In support for their third full-length record Live It Out, Metric toured the world for two years. Their label decided to capture their live show during a stop at Montreal's beautiful Metropolis theatre back in 2006. Five HD cameras filmed them rocking out to an adoring sold out crowd. I was at there and it was great.

Unfortunately the DVD shoot didn't go so well. So began the epic journey of the Live at Metropolis DVD that finally saw the light of day over the past two nights at The Royal.

Knowing it was indefinitely shelved for a long time, I was thrilled to found out that it would finally get released on February 12.

Jimmy, Emily and Joshua from the band came out last night for a Q&A session after the screening. They were very candid about their feelings before shooting their first live DVD (they were really nervous), the technical issues that almost ruined the show (Jimmy's guitar amp was in pieces minutes before their set), and about how the original cut of their performance wasn't quite what they were looking for.

Jimmy (who produced the DVD) enlisted the help of talented film editor Deco Dawson to take the original HD footage and make it more "Metric". Dawson added more grit and interesting visual effects that fit their performance perfectly. Emily admitted that she isn't a fan of live DVDs in general, but she gave Dawson a lot of credit for making something the band was really happy with.

After two years of work (and re-work), it was definitely worth all the effort. Anyone who has seen a Metric show knows that their songs are even better live than they are on record and this DVD is a clear reminder of that. Their thirteen-minute "Dead Disco/Love Is A Place" encore is reason enough to watch this DVD. Dawson said he spent just as long editing that climactic set finale as he did on the rest of the songs combined.

Heads up: Metric will take a break from recording their fourth record on Thursday, February 7 to play a show at the Sound Academy. Tickets are available at Soundscapes and Rotate This.

DVD Trailer:

Photo: Metric at Webster Hall (NYC) on their Live It Out Tour by aphrodite-in-nyc.