Evanescence in Brussels: the voice that brought the 2000s back to life
For many millennials in Forest National on Wednesday night, Amy Lee’s voice was once something blasting through bedroom stereo speakers in the early 2000s. More than twenty years later, it sounded remarkably familiar — only this time, 8,000 voices were singing back.
On September 16, Evanescence kicked off the mainland European leg of their Sanctuary Tour in Brussels, after several dates in the US and UK. From early in the evening, the venue filled up with older and newer generations almost completely dressed in black — a look Amy herself would probably be proud of — eager to either take a trip down memory lane or experience the band’s music live for the first time.
From the moment the lights went off and the five-piece band stepped onto the stage — with Amy as the only remaining member from the Fallen era — it was clear that this was not going to be a nostalgia act doing a greatest-hits victory lap. The 21-song set opened with 'Sanctuary', followed by three more tracks from the band’s new album, before Amy and guitarist Troy McLawhorn walked to the end of the catwalk to dive into their debut album with 'Going Under', sending the whole room straight back to 2003. Vibrant, fierce, powerful and emotionally charged, the new songs feel designed to be played live, while the classics triggered an almost instinctive crowd reaction, 23 years in the making for some of us.
Time passes for everybody, so needless to say Amy Lee doesn’t look exactly like the 21-year-old woman from the 'Bring Me to Life' video — although those eyes that seem to stare straight into your soul remain. Her voice, however, is astonishingly intact. The same voice that once came through our stereo speakers still cuts through a packed arena with seemingly effortless power. Her impressive range allowed her to attack heavier songs such as Self Destruct, then sit behind the piano and completely change the atmosphere for more emotional moments. Before Forever Without You, she reflected on how difficult it can be to walk away from a bad situation, promising that things can be better on the other side.
She commanded the arena without excessive talking, interrupting the flow only to mark the 20th anniversary of 'The Open Door', thank the audience for embracing the new album, or, at one point, stop the show when someone in the crowd needed help. “Nobody is alone, we’re all together in this,” she reminded the room. It might sound unfair to the rest of the band members to say it, but Amy is to an Evanescence show what the sun is to the solar system: the centre around which everything gravitates. The musicians around her are formidable, but it is difficult for anyone sharing a stage with Amy Lee not to fall slightly into her orbit.
'Going Under', 'Lithium', 'Call Me When You’re Sober', 'Bring Me to Life' and the heartfelt ballad 'My Immortal' were some of the highest peaks of the night. But their impact went beyond simply hearing familiar songs again. For part of the audience, these were songs discovered as teenagers, attached to bedrooms, burned CDs, black eyeliner and an era when alternative rock dominated MTV. More than two decades later, those same songs are still being screamed back at the band — now alongside younger fans who were barely born, or not born at all, when 'Fallen' was released. That mix of generations might be one of the clearest signs of Evanescence’s longevity. Nostalgia was undeniably in the room, but it was being shared with people creating their own memories of these songs in 2026.
And if the evening had one other recurring theme, it was women taking over the heavier side of alternative music. Nova Twins opened the night, followed by Poppy with an almost hour-long set of her own, before Evanescence took over the arena. Poppy later returned to the stage during Evanescence’s set, turning the night into more than a traditional headliner-and-support-bands bill. Across very different sounds and generations, women remained firmly at the centre of the stage from beginning to end.
By the time 'My Immortal' filled Forest National near the end of the night, accompanied by thousands of voices, the distance between then and now felt surprisingly small. Evanescence will probably never completely escape the early-2000s nostalgia attached to their name — nor do they need to. But Brussels showed a band that is still moving forward rather than simply recreating its past.
The teenagers who once turned 'Bring Me to Life' up on their stereos are older now. Amy Lee is too. Yet when that voice cut through Forest National, for a few minutes at least, 2003 did not feel very far away.
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