Métropolis

The last stop in Montréal before going into arenas.
The pros: Nice warm place, not too cozy, but a little at the same time. Exits are well identified. Security much tighter now since the Paris terror attacks (it’s about time!) Seated places on the balcony (if you are early enough). Stage big enough for visual effects. Toilets clean and all working.
The cons: Sound is not the greatest. Seating areas can be very crowded. When sold out, the place looks very crowded. Waiting outside takes forever before they open the doors. Looks disorganized when the doors open (people walk everywhere).
It is a good place to go see great bands. But it is not the best in Montréal.

I witness a lot of live music and I can tell you that Metropolis is pretty ‘meh’ when it comes to concert theatres. It can hold plenty of people and there are multiple bars to keep drink service moving quickly, but I find the interior fairly boring and bland. You don’t feel like you’re in a legendary rustic space, nor a sleek and modern concert palace, but rather a dull, moderate music theatre that wouldn’t be hurt by a few upgrades. I’ve seen shows here with excellent sound, but I’ve also witnessed some muffled jargon exiting the speakers (not always the venue’s fault). There are good sight lines from the front to the middle of the main level, and also from the sides and middle of the balcony. However, if you get stuck behind people near the back of the balcony or near the back bar on the main level, you may not see as much. My least favourite spot is near the back of the main level where the ceilings are low enough to partially obstruct the backdrop. At the end of the day, I go to Metropolis for the artists, whom they host a lot of (at fairly decent prices too). I would certainly never avoid a show just because it’s at Metropolis, but don’t expect to be wowed by the venue alone.

Saw Breaking Benjamin here, and I was happy with the set up and how close to the stage I was, even though I didn’t get there that early. There was a super tall guy who was working that night, walking through the crowd serving beer and water bottles. I didn’t envy his job, I don’t know how he didn’t spill everything. The sound and lighting were good. We had to fight people off from squeezing/​pushing in front of us a few times, and they were extremely rude and it might of gotten out of hand if we hadn’t kept our cool. Can’t really blame the venue for that though, a**holes are everywhere.
Also the line outside was very organized, as was admission at the door.

Came here for an Interpol concert. Place was PACKED. The bar tenders definitely worked for their pay that night. Place was cool. I didn’t throw myself at the front of the stage where are the people were. I stayed wayyyyyy back, next to my BFF (aka the bartender). There was enough room to be able to breathe where I was. At some point, I decided to check out the second floor of the place and it was really cool to see everyone swaying and dancing and singing to Interpol. Not the mention, the sound was so much better from up there!

A great venue to go catch a concert. Originally was a skating rink at the end of the 19 century which was converted into a theater. Burnt down a few times. Opened up once again as a porn cinema in the 70s through to the mid-80s…And then finally finally the Metropolis as we know it today. You get a good view of any live act from pretty much anywhere, the beer is cheap, easy access to the bathrooms. What more to say… oh yeah most importantly, the sound is fantastic as well.

This was my second visit to Metropolis, and I had a fantastic time, yet again. My first visit here was several years ago to see Jack’s Mannequin and Fun preform. I was so swept up in the music, I didn’t have much time to check out the venue, except I vaguely remembered a beautiful balcony, and nice lighting.
This time, I came to see Damien Rice, and I appreciated the venue a lot more, as we got there early and I had some time to look around. The space is pretty intimate, which I really enjoyed. It’s a very old building, and certainly has a lot of charm. There’s a very cool drum sculpture in the lobby, and the place has an old school charm to it.
The theatre space itself has a large bar in the back, and two smaller bars in the middle of the floor. I found this super convenient (thanks Montréal!)! There are some cocktail tables scattered near the back, and some ledges to lean on if you’re lucky enough to grab one.
For this show, the balcony was private, so the general admission ticket holders all stood on the floor (there’s no seating in the main theatre space). I remember going up to the balcony during Jack’s Mannequin, and it being quite lovely. It’s a nice break from standing!
I was blown away by Damien Rice’s performance. He was completely acoustic, and had no opening act. It was a really raw and awesome, the sound was great, and the venue was perfect for it.
I have a feeling this is a spot a lot of my favourite acts would preform at, so I’m sure I’ll be back again soon. Drinks are a good price (a glass of wine is $ 5 and a bottle was $ 30), staff were very friendly and kind, and the atmosphere is romantic and charming.
My only gripe is that we couldn’t find the bathrooms! Coat check is downstairs, and they direct you to go up a back flight of stairs when you’re heading back upstairs, which is a bit odd. Otherwise, it’s lovely here.

Awesome venue! Was there for Mutek this week! Mutek does a great job with sound and visuals, so I imagine that quality is Muteks’s responsability. But Metropolis layout with the theater like setting, acoustics and the many bars is dope! The restroom are fine, but some were clogged and there was no clean-​up that I noticed thru out the night.
It gets two starts because of service — Drinks are weak because they have that gun that controls the pour-that’s understandable though.
I first used the bar to the left of the stage and the bartender lady gave us mad attitude when I went to pay with my credit card-​somehow it didn’t go thru – she yelled at me! I handed her another card-​she gave us even more attitude-​it didn’t go thru either. I apologized-​we paid cash we only had $American, she was so pissed. But oh well.
Second time, changed to another bartender in the back of the downstairs area! He seemed much nicer, he noticed we were speaking spanish and spoke in spanish to us. Ordered drinks, tried my card again – didn’t work again – then paid in American money. We got change back and took a minute to count because we don’t understand Canadian coins yet, he looked at us and told us that «here in this country people tip.» I think he thought that we weren’t gonna tip. I thought that was so disrespectful, plus tip is a reward for good service not a must, if a tender treats you poorly-​you don’t tip! N I’ve been a waitress for years! If I give bad service I don’t except a tip it’s happened if you are too busy or something goes wrong. But the bartenders here have an attitude problem, and they might be jaded about foreigners and tourists not tipping. They need to be put in check and they need a customer service update!
Thirdly, we went upstairs to another lady by the restrooms whe was a little older-​perhaps 40s. She was such a sweetheart! Thanks God! We only bought from her after!
My advice is to only bring Canadian in cash, perhaps drink a bit outside before you come in, and don’t take crap from them.

Location: Ste-​Catherine and St-​Laurent. Subway stop — St. Laurent.
Venue: Personally, Metropolis is one of my favorite places to see live (music) shows. The sound is great, and you almost always have a good view of the main act. It’s also not that hard to snake your way to the front even when the place is packed. As well, for some reason, band members seem more accessible in this place — I was lucky enough to meet the guys from Travis, Snow Patrol and Remy Zero without even trying (seriously — I was minding my own business and next thing you to, I’m meeting a band member!).
Despite this being one of my favorite venues, it does have some drawbacks. First, I positively loathe the extensive line-​ups before each show, that run down the block and around the corner. Just let people in already! Secondly, when it’s packed, you will often find rude pricks who don’t understand (or don’t give a sh*t about) your personal space. Now, I get that we’re seeing a live show and as with any show that you choose to see from the floor, you’re bound to get pushed a little. But there are limits and anyone with a brain should know that if the waitress confuses us for the same person, they’re standing too damn close. Also, if I can smell you? You’re still too close! If you want to avoid such morons, just make sure to get there early and get a seat or go up to the balcony. The floor area offers a great view, but with it come a lot of socially inept fools.

went there a couple of times mainly for chromeo and some just for laughs show. it’s a good place as you’re quite near the stage and even on the balcony, you have a great view. what i don’t like is they seem to crank up the volume and blast it through the speakers without caring of having a good sound or taking into account the type of music being played. for example, chromeo which is not rock music but was treat like one. you can’t crank it up like it’s a metallica concert.

My favourite venue in montreal. Right in the middle of downtown, decent prices, great bands, right around the block of the St-​Laurent metro station (literally 2 minutes) and wonderful venue. I’ve been here at least 15 times and it was always a blast. The security people are very uptight though so don’t even dare object.

Excellente place de concert! Ou de QG pour des élections… J’étais présente en tant que journaliste pour couvrir les événements le soir de l’élection de Pauline Marois. Cette soirée fut irrélle avec tout ce qui s’est passé. Mais la place reste un incontournable à Montréal pour les concerts!

‘You don’t know what’s in store, but you know what you’re here for
Close your eyes, lay yourself beside me
Hold tight for this ride, we don’t need no protection
Come alone, we don’t need attention’
–The Weeknd: High For This
7 days removed from seeing The Weeknd at HOB Boston, I trekked North to Montréal to repeat the emotional, spiritual and lyrical mental trip and absolute madness that I whole heartedly craved.
Metropolis is located on the Est end of St. Catherine. It’s without question a landmark in Montréal and it’s earned its stripes. Pretty spacious venue with a stadium style seating balcony. The drinks are reasonably priced as well.
Security may have kicked a few conspicuous knuckleheads out for it, but for the most part everyone was blowin’ kush without concern. After all, that’s at minimun 80% of The Weeknd’s material anyways. I’m sure he approved.
There were SO MANY beautiful women at the show. I’m upset I didn’t leave with anyone, but I guess it was just meant to be.
Incredible show Abel! Keep makin’ that music that grips your FCUKin’ soul. Take no hostages.
*XO hand gesture in the air*
‘I guess you had no idea that you could have persuaded me
Girl, you could have had me doing anything you pleased
Girl, you should have took your time and thought of what to say to me
’Cuz I’m not as hard as I make it seem to be’
–The Weeknd: Montréal
–Beantowns Finest

Le Metropolis est la salle par excellence pour un bon show à la fois intime et de moyen-​grande envergure. J’ai eu l’honneur de voir plusieurs excellents bands rock, electro, des shows d’humour, un gala, un événement de charité, etc.
En fait il y a deux salles, Le Savoy (petite salle au 2e qui accueille les cocktails et les petits événements) ainsi que la grande salle principale avec un parterre, des paliers a l’arrière et une mezzanine. L’alcool est pas trop cher (si on compare aux stades & arenas), ils servent bière et cocktails. on voit assez bien même lorsque les shows sont sold out et qu’on est pris au rez-​de-​chaussée, du haut de mon 5pi4. Heureusement que les paliers sont la pour nous donner quelques pouces de plus !
Il y a un vestiaire au sous-​sol.

Another historic space, built originally in the 1880s, this one was partially destroyed by a fire and renovated and reimagined by the omni-​present in the Cite du Spectacles Equipe Spectra. It’s a ~2000 person venue with good sound and sightlines, generally a live music space but also booked for TV. Something about it feels detached, and the security here is questionable — lots of musicians have had their vans broken into when playing here, and this was of course the scene of the tragic shooting during the PQ rally on election day this year.

Like quite a few other reviewers on here, i came here for Kinetik Festival. This was actually my second year here, but i seriously thought i had reviewed this place already after last year! It’s a big venue with some amazing sight lines from the balconies, and their domed ceiling is just GORGEOUS! The staff here are really awesome and friendly! They were that great mix of being really friendly and welcoming but still professional.
Not much has changed in the year since i was here last, but i thiiiiink if i had reviewed this place last year it would have gotten five stars instead of four! It’s still a great venue, but a lot of my wonder at the beautiful architecture inside has been replaced by disappointment at the pricey drinks. Mind you, it is a live music venue so you’ve gotta expect it to be a little above average, but when a gin and soda costs eight dollars because it’s considered a premium drink it is a bit ridiculous! I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, I’ll gladly spend $ 20 on liquor if i can get three good drinks out of it, but if getting two drinks costs that much i’ll just get one in a tall glass (if i get anything at all) and cut my losses. That being said, i was at a five day music festival, so the high prices were a bigger thorn in my side than they would have been if i was just going to a show for one evening!
The drink prices really are my only complaint about this venue though, so aside from that this place is a great joint to catch a show!

This venue is amazing (and i’ve been to a shit ton of concerts).
I was here for the Kinetik Festival and I always had a great view of the stage.
There are 2 bars in the main dance floor area and a big one in the very back (main floor).
there are 2 more bars on each side of the terraced seatting section upstairs.
the only reason they loose a star is because the bathrooms are ALL THE WAY UPSTAIRS. There are soooo many stairs :(My legs got tired after a while.
I wish Seattle had a venue like this. Metropolis, you will be missed.

Like Avitania B., we also were at Metropolis for five nights in a row for Kinetik Festival. We thought it was a great setup, multi-​levels on the floor, plus a gradated balcony means that short people have lots of options to see what’s going on on stage. The sound was great too.
Drinks were expensive, so it’s not the place to come if you want to get drunk. Enjoy the music instead.
I’d love to see another show or festival at this venue.

We went here to see Sam Roberts on Feb 10, 2012. I’ve seen him many times in Ontario and decided to travel to Montréal to see him play in his home town.
The Metropolis is a beautiful old theatre. Lots of beautiful architectural details everywhere. There is open general admission on the first floor and a seated bar-​like area upstairs. The sound is awesome — definitely one of the best venues for sound quality that I have ever been to.
Unfortunately, I gave this place a ²⁄₅ because of the crowds. I have been to many sold-​out shows in Toronto and I’ve never experienced these kinds of crowds. We moved around the venue to several different areas and I could not see anything from anywhere (I’m 5’5″). When we finally did find an empty place to stand, a waitress came by and yelled at us to move. What’s the point in going to see a band play if you can’t actually SEE them? I can play their records at home. It was impossible to move closer to get a better view, it was impossible to get to the bar and it was extremely difficult to get to the washroom. We ended up leaving early and even getting out was almost impossible. I would hate to be in this place if there was an emergency and people were trying to get out quickly because this place would be a death trap for sure. I don’t know if they ignore firecode regulations regarding max number of people or if the regulations in Quebec are less strict than Ontario, but I will never go to this place again.
If you’re short — get there super early and hang on to your spot. If you’re claustrophobic — stay home.

Je suis allée au Métropolis à quelques reprises, et s’il vous arrive la même chose que moi, né laissez pas la longue file à l’extérieur vous décourager même si elle se rend facilement jusqu’à la station Saint-​Laurent. En entrant, la plupart des gens se précipiteront vers le plancher pour avoir la meilleure place. Moi, par contre, je monte les marches deux par deux et je me rend à la mezzanine.
J’adore qu’à partir de la mezzanine, c’est possible d’être assise ou debout sans bloquer la vue de quiconque vu que l’angle du plancher est très prononcé, et que ceux qui y sont profitent des «bancs de bar» plus élevés. C’est extrêmement pratique pour les petites personnes comme moi qui ont tendances à passer la majorité des concerts soit sur la bout des orteils pour apercevoir le toupet de l’artiste qui est sur la scèné ou bien qui se tannent de faire de l’exercice à mollet et finissent par écouter la musique en regardant des dos de t-​shirt.
La seul petit bémol selon moi est la très petite sélection de bières et drinks, mais considérant que j’y vais plutôt pour y voir des spectacles que pour y prendre un verre, c’est quand même correct.

Excellent venue, excellent sound, and excellent all around. The only downside is that Metropolis is located in the middle of stripclub central, so if that is your sort of thing you might bump it up to a 5.

Went to 5 shows in a row here for Kinetik Festival, and was impressed by the bouncers, bar staff, and sound system. On every single night, the bouncers were nice and professional (the first time I’ve ever experienced that in, like… EVER), the bartenders were super fast (though the drinks were really weak, plus selection of different booze is poor), and the sound system pretty great from every seat. I’d definitely wouldn’t hesitate to come back for shows at this venue.

Le Métropolis est l’une des plus importantes salles de spectacle de la ville de Montréal. C’est un bâtiment ancien (initialement construit en 1884) ayant un lourd passé historique. L’établissement dû se reconstruire deux fois suite à des incendies majeurs et passa, durant cette période, entre les mains de plusieurs commerçants, (théâtre, cinéma érotique, discothèque) avant de devenir ce qu’il est dorénavant, depuis 1997. C’est ce qui explique sa magnifique architecture de théâtre antique. Plus de 1000 artistes ont déjà frôlé (parfois à plusieurs reprises) les planches de ce mythique royaume de la scèné musicale.
Cette salle me plaît particulièrement. Premièrement, pour l’architecture antique qu’elle a su garder lorsqu’elle était un théâtre dans les années 30, deuxièmement car elle est vaste et sur deux étages (capacité de 2300 personnes) et troisièmement, parce qu’elle offre autant d’angles que de manière de vivre le spectacle: plancher pour danser, «trasher» et sauter, bancs et tables derrière la console et bancs au balcon. Il faut par contre arriver en avance si l’on espère être assis toute la soirée…
Certes, l’expérience dépend fortement du groupe que l’on vient y voir. Pour ma part, j’ai toujours passé un bon temps dans cette salle; l’ambiophonie était adéquate, la sécurité faisait son travail en cas d’incidents désagréables, et il y avait toujours un espace pour moi (pas de places assignées).
Il y a un bar en bas et un en haut.
Seul hic: l’hiver, les vestiaires et le bouchon de circulation à la fin du spectacle. La salle est non-​fumeur (comme tous les endroits publics au Québec), mais ça n’empêche pas certain d’allumer discrètement leur pipe à marie-​jeanne.

C’est une salle de concert, capacité entre 1500 et 2000 personnes.
J’entends déjà vos questions, pourquoi parler d’une salle de spectacle? car à mon sens elle est unique
Situé en plein coeur de la ville, elle propose trois type de place, assises (classique) sur le balcon surplombant la scèné, les places debout dans la fosses au plus près de chers artistes et les dernières types de place les semi-​debout, semi-​assises, en retrait de la fosse légèrement en hauteur, de long accoudoirs sont disposés (je sais que l’image est difficile donc pour les bordelais, on en trouve à certains arrêt de tram notamment ligne B, arrêt musée d’aquitaine) on peut s’appuyer durant les moments de fatigues.
Cette salle disposent de 3 bars, et surtout un personnel chevronné vous apportera vos boissons dans la fosse; si si je vous jure d’où ce post
Ils sont très performant et pas une goutte à côté
Sinon pour la petite histoire, j’y suis allé voir KASSAV dans le cadre du concert de clôture du festival nuit d’Afrique.
Ps: Allez passer un été, à Montréal, il y a tellement d’activités à faire et de belles à voir.

Nice venue. Coat check downstairs. Dance floor in the middle and sitting area upstairs.