A night to remember
The opening of the Union’s new club Metric goes off with a bang
Well, finally Metric is at long last open and to answer your question, yes, it definitely was worth the wait.
The sellout opening night was a frenzied affair of live music and absolute disbelief on the part of students at the fact that they were genuinely having a quality night out in their own Union.
The live music was a roaring success. The bands, who sounded mediocre on record, were full of energy on stage. The night took some time to get rolling, with the first band playing to a mostly empty room (a fact that they didn't fail to notice, or remind everyone of constantly). However by the time Citadels took to the stage the room had filled out. They took the maverick step of placing a bunch of percussion instruments on the floor amongst the audience. It was a genius move, often reluctant and reserved students were suddenly banging and bashing away in time with the music.
As the night progressed, Metric packed out and the atmosphere was as electric as you would find at any great gig venue in London. There was crowd-surfing, a momentary moshpit and one excited girl at the front of the crowd during Missing Andy seemed as if she would faint at any moment.
It wasn't all plain sailing. A fire alarm at around midnight was met by groans from students who quickly became restless waiting in the cold outside. However on the whole, students were positive about the night and the new club. One student told Felix, "I had my doubts but actually I'm well impressed. The bass is still shaking through me at the back and the Soundsystem is bette than most of the soho clubs. The bar service is quick and Snakebite is still £2. I don't care about the vodka red bull to be honest."
The Union President from last year, when much of the planning behind Metric was done, Ashley Brown gave his thanks "to everyone [...] who helped make [Metric] a great place" and also to "all the students who gave feedback, particularly those on the phase 3 working group who put their comments directly into the process."
Deputy President (Finance & Services) Ravi Pall said "I was incredibly impressed with the high calibre of the entertainment. The success of the night, is proof that the venue is amongst the best in the country."
Tonight (Friday 26th November) will host a trio of bands headlined by Edith Bowman. As someone who can remember what the Union was like 3 years ago (never mind last year), If the Union can keep this up and if students keep coming back, there's absolutely no reason why Metric won't start to feature as one of the best student clubs in London.
