Concert review: Evanescence, O2 Academy, Birmingham

Evanescence

O2 Academy, Birmingham

Concert review by Ian Harvey

It's been five year long years for Evanescence fans but it was well worth the wait as the goth rockers stormed Birmingham's O2 Academy on the last night of their UK tour.

Some might have thought the band had been living up to the definition of its name, "fading and gradually vanishing from sight", after being out of the spotlight for so long but they returned as if ready to prove a point.

What You Want, the opening track from the band's just-released third album, was a pure statement of intent, all tribal drums and crunching guitars that had the crowd bouncing along from the off.

Singer Amy Lee, undoubtedly the band's leader, was utterly mesmerising as she led Evanescence through a near 90-minute set-list nicely balanced between the new, self-titled album and its predecessors, the multi-million selling Fallen and The Open Door.

It was a performance built on their signature use of light and shade, Lee's twinkling piano giving way to the all-out attack of guitarists Terry Balsamo and Troy McLawhorn in huge hits like Bring Me To Life and My Immortal.

The effect was swooping, dramatic and almost operatic. Lee's voice soared above the storm roaring off the stage as if the very future of the planet depended on it and the Birmingham crowd responded in kind, singing along with abandon.

Earlier, 18-year-old Gossip Girl actress Taylor Momsen led her band The Pretty Reckless through an eye-catching, raunchy set that went down well with the sell-out Birmingham audience.