METZ played their final show before going on “indefinite hiatus” last night in London – watch footage below.
The Toronto noise rockers announced in October that their current UK tour would be their last, and that tour wrapped up in London’s EartH Hackney venue on Friday (November 29).
The band played a 14-song set that took in the band’s entire recording career, with tracks from their 2012 self-titled debut album (‘Get Off’, ‘Headache’, ‘Wet Blanket’) all the way up to ‘Up On Gravity Hill’, which was released in April this year.
Check out fan-captured footage from the raucous show here:
METZ played at EartH Hackney:
‘No Reservation / Love Comes Crashing’
‘Blind Youth Industrial Park’
‘Acetate’
‘Get Off’
‘Entwined (Street Light Buzz)’
‘Demolition Row’
‘Hail Taxi’
‘Light Your Way Home’
‘Mess Of Wires’
‘The Swimmer’
‘99’
‘Headache’
‘A Boat To Drown In’
‘Wet Blanket’
On October 10, the band – comprised of guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, bassist Chris Slorach and drummer Hayden Menzies – shared that they had “collectively decided” to “close this chapter of METZ” to “focus on other endeavours and enjoy more time at home with our families.”
The statement read: “For the last 15+ years, we’ve dedicated our lives to this band and have had the immense privilege and pleasure of touring the globe and seeing the world. It has been nothing short of life-affirming. METZ has brought an immeasurable amount of joy to our lives and it’s our sincere hope it’s brought you some joy too. We are so grateful to all of you who’ve joined us along the way and have made this life a reality for the three of us.”
They went on to say: “Together, we’ve released 6 LPs, countless singles, played hundreds of shows across the globe, and have far exceeded any goals or ambitions we could’ve dreamt up as basement dwellers in 2009. It’s always been about the love of music and the beautiful mess that would seemingly manifest when we turned the amps up.”
“If you’ve ever attended a METZ show, you know it was more than a band to us. We gave every ounce of ourselves to METZ, and it will be very hard to let it go,” they continued. “The intangible feeling of connection, community, and inclusivity that music creates has always been at the heart of what we do and will inevitably be what we miss the most. We will miss singing, screaming, sweating, and dancing with all of you.”
In a four-star review of their 2012 debut, NME wrote: “Metz deliver the same righteous anger that informed much of their favourite music in the early ’90s. The players might have changed but the problems remain the same: those affected by youth unemployment and conservative government can find salvation in hardcore. Metz are here to offer you redemption.”
