Twenty years on, Amy Lee still owns the room,

By Bartosz Hernas

Some bands sit in your library for one song. Evanescence is the only artist I have more than five songs from, and the only one where I like more than half of every album. That never happens to me. I don't really do concerts either, but for Amy Lee I'll travel. So on Friday, September 25, I was at the Velodrom in Berlin for the Sanctuary tour.

Nova Twins opened, and they were solid. Nothing wrong with the set, but everyone in the building knew why we were there, and it wasn't them.

Poppy came next. She has a beautiful voice, but a lot of her set drops into deep metal screams where I honestly couldn't make out a single word. Some people love that. It's not my jam.

Then things got nervous. Poppy left the stage, the house lights stayed on, and nothing happened for about 25 minutes. There was no announcement and no info. The crowd stayed chill and friendly, but underneath it you could feel a whole arena quietly doing the same math: please don't be cancelled.

It wasn't. The lights dropped, the place exploded, and Amy never mentioned the delay. Maybe it was planned all along. By the first chorus, nobody cared.

She showed up in full black goth-rock gear and didn't stand still all night. She moved all over the stage, played with the crowd, and chatted a lot between songs, especially before sitting down at the piano. She seemed to be having a great time, and it spread through the room.

Then there's the voice. I'll say it plainly: she sounds as good as she did on the records, maybe better. Several times, she held a long, high note that stayed clean and clear all the way through, and there was no hiding behind the mix.

The setlist leaned hard on Sanctuary, the new album. I'd only given it a quick listen before the show, and my verdict was "okay, not great… yet." Live, it made a much better case for itself. "Beautiful Lie" and "Afterlife" were the standouts for me, and I'm going back to the record with fresh ears. That's what a new-album tour is supposed to do.

Everyone was waiting for the old songs, and Amy delivered. For long-time fans, the big one was "Like You" from The Open Door, a song that had never been played live before this tour, just in time for the album's 20th birthday. Amy at the piano singing a deep cut she'd kept off stages for two decades was a quiet high point of the night.

For "Bring Me to Life" there was no male vocal on stage, and none was needed. The whole Velodrom screamed that part, and the rest of the song too, start to finish.

Second to last…

Then came "My Immortal," second-to-last, and the moment of the night. The stage went dark except for Amy at the piano, with the rest hidden behind a huge white curtain. She asked for phone lights and the arena lit up. Thousands of people sang with her, softly enough that you could still hear her.

When the curtain dropped, the whole room seemed to exhale. It was beautiful, and that's the one moment I'll keep from this show.

The duet with Poppy, on the song they recorded together, was fine. To be honest, nobody was there for Poppy.

It was a big show. There was fire, strong visual effects, and the sound in the Velodrom was excellent. From my seat in the middle of the stands, the view was perfect, and the crowd down by the stage looked like they were having the night of their lives. Apart from the mystery delay, it was a very well-run show.

My only complaint: I wanted more classics. I'd have traded the Poppy duet, or a couple of the newer songs, for "Hello" or "Lacrymosa" in a heartbeat. Every old song they played landed perfectly, and that's exactly why I wanted more.

Would I go again? Without thinking twice. Amy Lee isn't coasting on nostalgia. She's still one of the best voices in rock, and she's still on top of her game.