Concert Reviews

Concert Review and Photos: EVANESCENCE – Synthesis Live at the Kansas City Music Hall

Evanescence – Synthesis Live

Kansas City Music Hall – Kansas City, MO – 11 December 2017


Evanescence has returned with their fourth studio album, Synthesis, which includes reworked versions of the band’s previous material with an orchestral arrangement and electronica music elements, in addition to two new songs, thus making it both a studio album and a compilation album. Like the album, “Synthesis Live” features a reimagining of some of Evanescence’s best-loved songs with the spotlight on full orchestra, electronics combined with the band and Amy Lee’s virtuoso piano and voice.

On a Monday evening, the Kansas City Music Hall filled with fans eagerly anticipating the performance of Synthesis Live by Amy Lee and orchestra, which started with a series of orchestral pieces from Beethoven, Mozart, and even an arrangement of “Sally’s Song” from A Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman. After the thirty-minute orchestral warm-up, there was a brief intermission before the main act.

Evanescence
© Thomas Woroniak Photography

Starting with the solemn introduction of “Overture”, Amy Lee takes her place at the piano and moves seamlessly into “Never Go Back”. The combination of the live orchestra with the traditional drum and guitar blends perfectly in this live concert setting. Lee’s voice is on-point and powerful, soaring through the arrangements by Canadian composer David Campbell, breathing vibrant life into the performance of Synthesis Live while creating an emotionally impactful atmosphere of longing and loss. Of course, audience favorites like “Bring Me To Life” and “My Immortal”, both from 2003’s Fallen, were met with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. The entire Synthesis album is performed live, however not in the same running order as the studio album. You can see the setlist below. 

Amy Lee explained that “this is a total passion project for me. There are so many layers in our music, underneath the huge drums and guitars. I’ve always wanted to shine a light on some of the gorgeous David Campbell arrangements and programming elements in our songs, and that idea snowballed into completely re-doing them with full orchestra, not just strings, elaborate programming, and experimentation. This will be our first-time touring with an orchestra and I’m so excited to perform this way-really focus on the vocals, and the emotion and the story we’ve built over the years. I’m also really excited about the new material on the album. Besides the two new songs, there are some really beautiful instrumental in-between moments. The whole thing flows like a big, dynamic soundtrack.

 

Evanescence - Synthesis Live - Setlist

Orchestra opening:
Moonlight Sonata – (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Pavane – (Gabriel Fauré)
Adagio Cantabile – (Ludwig van Beethoven)
La Strada – (Nino Rota)
Lacrimosa – (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Sally’s Song – (Danny Elfman)

Evanescence with orchestra: Synthesis
Overture
Never Go Back
Lacrymosa
The End of the Dream
My Heart Is Broken
Lithium
Bring Me to Life
Unraveling
Imaginary
Secret Door
Hi-Lo
Lost in Paradise
Your Star
My Immortal
The In-Between
Imperfection

Encore:
Speak to Me
Good Enough
Weight of the World

All photos © Thomas Woroniak Photography

 

Thomas Woroniak

Owner/Editor/Photographer/Journalist at AntiHero Magazine -- Thomas is a concert photographer and writer living in the Kansas City, MO area. When he isn't elbowing people in the photo pit, he makes an actual living as a web developer and freelance motion graphics designer. He is also a guitarist and studied music composition at the University of Illinois at Chicago -- Author: Thomas Woroniak

Related Articles

Back to top button