With the release of their new album The Open Door just around the corner, Evanescence have lined up 17 theater gigs that will constitute the first leg of their world tour.
The initial North American run will kick off in Toronto on October 5 - two days after The Open Door lands in stores
(see "Amy Lee Says New Evanescence LP Has More Sensuality") — with dates scheduled through October 29 in San Francisco. Evanescence then plan on heading across the pond for a brief run of European shows, after which they'll return to the States before year's end to play in larger arenas.
Frontwoman Amy Lee said the band's set will be filled with the new material, with a handful of older tracks thrown in for kicks. "It's been two years since we stopped touring," Lee said. "So it's been awhile, and I'm a little nervous, but I'm mostly just excited. By the end of touring the last time, we were just dying to write more songs and play some new material. So, by now, after all the recording and writing and creating, we're just ready to get back out there and play it and see how it goes again."
Tickets for the bulk of the trek go on sale August 19. Tickets for the Los Angeles stop will be available August 26.
The video for "Call Me When You're Sober," the first single from The Open Door, was directed by Marc Webb (AFI, My Chemical Romance) and began airing on MTV this week (see "Evanescence's Amy Lee Isn't Afraid Of Big Bad Wolf In 'Sober' Clip"). For months, Lee has remained rather tight-lipped over who the song might be about, much like Carly Simon's long silence regarding the inspiration behind 1972's "You're So Vain." But, given recent events, Lee's had a change of heart.
"I think it's impossible to hide how obvious it is," she said. "The day that our single hit the airwaves, my ex-boyfriend [Seether frontman Shaun Morgan] said he was going into rehab and canceled their tour [see "Seether Frontman Enters Rehab; August Tour Dates Canceled"]. I haven't ever said right out who it was about, but it's about the big relationship I was in, and the whole breakup, which was really long. The breaking up and the hard stuff in our relationship happened sort of after I was out of the spotlight for a while and writing. It wasn't in any way public. I was trying to be kind of discreet about it, and then he totally came out and said he was going to rehab. It was shocking to me. It kind of made for a more interesting story.
"The song is very personal," she continued. "It was very brave for me, the lyric writing, because I was just sick of hiding behind metaphors in all that I had been writing. So much of the record was about the turmoil I was going through, with choosing between happiness and comfort. In the end, I had to choose happiness and health for myself. I made the right decision. I was letting myself be run down. I hate to say all this specific sh--, but it's impossible not to, it seems like. I am totally in support of Shaun, and I'm really happy for him."
The song also applied to several other things happening in her life. Sure, it was mostly inspired by the relationship with Morgan, "but it was also about the people I was working with that were kind of holding me down and manipulating me and betraying me. I had to put my foot down and walk out the door. I changed a lot of things in my life," including her phone number and living situation (she moved from the West Coast to New York), "and severed a lot of ties, which is really hard to do."
Back in mid-July, Lee revealed that bassist William Boyd had quit the band because "he said that he just can't go through with another huge tour right now and wants to stay a little closer to his family instead" (see "Evanescence Lose Bassist; Amy Lee Vows To Stay On Schedule").
Since then, Lee said the band's found a replacement for Boyd in former Revolution Smile guitarist Tim McCord, who'll be switching instruments to fill the void."He's awesome," she said. "We got a lot of recommendations, and we just met and hung out to see how we got along. And Tim was really cool and laid-back — just a normal dude that I feel like we can easily hang out with and hopefully vibe great with onstage."
Evanescence tour dates, according to the band's publicist:
10/5 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus
10/6 - Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
10/7 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
10/9 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
10/10 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
10/11 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/13 - Detroit, MI @ State Theatre
10/14 - Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom
10/15 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Quest
10/17 - Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
10/21 - Dallas, TX @ McFarlin Memorial Auditorium
10/22 - Houston, TX @ Verizon Wireless Theatre
10/24 - Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
10/25 - Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue
10/27 - Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theatre
10/28 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern LG
10/29 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
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