Finger Eleven
**
What seem to be the Cinderella's of today's pop radio, Finger Eleven, was the opening act for Chevelle. With their radio friendly catalog of songs, not much could save these guys outside of their lead guitarists sweet dance moves. The highlight of this set was Finger Eleven's most successful single to date, One Thing. It was well done and held together quite well. The rest of their set seemed disconnected and the band appeared to be trying too hard. At one point Scott Anderson, the lead vocalist, lost his positioning on stage, tripped over his monitor and fell to his knees. Their most recent radio hit, Paralyzer, went even further awry as they tried to infuse portions of the Doobie Brothers and Pink Floyd into their "breakdown". Stick to ruining your own stuff, guys. Thanks.
Chevelle
***
Yet another show that I had been anticipating for some time, Chevelle finally came to the area in support of their recent album Vena Sera. The power trio was as tight and on point as could be expected, replicating the sounds created on their recordings to near perfection. For a group of only three guys, Chevelle's sounds is big and powerful. Softer verses and aggressive guitar riffs burst into explosions of heavy licks and raw vocals. Standout performances were: Send the Pain Below, The Fad, Vitamin R, and Get Some. It pains me to only give these guys three stars, especially with half of my reasoning not being their fault, but there were two conditions with which I brought this from a four star performance down to only three. The Hippodrome in Springfield, Ma while an incredibly cool venue with tons of character has lackluster sound unless you are seated in the balcony. Also, it seems as though the crowd is never really that "into it" at this particular venue. I saw Staind there roughly two years ago, in their hometow
n of all places, and it took me (a guy from Connecticut) and my best friend to start the pit along with actually getting people to move to the music. It seems like the 'drome just draws a lame crowd. So, take half a star away due to the venue. The other half of star gets deducted because while Chevelle played a very well rounded set, they walked off stage and never came back. No encore. Even with cheering. I know encores have become a bit cliche with their attached expectation, but these days it is most certainly the norm and I felt cheated without one last chance to say goodbye and bang my head.
1 comment:
I saw finger eleven in London, England a long time ago, they threw down. Their new album doesn't do it for me, they seem to have stepped into the world of sell-outs and are going down like paramore and many other artists.
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