Amy Lee is on dazzling form in this majestic show from Evanescence

Playing deep cuts with aplomb and Lee’s voice as powerful as ever, Evanescence proved why it was once one of America’s biggest bands

“Absence does make the heart grow fonder,” announced Amy Lee shortly into Evanescence’s set at the O2 Arena on Monday night, noting that it’s taken over two years and no fewer than four rescheduling attempts for the alt-metal superstars’ UK tour to get rolling. “Look at all these people!”

Evanescence fans will be used to waiting by now. In the nearly 20 years since 2003’s 17 million-selling debut Fallen made them into one of America’s biggest bands, Evanescence have proved more than a little enigmatic. Last year’s The Bitter Truth album, only the band’s fourth record proper, came a decade after their last in 2011.

It’s patience rewarded. Following a flamboyant and brilliant display from co-headlining Dutch symphonic metal outfit Within Temptation, who played in front of a fantasy-futuristic stage set that looked like a production of Wicked set in a Laser Quest, Evanescence proved a perfect exercise in classy, majestic heaviness.

Where other key bands from the early-2000s metal boom often fall back on safe hits these days, it’s to Evanescence’s credit that much of the show comprised newer and deeper cuts. Broken Pieces Shine, Better Without You and Use My Voice took on new weight and rawness while still showing off their gossamer gothic sheen. Lee’s voice, meanwhile, was dazzling: enormous and powerful during the grandstanding moments, then soft and delicate when a grand piano emerged for the beautiful tribute to her late brother who died in 2018 aged 24, Far From Heaven.