There are a lot of amazing eras to the Toronto music scene, but one of the most memorable was the early 2000s when bands such as Metric, Broken Social Scene and Stars blew up. They changed music, not just locally, but around the world. Now, with a new album from Metric set to be released, all three groundbreaking bands are going on one very special tour—together.
Now, more than two decades later, that same trio is circling back together. Metric are releasing their tenth studio record, Romanticize The Dive, Broken Social Scene are returning with Remember The Humans, their first new album in nearly a decade, and all three bands are hitting the road together on the All The Feelings tour.
Toronto in the early 2000s was dense with creative overlap. You didn’t just go to shows—you ran into band members bartending, loading gear, or playing in two other acts on the same bill. Broken Social Scene, in particular, became the connective tissue of the scene, a loose but powerful collective whose orbit included Emily Haines, Leslie Feist, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Kevin Drew, and seemingly half the city’s indie musicians.
From that creative incubator came the incredible Metric led by the frenetic dynamic of Emily Haines alongside guitarist Jimmy Shaw bringing a sharper, more propulsive edge to the scene. While Broken Social Scene leaned expansive and communal, Metric felt sleek, and urgent—club-ready music that still carried the emotional weight of the city that raised it.
They both blew up, and deservedly so, garnering a massive global following.
The remarkable thing about this era wasn’t just that these bands changed everything—it’s that they did so without abandoning their roots. They carried Toronto with them, exporting a version of the city that felt creative, collaborative, and unafraid of emotional honesty.
That spirit is echoed directly in Metric’s new material. Romanticize The Dive, out April 24, is a look backward without getting stuck, revisiting the hunger and vulnerability of those early years of a scene unlike any other. The album’s first single, “Victim of Luck,” traces that arc—from playing to tiny crowds with nothing to fall back on, to building something lasting through sheer persistence and shared belief.
“The song ‘Victim Of Luck’ and really the entire album is about the romance of a less than perfect life. It’s about dropping the mask of self-consciousness and vanity,” says Emily Haines. “It was a long journey for me to get out of my own way and I wanted this song to be a rallying cry for that, better late than never. You can be as much a victim of good luck as bad. So when we started out yes we were broke and we were playing to ten people and there was nothing for us to fall back on but we refused to give up, and it’s not as though we’re all superstar billionaires now, but that was never what we were after.”
Broken Social Scene’s Remember The Humans, which is set for release on May 8, could be seen as the other side of that same reflection. Reuniting with producer David Newfeld for the first time since their early albums, the band delivers a record that’s described as dense and emotional—layered with voices, instruments, and history. The lead single, “Not Around Anymore,” wrestles with loss and fading possibility. It’s about what’s left—and what still matters.
It’s a story that applies just as much to Broken Social Scene and Stars as it does to Metric.
Together, these bands helped reframe what Canadian indie music could be: true to themselves, and their roots, but ready to take on the world.
They also proved that success didn’t have to mean severing ties. Members moved between projects. Collaborations happened organically.
And so it only makes sense that this tour is happening now.
The All The Feelings tour isn’t just a nostalgic exercise—it’s a reminder of how rare that moment was, and how lucky Toronto was to live through it.
The tour’s Toronto homecoming at RBC Amphitheatre on August 7 feels especially symbolic. It’s a far cry from the clubs like Ted’s Wrecking Yard where these bands cut their collective musical teeth, but it is going to be special.
For longtime fans, it’s a chance to reconnect with the songs that soundtracked their twenties. For newer listeners, it’s a crash course in why Toronto’s indie explosion mattered—and still does.
Tickets for the tour go on sale on Feb. 6 at 10 a.m.
