Photo credit: Seanen Middleton/ @seanenmiddleton
With their new album released just weeks before their highly anticipated tour reached the UK, it’s safe to say it’s an exciting time to be an Evanescence fan. Their trail-blazing career, stretching well over two decades since their debut album, has opened doors for a number of female-fronted metal bands, two of whom are here tonight as support bands.
The dramatic entrance to the stage launces us into four tracks from their new album. With the sound staying true to their original music, it receives a warm reception as well as some gentle headbanging. But that’s nothing compared to the cheers that greet the opening riff of Going Under.
Amy Lee takes to centre stage with her maganificent grand piano to celebrate 20 years since the release of The Open Door. The hauntingly beautiful builds of Lithium and Like You demonstrate how well that album has stood the test of time. It may not contain their biggest hits, but is certainly no less memorable.
Opening act K. Flay returns to the stage for Fight like A Girl, a recent collaboration between the two acts.
Wasted On You provide a momentary break in the fast-paced performance. For a few minutes, gone are the flames and moving stage elements – instead we’re treated to the harmony driven ballads from 2021 album The Bitter Truth. Forever Without You follows, reducing the entire arena to a blubbering mess. Then, BAM! Bring Me Back To Life. The type of greatest hit that many bands would keep audiences waiting for is planted smack-bang in the middle of the set. The seated audience rise, phones come out to record. For the next 5 minutes we’re transported back to 2003.
Tonight’s set truly has something for every type of fan – a healthy dose of early material for the elder-emos and plenty of more recent hits for the newer members of the fanbase. Poppy is welcomed back to stage for End Of You in between the final numbers of the night. A certain nod to the certainty of the future of the genre.
My Immortal gives the 16,000-strong crowd one final opportunity for a therapeutic, Friday-night sing-a-long before the set is concluded with Wide Open Heart, another new track. It’s clear that the love for Evanescence is still as strong as it has been for decades.
Leave a Reply