Edwin, Bif Naked, Finger Eleven
Central Canada Exhibition, Saturday night
By Lynn Saxberg
Ottawa Citizen
Canadian rockers at the Central Canada Exhibition last
night.
The contestants were Edwin, the chiselled former front
man from I Mother Earth, Bif Naked, the raven
haired Vancouver singer, and the wiry guitar
player from Finger Eleven, who moved like an
android that got its wires crossed with Gumby
Though Edwin has the size and the guy from Finger
Eleven had the moves, my money's on Ms.Naked. Don't
let the little-girl voice fool you-she's a
force to be reckoned with, not only, I suspect
, in the arm-wrestling ring but also in the
pop music world.
Edwin, on the other hand, has gone further that I had
ever expected with his debut album, Another Spin
Around The Sun, his first as a solo artist since he left the band I Mother Earth.
The disc has sold some 50,000 copies and helped him
land high profile shows like the main stage at
this years Edge Fest and yesterday's free show
in Montreal with Live and Moist, which drew
about 30,000 fans
From there, he and his bandmates raced to Ottawa to
headline the second concert in this years Ex
series, another free show. I don't know how his show
went over in Montreal, but in front of last night's
audience Edwin made a serious miscalculation.
He played his current hit, Hang Ten, third in the set.
Early enough that the curious fans, the ones who came
just to hear that particular song, could
get back to the rides and games of the Ex.
At least 100 people left immediately following it.
The moral of this story: don't play your hit single too soon
when you're playing for people who didn't buy tickets.
Though they kept the attention of the enthusiastic fans
crowd-surfing in front of the stage-there was still
more then 3,000 in the arena-up in the stands Edwin's voice sounded
muffles and the band never seemed to catch fire.
And then the show ended abruptly. So much for the extra 10 minutes Edwin said he had been promised.
Someone more cynical might think he'd run out of material.
For Finger Eleven, the Ex was a chance to make up for their tight
underwhelming Edgefest set at Rideau Carleton Raceway in July.
On an indoor stage where they are they centre of attention,
it seemed they were a totally different band:Better.
This time, their glam-punk-grunge mix was powerful and visually captivating, thanks to
the frantic leaping around and offbeat playing styles of guitarists Rick Jackett and James Black.
In all, it was a climate-controlled slice of Edgefest at the Ottawa Ex.
All three acts have played the annual summer festival tour of mostly Canadaian alternative rock,
Finger Eleven and Edwin this year and Bif naked in 1998.
