I've just came back from Montreal.
Let me start this thing off by saying this was a great show and Evanescence is a great performing band.
So on my way to Montreal I put on some Ev, but I had none of the albums, only the old demos and the fallen demos. This was great nonetheless and got me excited for the show.
This was my first experience at a heavy metal festival too. It was a great experience even though it was sooo hot and the festival really took advantage of it . 16 oz of Sangria 11 $ no thank you !
So before the show, I was kinda expecting a medium size crowd, Evanescence being more of a melodic band and because some people still made fun of their presence at the festival on facebook. So I didn't expected a lot of people.
Well, I don't know how big the crowd was but it was dense. You could barely move. So yes, Evanescence still gathers crowd, and no, it's not just about nostalgia. Some people in their 20's knew the lyrics of Oceans. Soo...yes Ev still got it.
The show starts and it's What you Want with Will opening on the drums. We got:
What you Want
Going Under
The Other Side
Made of Stone
Lithium
Whisper
Call me When You're Sober
Imperfection
Disappear
Haunted/My Last Breath/Cloud Nine/Everybody's fool/Weight of the World/Snow White Queen
Imaginary
Oceans
Bring me To Life
The order is not perfect.
So the combo WYW/Going Under/The Other Side always slaps. It was true in 2011, it's still is now. I wish Troy's solo was longer though.
The crowd had a great reaction to Imperfection. I just wish we could have heard the solo better. That's one of the downside of the show. The Drums was so present that the guitars could be heard but not the nuances (if that makes sense). Amy's voice was kinda absorbs too but she always soars above the sound. I don't know if anybody else felt like the drums were too loud ?
People headbanged on Oceans, who would have thought ? The song is great live. Some knew the lyrics.
Also a bit of headbanging on Whisper.
WE GOT THE FREAKING MEDLEY !!! I was so happy. The crowd also reacted well to the medley. I don't know if everybody recognized the songs but everybody could definitely tell that it was a great feat from the band. It's almost 7 uninterrupted mins of music.
I was waiting for Disappear. The song is amazing live. I wish, once again that we could have heard Jen's and Troy's solos better.
I think Jen and Troy played the violin parts of Imaginary at the end ? Can anyone confirm ?
Bring me to Life was ofc the most awaited song. I'm a bit over it personnally but it certainly got everybody singing and participating.
The band was happy to perform, you can definitely tell. Amy communicated a lot with the crowd. She gave props to the other bands, the crew "We couldn't do this without you, we really couldn't". What a class act. I was pleased that she was communicating so much because I felt like she was a bit cold before.
Voice wise, she was perfect on Disappear. She reached all the notes, everything in chest voice. On the other songs though she struggled and had to sing some stuff in head voice : Made of Stone, Everybody's Fool, etc. We talked about this many times huh I'm afraid she won't be able to keep up with the band if she goes on like this. Her "falsetto" is certainly pretty but it doesn't beat a well belted E5 or F5.
Anyway. I had watched videos of their earlier performances this year and I felt like she was doing always the same moves and it became kind of gimmicky and... you know it gets old. But but but she is such an intense performer. You can't take your eyes off of her, even though she is not running around the stage like she used to, she is just so expressive. You can feel so much more live than on videos. And they did some close ups on her eyes. Wow wow wow she got really beautiful eyes, so piercing. I knew she did but I've never seen them on a big screen before.
Anyway, it was a great show. The band gives a great performance for sure. And they still got it.