Evanescence’s Amy Lee says it was “so fun” supporting Metallica on the Australia and New Zealand leg of the San Francisco titans’ three-year-long M72 world tour.
Lee’s Arkansas band played their six shows stadium with Metallica and openers Suicidal Tendencies in November 2025. The singer calls the headliners “so gracious”, even letting her bring her grand piano onstage for the entirety of her five-piece’s hour-long sets.
“You never know how it’s going to be coming into somebody else’s world,” Lee tells Loudwire. “It’s their show and [you give] full-on respect: OK, it’s Metallica, we’ll back off. But also, can we have some good production? What exactly can we get away with?”
She continues: “And they ended up being so cool. They let me put our grand piano out on the snake pit thing, so it could just live there and I could go for the couple of moments that I spend at the piano, just surrounded by the crowd.”
The singer also reflects on bringing her then-11-year-old son onto the tour, and watching Metallica with him at the end of each night.
“[He was] the perfect age to fall in love with metal,” she says. “So, him getting to experience that in the stadium, rain gently starts falling during Nothing Else Matters, just watching his mind go like, ‘I’m in!’ It was such a good, good thing for my heart, and just took me back to being that age and falling in love with music.”
The 2025 shows marked Evanescence’s first time supporting Metallica, as well as their first time playing in stadiums. Talking to Minnesota radio station 93X last August, Lee said that she wasn’t “scared at all” ahead of the tour.
“It’s a lot of bands, so we’re not responsible for carrying more than like our portion of the weight and [these will be] Metallica shows, so fans are gonna be stoked,” she explained (via Arrow Lords Of Metal).
“But at the same time, I know how those fans can be. I’ve been in this game for a while. I know what it is. I know what I’ve gotta bring. I know what not to play. So, we’re just gonna bring it and have a blast.”
Metallica have a reputation for going above and beyond to make their support acts feel welcome. Ahead of the November 1 show on the Australian tour, the band presented Lee with a M72-inspired cake.
Similarly, talking to Hammer last year, Mammoth singer/multi-instrumentalist Wolfgang Van Halen revealed that he was given a ‘Perfect Attendance Award’ for supporting them at every venue on the M72 tour’s 2023 and ’24 legs.
“Opening for Metallica was unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of,” Van Halen said. “It was really, really crazy.”
Metallica recently ended the M72 run with a summer European leg, supported by Gojira, Knocked Loose, Pantera and Avatar. The band posted tributes to each of the four openers via social media earlier this week. Avatar responded in a statement to Loudwire, calling the shows “something we will always be grateful for”.
The M72 tour may have ended, but Metallica won’t be away from the stage for long. In October, they’ll return for a residency at Las Vegas multimedia venue The Sphere. They’ll be the first metal band to play the space, which has previously hosted U2, the Eagles, the Backstreet Boys and more.
Meanwhile, Evanescence released their new album, Sanctuary, last month. Their breakthrough hit, 2003 single Bring Me To Life, has just been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
