Jason Canon's Shot

Life rocks is the place where I offer comments, photos, and other memorabilia  on various music concerts that I’ve had the pleasure to attend over the years. First up is a review of an Evanescence & Amy Lee concert.

Atlantic City, New Jersey 10/30/11

Evanescence & Amy Lee October 30, 2011 Atlantic City, New Jersey

What a fantastic concert! The last time I was this excited before a concert was September 11, 1964 when I saw the Beatles play the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. Amy Lee with Evanescence brought the house down! Add to Amy Lee the remaining members of Evanescence (Terry Balsamo as lead guitarist, Tim McCord playing bass, Troy McLawhorn on guitar, and Will Hunt playing drums) and you have enough sound coming off the stage to fill a football stadium. Fortunately, the venue in Atlantic City was really tiny compared to a stadium.

Arriving about 6 hours before the concert gave us lots of time to chat with several dozen other gothic fans that gathered early to nab a great place in a concert venue unrestrained by designated sitting. My own early arrival ensured a spot on the third row just below the stage. Some of my concert friends were hoping to hear lots of old Evanescence tunes but yours truly was counting on the band wanting to play mostly from the new album titled “Evanescence,” which features 16 songs.  There were two “warm up” bands, which included Pretty Reckless the alternative rock band from New York featuring Taylor Momsen.  Taylor coupled her customary raunchy image with her incredible voice on songs on songs from the band’s ‘Medicine Tour’ like ‘Make Me Wanna Die’ and ‘My Medicine.’

Evanescence opened up with the first single title: ‘What You Want,’ from the new self-titled album. This is a really hard pumping song and Amy Lee’s voice was in perfect tune for the evening. Amy Lee is really incredible to watch on stage.  Each single note is belted out at the top of her lungs with all of the feeling and passion that draws fans to her like flies to honey. The power of her voice is nothing shy of simply incredible. Of all the female lead singers of the day, Amy Lee stands head and shoulders above the crowd.

After ‘What You Want’ Evanescence moved right into the smash hit from the album titled: ‘Going Under.’ The fans went absolutely wild with enthusiasm and it appeared that nearly everyone in the concert hall knew every word to the lyrics. It is unusual to attend an event where the experience is truly shared equally by everyone in attendance but no one was quiet while this rocking song was being sung.

As the set continued Evanescence performed song after song from the new album including: ‘The Other Side,’ ‘Made of Stone,’ ‘My Heart Is Broken,’ ‘Oceans’ and ‘Never Go Back.’ The fans became really excited when a baby grand piano was rolled out onto the stage and Amy Lee sat down for a heartfelt performance of a song that she said had a lot of meaning for her life, ‘Lost in Paradise.’

Although, it was really appropriate that Evanescence focused mostly on the new album, they also took the time to play a number of golden oldies including: ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’ and ‘Bring Me to Life.’ At the end of the evening, Evanescence closed out the show with a three song encore, which included ‘Never Go Back,’ ‘Your Star’ and, of course, ‘My Immortal.” Fans certainly got their moneys worth considering that they played 17 songs in just over 75 minutes. At the level of performance given by Amy Lee and all the Evanescence band members this was a fantastic value for the fans.

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 You’re Sober
Imaginary
Bring Me to Life

Encore:

Never Go Back
Your Star
My Immortal

Hey, if you really wanna see Amy Lee up close and personal click on her image and the full size will load for you!

Amy Lee