Evanescence Plan More U.S. Tour Dates For 2012

LOS ANGELES — Backstage at the historic Hollywood Palladium on Tuesday, Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee was beaming. She was just hours away from playing to an army of eager fans (who, by the way, started forming a line around the venue early in the day). And of course, her band released its long-awaited third album, Evanescence, on the same day.

"There's a big line out there for sure," Lee told. "I don't know what to say, it was really cute. I went and bought my album at Amoeba [Music] and then I was on my way back and I had my little album on my lap, and they were all looking at their albums too. I think they just came from there."

"We're really excited," Lee continued. "You know, we've been working on this record forever and today's the day that we've been looking forward to for a really long time. It's great to be in L.A. We're gonna play a great show and just have fun."

The show was just the second stop on the tour, which sees support from opening acts the Pretty Reckless (which Lee called "a great fit") and Rival Sons (whose sound she described as "that Zeppelin, trippy, awesome rock"). Both bands were handpicked by EV, no doubt due to their impressive live sets.

As far as what fans can expect from Evanescence's stage show, Lee promised plenty from the new LP.

"We're definitely focusing mainly on the new material," Lee said. "We're really excited about that music the most — obviously it's the newest — but of course we'll be playing some from both of our other albums too. I guess I'd say in general, our show's on the heavy-energy side, so we'll be running around singing a lot of fast songs." While it's been some time since fans have had a chance to see EV live, Lee hasn't forgotten her favorite thing about touring.

"I love the fans!" Lee said with a smile. "I think the shows — I guess that's a boring answer — but definitely the thing that we're looking forward to when we're on the road is the concerts. Seeing the fans — hopefully getting them to lose their minds."

Which is exactly what they did when the band took the stage later that night at the Palladium. A seeming sea of black shirts filled the venue to near capacity. Of course, the band echoed the same dark wardrobe, punctuated by a burst of plaid on Lee's dress. Capturing every moment were a throng of cell phones and cameras hoisted in the air. Oh, and plenty of devil horns.

The energetic L.A. show was one stop among a slew of U.S. cities that the band will hit from now until November 1. But if your hometown isn't on the current schedule, don't fret: EV is already planning the next leg of the Stateside tour.

"We're still booking it, but I think we're gonna be doing another U.S. run next January, late January, somewhere in there," Lee said. "That's kind of the plan. If not, it will be soon after. We're gonna be all over the world, so — we always tour the world, but this time we're making a point to try to hit a lot the countries that we've always wanted to go to and have never been to, or that we see fans tweeting us or whatever and saying, Why don't we come there? We've never been to Indonesia, or whatever. So yeah, we've got a big list of places that we're gonna be touring for the foreseeable future."