To watch Evanescence in concert is to be spellbound by founder Amy Lee's astonishing voice. The Arkansas band's gifted mezzo-soprano lends their music vocals that range from skyscraping and spectacular to haunting and devastating. She soon moves through the registers on the opener Sanctuary, setting the stage for a show during which her vocals seem to scale ever greater peaks, even when you are convinced that there are no octaves left to conquer. And she makes it look effortless, striding around the stage, headbanging and fist-pumping the air.
It's standard promotional protocol for a band to lean on their new album on tour, but it still shows impressive faith in their audience that tonight Evanescence perform all but one song from Sanctuary, which is also the title of their sixth LP. Jordan Fish, formerly of Bring Me the Horizon, produced most of it and his metallic influence is clear: pummelling drums, titanic choruses and walls of stormy riffs make the band's new material noticeably heavier than the gothic hard rock of their earlier years.
after newsletter promotion
Going Under is one of those brooding, decades-old staples. Caustic chugging guitar clears the way for towering choruses to explode into life, sparking enormous singalongs with Lee at the helm. Afterlife is anthemic, anguished pop metal while Calm Down is a groovy, synth-heavy number that creeps towards the most colossal breakdown of the night. It's also the point when the band first utilise every inch of the stage, activating rising platforms and synchronised tongues of flame – drummer Will Hunt bolts upright from his stool to give the floor toms an almighty whack.
Perched at the keyboard for the penultimate song, My Immortal, Lee thanks the band's crew, her fellow musicians, and the fans who have brought them “across the ocean over and over again, growing up together†for more than 20 years. Lee, 44, recently told this paper that she can see herself performing into her 60s, which is good news. In music generally – not just rock – a singular talent like hers is not so easily replaced.
