Amy Lee (Darryl Dyck/Edmonton Sun)

EDMONTON - The effervescence of Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee was just enough to shine through the muddy sound that plagued all the bands at Rexall Place last night.

Crying shame about the audio, too, because it was flat out epic otherwise. But maybe the boisterous crowd of 9,000 was to blame, drowning out the coliseum’s arsenal of speakers and loudness on a scale you’d be inclined to associate with an Oilers playoff game.

They cheered when they recognized the hits, they cheered when they might not have known. They cheered when there was little to no activity on stage.

Naturally, every act appreciated the hubbub. Some of them were even caught off guard by it – and Lee was no exception.

After opening with Sweet Sacrifice and Weight of the World – both from the band’s new album, The Open Door – she praised our permanent hearing-damage ways.

“Everybody’s been freaking out backstage, saying you guys are going to be the best crowd in Canada,” she said, cuing up even more boisterous cheers. “I think I’m starting to be convinced.”

Despite the technical snags, Lee is convincing. It may have taken Evanescence’s metal licks and being unfortunately dubbed a “goth-pop” act for her to achieve a degree of rock radio notoriety, but that voice … wow.

Even if you couldn’t understand what she was singing, though there were plenty who recognized the melodies enough to sing along, it was impossible not to get caught up in the ethereal and near angelic range of the gal from Arkansas.

The best moments were the quietest ones, like when Lee, bathed in a white spotlight, took to a grand piano midway through the band’s set for a solo performance of Lithium.

It was, you guessed it, absolutely intoxicating. It was hard not to picture another great female singer-songwriter during this bit: Tori Amos.

There are other obvious comparisons, too. On some of the band’s more subdued and downbeat intros, she sounded like Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, on others like Canadian songbird Sarah McLachlan.

Now that Lee has our attention, my attention, it will be curious to see where she takes her act.

While the rest of Evanescence is a good, solid band that’s experienced its ups and downs with lineup changes in the last few years, the metal scene’s sheen is going to lose its lustre eventually – they’ll all have to grow up sometime.

Lee’s young, still in her early 20s, but you can really see – and hear – her potential for greatness. Such lungs!

Swore and screamed

Likely nursing his lungs by the end of his set was Stone Sour lead singer Corey Taylor, the former frontman of Slipknot and, apparently, a big fan of late comic great Sam Kinison. He swore and screamed like Kinison, anyway – it was eerie.

He too was taken aback by the crowd. When he asked the crowd to jump, nobody ever asked him how high – they just achieved an immediate and impressive altitude that left him chuckling.

“Holy sh--,” he laughed. “I’m not getting too excited yet, but this is shaping up to be the best stop of the tour.”

Canada, he pointed out, has definitely embraced the band.

Hits like Through the Glass went to No. 1 in Canada first and the band’s latest album, Come What(ever) May, went gold here first, too.

The reaction Stone Sour received was such that it, and not Evanescence, could have easily been the headlining act at Rexall last night. And who knows? Maybe next time Taylor and the boys will be.

“Plans are already in the works,” he said. “We will be back.”

Bring it on.