Article and Photos By: Joshua Guerra

Amy Lee and Evanescence are back on stage since recruiting guitarist Jen Majura of Equilibrium in 2015. Every Austinite’s middle school self was fan-girling for this moment, just to hear her voice live in person.

Starting off the night was Nashville, Tennessee band Veridia. Led by female vocalist Deena Jakoub, the band put on an amazing opening performance. The band recently released a new single “Still Breathing” in September. The venue was quite packed for them, and the energy was at a significantly high level. Ending off their heavy set, smoke was billowing out behind the band, and Jakoub participated in some crowd surfing for a while to the delight of the crowd.

Later in the evening brought the moment everyone was ready and waiting for — Evanescence came on stage and gave a rocking performance. Having so much success in the early 2000s, Evanescence performed as if time had stood still, because their sound has not changed since then. Amy Lee’s vocals were simply amazing and beautiful in person. To begin their set, they threw it back to their very first album Fallen and performed “Everybody’s Fool.”

There was select songs where the fans went crazy, most of which come from their most popular albums, Fallen and The Open Door — both albums hit the top 5 in several different countries after their release. A small change in set got the crowd pretty pumped up because they knew what a piano coming onstage meant. When Amy Lee played the intro to “My Immortal,” the crowd cheered wildly. Phones went up in the air and everyone began to sway as she performed the power ballad. This was the song of the night to showcase Lee’s soft, but powerful vocals.

Other notable songs they performed were “Going Under,” “Call Me When You’re Sober,” “Lithium,” and ending the night with the ever so popular song “Bring me to Life.” Although Paul McCoy was not in attendance to sing his part of the song, they managed to perform it well without him.

Evanescence will continue their fall tour for the rest of the month, wrapping up just before Thanksgiving in Huntington, New York.