CONCERT REVIEW: Ecletic crowd enjoys Evanescence at Saltair
I firmly believe that the crowd makes up a big part of how a concert turns out and the Nintendo Fusion Tour with Evanescence obviously had a rather wide appeal.
Crammed inside the small venue of Saltair on Sept. 4 were mothers, fathers, children, gothics, punks, old-school rockers and casual concertgoers. I was amazed to see children as young as 6 clutching to their fathers’ shoulders to see the performers. It was a phenomenon I had never seen before.
There was an open bar on the upper floors that kept a large majority of the fans below, making the floor very crowded. Also on the floor were Nintendo kiosks that generally detracted from the entire concert. Another factor that seemed very distracting was the Nintendo logo and characters flashing on the walls every few minutes. This really interrupted the flow of the bands.
It was almost as shocking as the drive to the concert. A mile from the exit in Tooele, traffic stopped completely. It took our party 45 minutes to get into the parking lot, which charged $5 per car, and another $40 to get in the door. This means a large portion of the attendants missed about two and a half of the four opening acts, which were Cauterize, Finger Eleven, Revis and Cold.
We were able to hear the last two songs in Revis’ set, who did amazingly well for an opening band. Revis seemed to have strongly rooted rock influences and powerful vocals behind their pensive lyrics and strong chord structures giving their songs an introspective feel.
Cold did not do as well as I had hoped, with muddy-sounding vocals, but still held their own.
“Corrosive is the single best word to describe the band, from Scooter Ward’s nicotine-marinated baritone to the band’s heavily processed guitars. Look beyond the contemporary agro-rock stylings – that low-tuned, over-turning-car-engine guitar thing and Ward’s liberal use of expletives – and you’ll discover an art-punk-band dying to support Disintegration-era Cure,” said Rob Cherry, reporter for the magazine Alternative Press about Cold’s overall sound.
Still, Cold’s hits “No One” from their album “13 ways to Bleed on Stage” and “Stupid Girl” from ” Year of the Spider” seemed to hold their entire set together.
Evanescence started the set strongly with “Haunted”. Lead singer Amy Lee took the stage with a presence that held her audience captive. She moved and danced to accentuate her lyrics and the passion of the music. Lee’s movements however did not mirror Brittany Spears or most of the female singers in the spotlight in any way. She commanded strong attention that told her audience she knew the emotion behind everything she sang.
“Going Under,” “My Last Breath,” and “Whisper” continued to hold the audience with the power of a true rock star.
Ben Moody, the lead guitarist did have some technical issues with his guitar, but the band dealt with the unexpected delay. Not well, but they did deal with it.
The audience started to clap and cheer while guitar technicians ran onto stage, frustrated, but with honesty Lee said, “Don’t cheer, we suck.” She laughed and talked with the audience until Moody’s guitar was repaired. He powerfully accompanied Lee in “Everybody’s Fool”.
The band covered Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” with unexpectedly eloquent style.
Through the concert, it became very apparent that Lee’s voice had very little processing or alterations at all on their disc. Her voice was very clear and had beautiful tone during the entire show. Lee then sang “Tourniquet” followed by their hit “Bring Me to Life” from the “Daredevil” soundtrack.
Moody surprised the audience by singing backup for “Bring Me to Life”. The band finished their set with “Imaginary” and left their audience stunned and wanting more.
Kassie Robison is a sophomore majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to kassrobison@cc.usu.edu.