretend they\u2019re something they\u2019re not. Metric and Broken Social Scene have both released albums this year (<a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/02\/metric-romanticize-the-dive-new-album-victim-of-luck-stream\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Romanticize the Dive<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/02\/broken-social-scene-new-album-remember-the-humans-2026-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Remember the Humans<\/em><\/a>, respectively)\u00a0that actively engage with the past \u2014 not just with fondness, but reflection and interrogation. Should we romanticize the dive bars and late nights of our youth? Can we still remember that we\u2019re all human in the wake of AI and the tendrilling darkness of, well, everything?<\/p>\n<p>As if striving to answer these paraphrased questions from their comrades, Stars kicked off the bill with \u201cHold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It,\u201d which ultimately became a kind of thesis for the night. When frontman Torquil Campbell bellowed the lyric \u201cTake the weakest thing in you and then beat the bastards with it,\u201d he notably changed the word \u201cbastards\u201d to \u201cNazis,\u201d driving home the idea that love, warmth, and human connection are often our greatest weapons \u2014 if not for actual combat, then at least fulfillment and survival. The phrasing takes on extra weight in 2026 than it did all the way back in 2012 for obvious sociopolitical reasons, but also because of the emotional and familial miles since treaded by the band. Frontwoman\/guitarist Amy Millan and bassist\/multi-instrumentalist Evan Cranley (both also in Broken Social Scene) are married with two kids, and for this tour, Stars was flanked by BSS horn players Dave Hodge and Dave French. (Campbell joked that there was the \u201cDave side of the stage\u201d and the \u201cChris side of the stage\u201d in reference to keyboardist Chris Selgiman and guitarist Chris McCarron).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DbeKJSWKgwP\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:500px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It also helps that, with a back catalog that now consists of nine albums and nearly as many EPs, Stars easily packs their set with nothing but bangers. While I\u2019m sure there are fans out there who prefer the slower introspection of crystalline ballads like \u201cDead Hearts\u201d (accompanied here by animated album art from <em>The Five Ghosts<\/em>), the rest of their stage time came alive with shoulda-been-club-hits like \u201cElevator Love Letter,\u201d \u201cTrap Door,\u201d and \u201cAgeless Beauty,\u201d proving that it\u2019s often easier to absorb a message when you can dance to it. Campbell and Cranley punctuated the songs with a few reminiscences, including getting arrested in Rudy Giuliani\u2019s NYC, a reminder that the past is never as halcyon as we experience it in our bodies. \u201cLive through this and you won\u2019t look back!\u201d chanted the crowd as the band led them through a singalong during the bridge of set closer \u201cYour Ex-Lover Is Dead.\u201d Except that we always look back. And that\u2019s okay, as long as we\u2019re doing so truthfully.<\/p>\n<p>If Stars was recapturing (or perhaps reframing) the nights out of our youth, Broken Social Scene transformed the stage into a laid-back house party from that same era. The size and revolving-door nature of the lineup has been a running joke for literal decades at this point, but it\u2019s still hypnotic to see it all expand and contract in real time. People often forget that a BSS show rarely starts with all the present members onstage. Rather, opener \u201cCause = Time\u201d began with just the long-running core of co-leaders Kevin Drew and bassist Brendan Canning, guitarist Andrew Whiteman, drummer Justin Peroff, Swiss-army musician Charles Spearin, and later addition Sam Goldberg (though even he\u2019s been a regular presence for close to 20 years now).<\/p>\n<p>But as the set progressed, the roster gradually extended its anacondian body, with at least five or maybe even eight horn players for the now-iconic finale of \u201c7\/4 (Shoreline)\u201d (including Campbell, who also guest-belted the chorus of \u201cFire Eye\u2019d Boy\u201d), latter-day vocalist Hannah Georgas for her <em>Remember the Humans<\/em> standout \u201cOnly the Good I Keep\u201d, and fellow newbie Jill Harris and Millan tag-teaming an absent Feist\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2017\/06\/album-review-broken-social-scene-hug-of-thunder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cHug of Thunder.\u201d<\/a> Drew\u2019s wife, filmmaker Rachel McLean, even got in on the action as a constant backup vocalist and auxiliary percussionist.<\/p>\n<p>Given the shared billing and the fact that they\u2019re also in Broken Social Scene, it wasn\u2019t exactly a surprise when Metric\u2019s Emily Haines and James Shaw joined the stage for the former\u2019s signature tune \u201cAnthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl,\u201d but that didn\u2019t make it any less thrilling. The song\u2019s slow transition from restraint to catharsis, from bubbling to building, from internal journaling to external rooftop shouting is the kind of musical moment that reminds you that, as you get older, true nostalgia isn\u2019t just longing for the past \u2014 it\u2019s holding a wider scope of time within your mind, heart, and soul. Hearing it live with its original singer and so many of her friends creates an inner-montage of your entire life (even the parts you haven\u2019t lived yet) that gets faster and faster and more and more intense. Kids play, friends party and fall in love, lovers marry and divorce and stay together, more kids are born, friends die, life goes on, you die, and it all starts over until everything settles into a comforting darkness speckled with starlight. It\u2019s like the final moment of <em>Vanilla Sky<\/em>, only with real people and moments rather than pop culture ephemera.<\/p>\n<p>If that sounds like I\u2019m overblowing it, remember that Broken Social Scene is a band which, as of late, is keenly aware of its own mortality. Drew has spoken at length of the grief that informed the recording of <em>Remember the Humans<\/em> (nearly half a dozen band members lost their parents while making the album), as well as the importance for a collective as large as theirs to stay healthy as they age. At one point, he even revealed that Peroff was now back to work after missing the last tour due to an injury. Couple that with him dedicating set closer \u201cIbi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)\u201d to the <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/07\/glen-hansard-dead-motocycle-crash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recently deceased Glen Hansard<\/a> and the presence of newer and younger blood like Georgas and Harris, and it\u2019s only natural that you think about your own finite time while watching everyone play.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?quality=80&amp;w=768&amp;fit=1031%2C580&amp;strip=\" alt=\"Broken Social Scene new remember the humans not around anymore 2026 tour metric stars\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1542408\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg 1440w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=113,150 113w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=225,300 225w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=768,1024 768w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=1152,1536 1152w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=238,317 238w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=640,853 640w, https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FEELINGS_ADMAT_FINAL-2.jpeg?resize=150,200 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Of the three acts, Metric seemed most aesthetically focused on the future \u2014 at least at first. Some of that just comes from the cybernetic nature of their synth-pop, further modernized by a sleek light show and glitched out projections. During a set front-loaded with material from <em>Romanticize the Dive<\/em>, the energy and visuals were more chromatic and spartan than the two preceding bands, with Haines mostly addressing the audience through strange and robotic monologues that referenced the past while also feeling disconnected from it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still the 17 year-old girl in the anthem,\u201d she intoned as a lead-in to \u201cCrush Forever,\u201d before stressing the importance of passing the torch to the next generation. But the lack of emotion made it hard to believe \u2014 perhaps because she sounded so cold and confident about what was going to happen many years down the line. But later on, she pivoted by inviting Goldberg onstage for \u201cSynthetica.\u201d With his shaggy beard, jean jacket, acoustic guitar (the first time such an instrument appeared in Metric\u2019s set), and looser nature, he came off \u2014 and I promise I don\u2019t mean this as an insult \u2014 not quite as cool as Metric. \u201cYou\u2019re definitely a human,\u201d quipped Haines, before welcoming the BSS horn section out for a finale that immediately segued into \u201cGold Guns Girls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By the time the rest of Broken Social Scene joined for a campfire singalong on \u201cLoyal,\u201d it was clear that Haines had been teeing up the most daring, exciting, and thematically resonant moment of the night \u2014 a stretch of songs that, after an hour or so of cyborg chic, fully humanized the stage. The light show largely stopped (or at least became less kaleidoscopic), and for the rest of the night, she spoke casually to the audience, admitting that she\u2019s not sure where the world is headed or if forces as nebulous as friendship and harmony can actually defeat evil. And yet at the same time, playing with her friends is the only thing that feels right and natural to her. It\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s ever felt right to her. The sentiment was nostalgic, yes. But also futuristic. Maybe even eternal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n\t\tn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=1;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n\t\tdocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '1753966171496536');\n\t\tfbq('set','agent','tmgoogletagmanager', '1753966171496536');\n\t\tfbq('track', \"PageView\");\n\t<\/script><script defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&#038;version=v7.0&#038;appId=434175690014\" nonce=\"6gwmbCtM\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nostalgia is a funny thing. Through a certain lens \u2014 one I\u2019ve personally gazed through many times \u2014 it can be lazy, reductive, even dangerous. Spend your time longing for a past that you imagine to be your best years, and you hobble yourself from building a meaningful present or, for the luckiest of us,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/consequence.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/broken-social-scene-metric-brooklyn-paramount.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}