Against the steel gray cast of a mid-summer day, tension was growing. The frigid droplets of water falling from the sky outside Barrie, Ontario, felt like dental picks on an exposed nerve.
The slosh of mud surrounding the second stage at Canada’s annual Edgefest left many attendees caked in mud, a palpable anger ever present. Technical difficulties from a flash in the pan act called Len delayed an anticipated set from perhaps Canada’s most respected hard-rock outlet, Finger Eleven.
After nearly 45 minutes of mic checks and attempts at playing, the crowd reached a breaking point, throwing whatever they could at Len to get the group to leave the stage.
Len was delaying what the crowd had really come to see. With no forewarning, Finger Eleven took the stage to a deafening roar. The quintet was expressionless. With rain and mud abounding, the crowd was unaware that the storm hadn’t even begun.
His face hiding beneath a surplus store gas mask, guitarist James Black, a player of undeniable talent scratched out the opening notes to “Above,” a brutally uplifting track that matched the malaise of the environment on this particular day.
By the time the dense blasts of dropped-D riffs that start the rhythm of the song began, the crowd was already a collection of crawling organisms — jumping, colliding and collectively moving to the music.
The hurricane-like conditions only augmented the enthusiasm of the few thousand people who crowded the small stage. While the main stage crowd huddled under ripped trash bags and clamored for warmth, the second stage was alive with compressed riffs, digital harmonics, rising vocals and booming drums. This was life, this was rock ‘n’ roll, and this was Finger Eleven.
Finger Eleven’s autonomous debut, Tip, was almost too good. The two-guitar assault of James Black and Rick Jackett indicated a volatile, yet symbiotic relationship that hit listeners on the chin like a well-placed right hook. Tracks like “Quicksand,” “Thin Spirits,” and title track, “Tip,” were all potent declarations of excellent craftsmanship.
In live performance, Black and Jackett are inexplicable. Their frenetic, jagged movements would throw off the timing of any studio axeman, but Finger’s guitar dichotomy operate like fluid robots programmed to do nothing else than rock. Singer Scott Anderson offers vocals that punctuate what the guitars have already given life to — undeniably catchy rock that refuses to cut corners.
Drummer Rich Beddoe and bassist Sean Anderson form the rigid backbone of the Canadian powerhouse, offering grooves and rhythms that give the trio up front room to steal the show with tracks and a concert mentality that calls for 110 percent in each and every performance.
The group’s successful follow-up, The Greyest of Blue Skies, leaned more toward the gray than the blue; nonetheless, the 11 solid tracks on the record swayed from the visceral punch of “First Time,” to the cathartic undertones of “Bones + Joints,” and the contemplative introspection of closer “Stay and Drown.”
Currently, Finger Eleven is out on the road with Cold and will be making a stop in Madison Sunday night for a show at the Barrymore. The show promises to see the unveiling of new tracks from the as-of-yet-untitled follow-up to The Greyest of Blue Skies, due June 17.
Following dates with Cold, Finger Eleven will head home to open a string of arena dates for Ozzy Osbourne as the Batman/father extraordinaire prepares for his annual trek on the Ozzfest tour, of which Finger Eleven will also be a part.
While the Barrymore is an indoor venue and won’t offer the atmospheric conditions of their Edgefest performance, Finger Eleven will surely offer up a performance that will sound like a melodic wrecking ball smashing an abandoned warehouse in a performance that can’t be missed.
Cold with special guests Finger Eleven and Depswa will play the Barrymore Theatre this Sunday night at 7:30 p.m.
