Evanescence - Cologne 2006

Palladium, Cologne, Germany
18th November 2006
Evanescence and Revelation Theory

Back with the new album “The Open Door”, EVANESCENCE from USA were just giving two shows in Germany – one in Berlin on 5th November, and one in Cologne. Remembering the huge success of the band in Europe you won’t be surprised hearing that the show was sold out for weeks. People were coming from very far away in Germany, but I also saw Dutch, Belgium and even French cars outside the venue and also the languages spoken inside were very mixed. People gave everything to see their favorite band. You could also feel their enthusiasm during the show.


Revelation Theory

But before we start with the band most people came for, the crowd was warmed up by REVELATION THEROY from New York / USA. Rich, Julien and Dave were experimenting with music during their college days. After they have moved to NY they met Matty who completed the band and REVELATION THEORY was born. After a self titled EP, the band was looking for a label and soon after, the debut album “Truth is Currency” was released on Element Records (distributed by EMI). Even though the band exists for hardly more than three years now they built up quite a big fan base, played several big festivals with big names and now they are touring with EVANESCNCE what should make them even better known. REVELATION THEROY are Rich Luzzi (lead vocals), Julien Jorgensen (guitar), Matty McCloskey (bass, vocals) and Dave Agoglia (drums). http://www.revelationtheory.com/ / www.myspace.com/revelationtheory



Music
REVELATION THEORY are playing Nu-Metal like so many others before. They are all very good musicians, but for my taste there was nothing new in the music. But it is powerful and the audience in Cologne loved it. The band presents a blend of hard guitar rock, forceful vocals and melodic rhythms. You could feel that they are putting a lot of emotions into their music. But guys; do it in a more self-contained way. The band surely has potential; the guys just have to work it out. The first EP was moving too much on paths of NIRVANA, SOUNDGARDEN or CREED. Anyway, the songs of the debut album showed some development. Especially the powerful Nu-Metal riffs are sticking out – not a new invention but presented very well. For the show with EVANESCENCE, the band chose mainly hard and fast tracks. And that worked very well pushing up the audience. The light show just absorbed the beats of the music; flickering lights turned on and off.



Performance
With 40 minutes, the show seemed to be a little longer than I know it from other support gigs. Even half an hour before the show started, the venue was filled very well. And after people had a look at the merchandising stand – where also stuff from REVELATION THEORY seemed to be sold very well – people entered the hall. Remembering that the venue was sold out, also the gallery was filled right from the start. The stage design was very simple, just the drum set in the back, guitar and bad player right and left – with a podium in front each – and the singer in the center. The show was very powerful and energetic. Julien and Matty used the podiums, but especially Rich was standing a lot on him. Matty was shaking his hair a lot – remembering more of a real Metal concert. Drummer Dave started the show right away without a shirt. He might have known how hot it would be when he’s hitting the drums maniacally. But also Rich followed his example and undressed the shirt… sweat was dropping down from his whole body. He exactly knew how to push the audience. When saying “Let me see your arms” at least the front third of the venue did as he wanted. During “Slowburn” as the second last song, they had a special guest on stage:  John LeCompt from EVANESCENCE was playing the guitar too. He was welcomed with a lot of cheers within the audience and people were singing along the song. As a good marketing trick, Rich said short before the song: “As soon as we are off that stage we are out in the crowd…. to sell our CD. We want to see every single one of you” and indeed, after the show the band was walking through the audience and rapidly sold lots of CDs.



Before the last song started, Rich heated up anyone again because he wanted to capture the emotions with his camera. During the song, anyone was jumping. Singer Rich left the stage at the end, entered the security pit, climbed up the fence and shouted out his lyrics close to his fans who really appreciated it. With quite some applause the band left the stage.

Rating
Music 5
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 7
Total 6.7




Evanescence

Being often called a Gothic band in Germany, the band from Little Rock (Arkansas, USA) is more a Cross-Over band with lots of Nu-Metal and Alternative influences. Different to other bands from that genre are the female vocals. The band was originally founded by Amy Lee and Ben Moody who met each other End of the 90s in a holiday camp. Having the same musical favorites, both fitted together very well and it was easy to write songs where both had same input in writing lyrics and composing songs. On a small label, the first CD “Origin” was released but it did not bring the big success. But the band was able to rent a real studio for the first “real” album and include more musicians into the recording process. “Fallen” climbed up the charts soon after the release and the single “Bring me to Life” brought the break through. The band toured the USA in autumn when the news was spread that Ben Moody has left the band. His place was taken over by Terry Balsamo. After extensive touring the band released the live DVD “Anywhere but home” what exactly describes the life of the band during that time. The recording of the follow-up album was not standing under a good star. Terry Balsamo suffered from a stroke. Luckily it was not a heavy case and Terry recovered quite fast and was able to work again with the band recording the album. “Open the Door” finally was released in autumn 2006, announced with the single “Call me when you’re sober”. EVANESCNECE currently are Amy Lee (vocals), John LeCompt (guitar, backing vocals), Terry Balsamo (guitar), Rocky Gray (drums) and Tim McCord (bass). http://www.evanescence.com/ / www.myspace.com/evanescence



Music
Very typical for the band is the interaction of Amy’s clear voice with the harsh loud guitars. The whole set was much diversified. Fast harsh and loud songs alternated with ballads only presented by Amy on the grand piano. As expected, the setlist contained lots of songs from the current album “Open the Door” – exactly eight out of fourteen played songs. The new songs follow the tradition of the old ones. The epic songs were sung with lots of passion and always a gothic touch. The emotional songs again deal with melancholic topics – unfulfilled love, painful breakups, all-consuming passion or hurt emotions. Common for the old and new songs is the interaction of hard guitars and smooth pianos which was also perfectly brought to stage. Emotional ballads belonged to the set as well as the fast Nu-Metal stuff. The reign of new songs was opened with “Sweet Sacrifice”, followed by “Weight of the World” and “The only one”. In the middle of the set, the depressing ballad “Lithium” ended the row of faster songs followed by another ballad – “Good enough” – which was presented only by Amy on the piano.



After those calm songs, the first single out off “The open Door” – “Call me when you’re sober” – continued in a faster way. Last of the new songs in the main set was “Lacrymosa” with its gentle piano melody. After a little break it went on in the calm way with “My Immortal” from the album “Fallen” before the quite short (too short in my opinion) set ended with the new song “All That I'm Living For”. Of course there was also a place for older songs. So, i.e., the song “Going under” has been played. The video for that song was filmed also in the Palladium in Cologne and so Amy said, that within the audience might be people who were there during the production. Also the very first real hit – “Bring me to life” – had to be played. During the whole show, Amy’s voice was in perfect condition – sometimes loud, harsh and powerful; sometimes clear, high pitched and gentle. All band members musically perfectly acted together. Also the sound was very well mixed and so all instruments and especially Amy’s voice sounded perfect.



Performance
The whole stage was dominated by the gigantic white backdrop in the back showing the band logo. In front of it there was a podium for the drummer built up. The rest of the stage was empty – giving enough room for the vivid show of Amy in her pink frills-skirt and the guys on guitars and bass. Just before the show started, white roses were unwrapped in the first row – just a sign of admiration for the band and especially Amy, I’d say. The most impressive person on stage was surely Amy. She sung with all her power and passion, running across the stage during the fast songs or being sunk into herself during the calmer moments. The light show was very well balanced to the speed of music. For the faster songs, quick light changes, strobes and flickering spots dominated. Sometimes you had the impression of a thunder storm with lightning even. For the ballad there mainly was steady colored light from the back and a single spot on Amy.



The audience was very much into the show – singing a lot, clapping and jumping… or enjoying the calm moments with fired up lighters. Amy seemed to be impressed by the good mood as well – telling it several times to the audience how fantastic they are or saying “Thank you” in German or introducing the band by asking the audience to scream for them – “Thank you so much for all. We have one more song for you, but before we go I want you to scream”. And of course people screamed with every single name Amy told. Maybe something quite unusual to mention… normally you see lots of cameras or mobiles held up to take pictures of the band. Not this time. Taking pictures was strictly prohibited – even with mobile phones – as also the signs said outside at the doors. The security was hunting any single one taking pics by observing the audience from the gallery and marking the persons with flashlights. That maybe slightly decreased the mood within the audience. But then again you’re at a concert to suck in the atmosphere, to celebrate and not to take pictures. ;)



Setlist
01. Intro
02. Sweet Sacrifice
03. Weight of the World
04. Going Under
05. The Only One
06. Haunted
07. Whisper
08. Lithium
09. Good Enough
10. Call me when you’re sober
11. Imaginary
12. Bring me to life
13. Lacrymosa
---
14. My Immortal
15. All That I'm Living For

Rating
Music 9
Performance 8
Sound 8
Light 8
Total 8.4



More pics on Black-Cat-Net
{jos_sb_discuss:17}