It’s impressive to see several hundred people out to party on a Monday night.
 Such was the case of an excruciatingly loud, bass heavy show at Soundgarden, Monday, Oct. 26. I’ve never been more thankful for remembering my earplugs than I was after hearing a tight, body shaking, headache inducing and eardrum ringing set from Head of the Herd and Finger Eleven plus special guests Cosmic Charley.

 While I missed Cosmic Charley’s set and the first 15 minutes of Head of the Herd, the floor was shaking and the walls were shuddering from the volume of the Herd’s Cory Curtis’s bass and Matty Carolei’s drums which were pretty much overwhelming band mates Neu Mannas on lead vocals and guitar,  Clayton Frank on guitar and harmonica and Brittany Willacy’s keyboards and backup vocals.

 They crowd, most of the 250 or so in the room clustered in front of the stage didn’t seem to mind though.

 Fortunately frontman Neu Mannas’ voice was powerful enough to soar over the rhythm section.

 So the audience was treated to several songs “I’m a Mother and “Live For Love” from the band’s latest CD “ Birds On The Roof” as well as the band’s big hits.

That included a hauntingly beautiful version of their spooky slide powered smash  “By This Time Tomorrow,” for which Brittany Willacy stepped out from behind her keyboards to take centre stage to sing.

It was one of several which had the audience singing along.

  The band played tortured blues, a touch of soul and a whole lot of greasy rock and roll which included a few bars of Led Zeppelin's the Ocean and some Rage Against the machine
Finger Eleven were slightly quieter, but not much.

 They thundered through their vast repertoire of hits including “First Time” and “Living in A Dream”  plus their heavy cover of Depeche Mode’s “ Walking in My Shoes.

They played few new songs plus their latest single “Wolves and Doors” which was one of several new big riffed, groove laden rockers including  “Criminal” which was one of several new big riffed, groove laden rockers from their latest CD “ Five Crooked Lines.”

  In the middle of the show, they slowed things down with a big, long sludgy jam.
 They were to play for another half hour or so, but I had to catch another show.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor