With a set-up and light show that threatened to blow the doors off Water Street Music Hall last night, Canadian new wave/electronica band Metric positively rocked the house to a near-sold-out and rabid audience. Anticipation was high for this show, the buzz emitting from unlikely sources as the crowd was a cross-section of tastes, ages, and sex.

Metric picks up where New Wave left off when it opted for disco cheese or simply disintegrated into bubblegum. But it wasn't all machine; Metric is a rock band blending guitar, bass, vocals, and real drums amidst the swirling storm of sonics, exquisite chaos, loops, and effects. Those digital elements derailed the band briefly during its song "Lost Kitten," when one of the loops or a drum trigger failed.

The light show was spectacular, resembling something like the set of "Hollywood Squares" or one of those Japanese video games that causes seizures. Beneath those lights the band comes off understated, looking more like stock rock 'n' rollers than the Gary Newman disciples you might expect.

Singer Emily Haines came out sporting long, sleek legs emerging from hot pants that, along with the lights, almost sent me into a seizure.