Wow, first post of the new year. I saw Evanescence Friday night for the third time in 13 months. It would have been three times in less than a year, but the concert was postponed from November to February. It was my first time going to the San Jose State Event Center, and I'd just like to say their website lies! It says the 7th Street Garage is free after 6pm on weekdays, so we got there at like 6:10. I pull up, and they're like, "Ten dollars." I informed them it's supposed to be free. "Not today," they said. I told them they ought to have a sign then that says $10. They said there was....apparently it's an invisible sign because neither Jenny nor I saw it. The next garage also had no sign, so I asked the attendant. No free parking. I said screw that; so we parked on the street at the other end of campus, which proved to be a shorter walk, anyway.

After making it through the line of thousands, we were inside the arena. Time to check out the band merchandise. In two other Evanescence concerts, I had yet to come home with my usual concert T-shirt. Bad news here, too. The shirts were not only large and ugly, they were $30! I think I'll get both shirts I like online for about $10 more.

During the concert, I became a boring old lady and sat in my seat the whole time. I didn't feel like hassling with all the annoyingly tall people standing out on the floor. At least I had a clear view of the stage...it was just a little distant. Actually, it was distant enough that Amy Lee's outfit confused me for 90% of the concert. It was only at the encore that I realized she was wearing ripped jeans under her red and white sporty-looking skirt. I thought she had really ugly boots on. I finally got to see Amy play the keyboard for "My Immortal" and the start of "Bring Me to Life." I also heard "Farther Away" for the second time. I really like it, but the song is virtually impossible to get. Sadly, there was nothing off the "Origin" album. Terry Balsamo (formerly of Cold) gave the band a different sound at times...especially on the guitar solos. Ben Moody barely deviated from the recording when I saw him with the band. And while playing along with a recorded track limits how creative you can get, they did manage to finally make the songs a little different in concert...but not much.

This time there were two cover songs (there were two or three plus bits and pieces of a few others last time): Metallica (can't remember the title) and Soundgarden. Amy may love Soundgarden, but the Metallica song went over much much better.

And on a side note, I was pleasantly surprised by Evanescence's opener, Default. Their singer is pretty amazing live...in other words, he sounds just as good live as on the recordings.

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