Credit: Brantley GutierrezWith Memorial Day passed and June upon us, the time for summer concerts is here. In addition to a multitude of festivals, many bands will be part of big tours this summer, such as Metric, whose tour opening for Imagine Dragons kicks off June 3 in Portland, Oregon. Frontwoman Emily Haines remembers when she learned she was going to be spending her summer with Imagine Dragons.
"It was a really wonderful phone call to get, I really like the band," Haines tells ABC Radio. "I understand there hadn't been the awareness that we were going to be available or anything -- we were deep in recording -- and they just dropped the question and we said, 'Hell yeah! Sounds like a lot of fun.'"
A headlining band in their own right, Metric has opened quite a few arena tours for big acts from Paramore and Muse to The Rolling Stones. As the band continues to perform in such big venues, the idea of playing arena shows started to feel more "natural."
"I think the band really enjoys it," guitarist Jimmy Shaw says. "For a lot of people they find it strange that you're mired in sports and nachos, but we kind of relate to that scale. I think it was one of the original intentions of the band to try and operate on that scale."
In addition to opening for Imagine Dragons, Metric is planning on releasing a new album this fall, their first since 2012's Synthetica. Shaw says some new songs might make their live debut on the Imagine Dragons tour, but you should expect them to officially release some new music, too.
"We're going to sort of slowly start to release stuff as the tour continues as well," Shaw tells ABC Radio. "So hopefully there won't be too many things we're playing that no one has any idea of what it is."
As for their personal favorite summer concert memories, Haines remembers seeing The Flaming Lips at Coachella 2004 when frontman Wayne Coyne rolled out his signature man-sized plastic bubble.
"It's gotten a lot of press, for good reason, but that was brilliant," Haines says. "It's a rare thing when you can do something that's so memorable but not gimmicky -- like, it was the ultimate gimmick, and yet so emotionally correct. It was such a great, great experience to be there for that."
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