Saturday night (26th of August) saw us attend the Sydney show of Evanesence’s 20 Years of Fallen tour, a celebration of not only a defining album of that decade but also of an ongoing successful career full of releases. Opening the night’s entertainment was the The Beautiful Monument, an extremely fitting act as the pre-cursor for Evanesence as it was them that really paved the way for headlining, mainstream metal bands fronted by a woman with a strong and powerful vocal technique. TBM’s lead singer, Lizi Blanco was mesmerizing with the way she worked the crowd and this was matched by bassist Amy Mcintosh who was a fireball of energy that banged and thrashed all over the stage. The four piece is known for their high-energy stage presence and that is what they delivered, getting fans primed for what was to come. So The Beautiful Monument was actually a beautiful monument.

Then it was time, the time we had all been eagerly awaiting. The lights dimmed and the 20000 strong crowd at the Qudos Bank Arena went silent in anticipation and then it happened, those first kicks from drummer Will Hunt thundered around the venue as the band launched into ‘Broken Pieces Shine’ from their most recent album The Bitter Truth. From their the band bounced around delivering hit after hit from their extensive back catalogue firstly with ‘What You Want’ then onto Fallen’s ‘Going Under’ and we were all instantly transported back 20 years, for most of the Audience it was like travelling back to that very first time our earballs were blessed with the music of Evanesence.

The flow of the music continued as the fast paced set tried to cram in the multitude of award winning hits that Evanesence have released thus far in their consistent career, sure there were small breaks were singer/musician Amy Lee took time to address her devoted followers, thanking them regularly for their support and dedication, but apart from these brief moments of respite, Amy did not stop, she didn’t leave the stage, going from her singing duties straight to her piano duties with effortless ease and absolutely slaying both. Australian, Emma Anzai who was on Bass duties, joined Amy to deliver delicious harmonic vocals for ‘Wasted On You’, while Guitarists Troy McLawhorn and Tim McCord supplied faultless exhibitions of their musical prowess.

At this point, I think the stage crew must be given a special mention for the ease with which they rolled a grand piano to the front of the stage multiple times throughout the evening and rolled it back within the blink of an eye. the first time being for ‘Lithium’, which was delivered to perfection. Between ‘Far From Heaven’ and ‘Lose Control’ the band played a visual collection of moments from the band’s last two decades, a montage filled full of happy, funny and special moments from behind the scenes. Evanescence went on to play something from every album until it got to that time, that time everyone was holding their breath for, those opening bars of the band’s massive hit ‘My Immortal’, phone lights went on and the 20k strong crowd proceeded to join Amy to sing along. Then in a paradox of emotion came the announcement of the final song, the song that made this five-piece a household name and jettisoned them onto the world stage, the song everyone was waiting for, and with that the first notes of ‘Bring Me To Life’ rang out and the crowd roared.

One thing was very apparent on Saturday night, Evanesence transcends age, abilities and gender, with the punters in attendance from every walk of life. It is this variety of fans that makes for not only an everlasting popularity but also makes for a fabulous atmosphere, and that is what we found at Qudos on Saturday night.

A huge thank you goes out to Evanescence and The Beautiful Monument for an amazingly brilliant show we will never forget, Organisers, Destroy All Lines & TEGMJR for having us along, the gems at Dallas Does PR, the wonderful staff at Qudos Bank Arena and all our fellow music lovers who we are now entwined within a lifelong magical music memory.

Evanesence - 20 Years of Fallen