Anywhere but Home is the first live album and concert DVD release by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on November 23, 2004, by Wind-up Records. It includes a recording of a concert at Le Zénith in Paris, an hour of behind the scenes footage, three previously-unreleased songs, and all four of the Fallen music videos.

Background and release

Anywhere but Home was filmed during Evanescence's concert at Le Zénith in Paris on May 25, 2004. The concert was part of the tour in support of their debut album Fallen (2003). Every song from the album except "Hello" was performed at the show. Three new songs were released on Anywhere but Home: "Missing", "Breathe No More" (which was featured on the soundtrack to the 2005 film Elektra), and "Farther Away". While placed at the end of the disc, the CD insert shows "Missing" as track eight but it is actually track 14 and incorrectly labeled "Whisper". A secret performance of "Bring Me to Life" in Las Vegas, Nevada can be found on the DVDs main menu by moving the cursor to the largest thorn on the left-hand side of the screen. The band symbol then becomes visible. When selected, this will take the user to the hidden footage. In December 2004, a couple in Maryland who had bought the album for their daughter, filed a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart after hearing the word "fuck" sung during "Thoughtless", a cover of a Korn song. The lawsuit claimed that while the album contained this explicit word, there was no Parental Advisory sticker on the package. It also claimed that the album violated Wal-Mart's policy of not stocking music with explicit lyrics, and that the company had to be aware of the problem because the word was dubbed out of a free sample on the Walmart.com website. The lawsuit was resolved by court order of a deal which would allow those people who bought the album at a Maryland Wal-Mart location to receive a refund. Some copies have the Parental Advisory notice, yet other copies are still sold without it now.

Reception

Johny Loftus of AllMusic deemed the album a "fine holdover" until the band's second studio album, and stated that it "reasserts Amy Lee's position at Evanescence's center" while she was "always the singular force" of Evanescence, with her "powerful vocals, strident public persona, and striking fashion sense [breaking] down the doors of the alternative metal boys club." He further praised Lee's vocals and engagement with the crowd. Geoff Barton of Classic Rock graded Anywhere but Home with four out of five stars. On the Billboard 200, the album debuted at number 39 on December 11, 2004, selling 59,000 copies in its first week. On the Spanish DVD Chart, Anywhere but Home debuted at number one for the week ending November 28, 2004; it became the best-selling music DVD of 2004 in Spain.

Track listing

CD

DVD

Concert

58 minutes

Music videos

17 minutes

Behind the scenes

1 hour

Extra

5 minutes

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Album Video

Year-end charts

Video Album

Certifications

! colspan="3"| Album ! colspan="3"| Video