(Finger Eleven) Ten-year-old band still relevant…kind of

Kimberly Fitzpatrick
Contributor
Yeah – they’re one of those bands that still has a number in their name.
That makes it pretty remarkable Finger Eleven is still relevant within the Canadian music scene.
Finger Eleven have been active for more than half of my life, and so they’ve garnered a pretty big fan base, many of whom have now had children and converted their children into Finger Eleven fans.
The band’s most recent Toronto concert took place on one of the coldest days of the year, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, one of the most inconvenient places to get to sans car.
The place looks like an abandoned church from the outside, but just another generic auditorium on the inside. Upcoming Canadian bands The Envy and Elias opened the show, a strange choice, since both openers seemed to attract younger fans.
Finger Eleven took the stage around 9:30 pm., starting the show with “Any Moment Now,” fresh off their newest album, Life Turns Electric. The song sounds familiarly similar to older Finger Eleven songs, making use of their recipe of strong and heavy instrumentals accompanied by a melodically blunt execution of vocals. The second song, “Pieces Fit” – also from the new album – was more alive and easy to listen to.
Throughout the show, the band played songs from new and past albums, about 20 tracks total. They ended with what is arguably their best-known song, “Paralyzer,” as an encore. I have to give them respect for their stamina. Their performance kept the audience engaged throughout, and the band has honed their skills on stage as artists over the years.
The hiatuses they’ve taken throughout their career give me a feeling they’ll go on an indefinite hiatus after Life Turns Electric. The best way to describe Finger Eleven is to compare them to a movie in which the plot and substance are lacking, but where the actors still manage to carry out an adequate showcase of their theatrical acting capabilities.
Finger Eleven reaches their goals both in concert and in recordings – if mediocrity is what they are trying to achieve.