Review: FINNEAS @ MGM Fenway 2/21

Photos: Courtesy of Muriel Margaret

Review by Isabelle Ireland

This past Friday, FINNEAS played a sold-out show at MGM Fenway on his “FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD!” tour. Opening his show, Finneas sat down at the piano and opened with the first song “S********r” on his album, “For Cryin’ Out Loud!” He was lit with a spotlight and smoke surrounded him. With each note he hit, it seemed effortless and the sound quality was amazing. In every song Finneas performed, it sounded exactly like the recorded version. As the song amped up, the lights on the stage turned blue and the band finally hopped up on stage. At the end of the song, Finneas stood up and asked, “Boston do you want to dance?” He then was swiftly handed his guitar and the lights flashed green and purple.

The next song had a Disney 2010s vibe—and the crowd was living for it. He was incredibly suave with his dance moves. Although, somehow, he still managed to look uncomfortable while expressing himself with movement.

The FINNEAS album has a wide range of music types. Sad songs, dance music, and even country vibes were featured in the album and his setlist. His range is incredible. He hit every high note easily but also managed to reach a low octave for the majority of one of his songs. His connection to his fans is rare to see with artists, especially himself, who is widely known for producing music with his sister, Billie Eilish.

He said that Boston is his favorite place to perform and he couldn’t get enough of the fans, especially the ones sporadically shouting that they love him. “Sweet Cherries” is the next song he introduced, which was very lighthearted and he danced like an uncle at a wedding all around the stage.

He seemed to have a really great relationship with his band mates as he would start dancing with them and singing around them. The lights then began to flash and himself and his bandmates swayed in unison. Finneas also happily shouted out his band throughout the night and let them play amazing solos during some songs.

Compared to footage from his previous concerts, he has really gotten comfortable with performing and seems excited to be on stage in front of hundreds of people. “Do you want to sing this with me?” asked Finneas when playing a song his sister has backup vocals in. While singing he was getting almost too comfortable with his mic stand—but I suppose that is what performing is all about.

He then played “Angel’ and soon after he played a song that felt political and really had a good sense of activism, similar to when Billie Elish played “TV” at some concerts after the election.

He did an amazing job breaking up the types of songs with crowdwork, making the show feel personal. He even told a small story about his time in Boston thus far, including walking around the Boston Common lake as it was covered in ice on a random Thursday, and how they have been staying at the Liberty Hotel—which used to be a jail—and said, “They don’t let you forget it was a prison.”

He also told stories about growing up and visiting his uncle in Boston with Billie. He thought it was funny how obsessed he was with Boston history and Paul Revere as a child, and he wanted the audience to imagine a child talking about Paul Revere as their favorite person instead of Superman or their grandfather.

He had an amazing stage trick when he sang through an old rotary phone to get the audio to sound like a call coming through. In the middle towards the end of his set, his flow was slightly messed up and his songs played went back and forth from being upbeat to completely depressing.

At the end of his show, he played everyone’s favorites, “It Falls Apart,” “Break My Heart Again,” and finally, “For Cryin’ Out Loud!” The crowd was the loudest during these songs and the emotion he brought to each one was powerful.

He then thanked the crew of MGM Fenway, and the fans for supporting him, and ended his final song by throwing all of his spare guitar picks into the crowd, along with the drummer’s drumsticks. Unfortunately, there was no encore but overall, FINNEAS had an amazing performance. It was never boring and he played each song flawlessly, regardless of whether he was on the piano, playing the guitar, or just singing his heart out. I cannot wait to see how the end of his tour goes and I am incredibly happy that he is no longer living in Billie’s shadow.