After a brief hiatus, which had singer Amy Lee living a normal life in New York City, the band returned with a new self-titled album five years after their second, The Open Door, was released. Evanescence rolled through Toronto, Ontario, and played The Sound Academy to a sold-out crowd of over 3200.
Amy Lee walked out on stage at 9:40PM and was met with a sea of cameras held in the air by the fans wanting to capture her every move. This proved to be problematic throughout the show, especially during the older favorites. Seeing the action on stage, at times, was tough to say the least. What You Want, the band’s current single, started the night off to be followed by the hit Going Under.”
Since departing Seether, Troy McLawhorn returned to the Evanescence family on guitar. Joining him in the line-up is Terry Balsamo on lead guitar, Tim McCord on bass and Will Hunt on drums. Lee told the crowd, Well we just came out with our record about two (2) weeks ago, very proud of it. Its #1 this week in the States and its #2 here, thats good too! She then went on about how excited they are about it and said they would be playing a lot of stuff off it. This was true as the 75 minute set featured nine (9) cuts from the album. The Other Side was the start of Amy playing the keyboards, situated stage left.
Twenty-five minutes into the show, a black Baldwin piano raised at the front of the stage and then Amy stated This is one we havent played a lot of times, so here goes leading into Lost in Paradise,” the first of three songs on piano along with the band. The stage set up included great use of lighting and effects with an illuminated backdrop featuring the bands name in different configurations. After Sick, Lee asked the crowd to give it up for the openers, The Pretty Reckless and Rival Sons, and then for Nick Raskulinecz, the producer behind the new album, as he was in attendance.
Call Me When Youre Sober and Bring Me to Life were the next highlights and after playing an hour, the band returned for a three-song encore. Amys soaring vocals were stellar all night, but the concluding number, My Immortal, featured the singer primarily on the piano alone and really showcased the tender side of her voice. The crowd was singing along and then the band re-emerged on the stage to finish the song off. “Thank you Toronto! We love you! See you next year!” were the parting words from Lee as she and the band walked off the stage and the house lights came on.
Set List:
What You Want
Going Under
The Other Side
Weight of the World
The Change
Made of Stone
Lost in Paradise
My Heart Is Broken
Lithium
Sick
Oceans
Call Me When Youre Sober
Imaginary
Bring Me to Life
Encore:
Never Go Back
Your Star
My Immortal
Photos by Karl Anderson
We would like to thank Livenation Canada for allowing Backstageaxxess.com to review the show.
