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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Trans-Siberian Orchestra carries on after deaths of creator Paul O’Neill, bassist David Zablidowsky

For the most part, Christmas at guitarist Al Pitrelli’s house was pretty standard, with all the classic films – “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Miracle on 34th Street,” “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

But growing up in “Italian New York” meant there was one major difference.

“As twisted as this is going to sound, our holiday go-to movie was ‘The Godfather I,’ ” Pitrelli said during a recent phone interview.

And for the past two decades, Pitrelli’s holiday season has continued to be out of the ordinary.

Instead of traditional Christmas carols, Pitrelli’s holiday soundtrack features songs like “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” “Good King Joy,” “Christmas Canon” and “Music Box Blues.”

And instead of tinsel and lights, he’s surrounded by lasers and lots of pyrotechnics.

As lead guitarist and live musical director of symphonic rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Pitrelli has spent the past 20-plus years bringing holiday cheer with a heavy metal tinge to audiences around the world.

And even after all those years, Pitrelli is still touched to hear how people make seeing the band perform or playing their music a tradition.

“You hear things after the show or whatever, and you just go ‘Wow, we’re part of something that really just took off much bigger than we ever thought it could,’ ” he said. “It’s not just a rock band anymore. It’s just become part of the holidays.”

Spokane audiences will get their chance at that holiday tradition when Pitrelli and Trans-Siberian Orchestra bring “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” to the Spokane Arena on Friday.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra performed “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” during Christmas-themed tours in 2015 and 2016.

The story, first showcased in a 1999 made-for-TV movie, follows a young runaway who hides in an abandoned theater on Christmas Eve. While there, she watches musical performances by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, presented as ghostly visions from the theater’s past.

“When you’re doing ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Eve’ like we are again this year, it’s almost the greatest hits collection anywhere, so everybody will hear their favorites,” Pitrelli, who has also performed with Alice Cooper, Asia and Megadeth, said.

This year’s tour is being touted as an updated version of “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” though Pitrelli said the production, not the rock opera, is what’s being changed.

He said the look of the stage will be different, as will the lighting, pyrotechnics, lasers and video content.

“We’ll always try to upgrade that from year-to-year because we never really want to repeat ourselves,” Pitrelli said.

Also new this year, Trans-Siberian Orchestra will perform a second set featuring more of its greatest hits and crowd favorites.

With two EPs, six studio albums and a soundtrack album to its name, selecting which hits and crowd favorites to play can be a difficult task for the members of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but feedback from the audience helps.

“The folks in the audience are the ones who put us on the map, and they’re the ones that come back year after year after year,” Pitrelli said. “We’re always very cognizant of what they enjoy, what songs haven’t we played, which ones are they missing? With social media like it is right now, it’s so good to take the pulse of what’s going on with the people who come to see us.”

This tour marks the band’s first since the deaths of founder, producer, composer and lyricist Paul O’Neill in April and bassist David Zablidowsky, known as David Z, in July.

O’Neill died from an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications he was taking for chronic illnesses.

Pitrelli admits O’Neill’s death has put a damper on the tour, comparing this tour to going to his first Thanksgiving dinner after his father had died.

“Something’s missing, but the family carries on and we’ll celebrate my dad’s life, we’ll celebrate Paul’s life…,” he said. “There will be an empty hole in everybody’s heart for the rest of our lives, but life will continue to go on. Paul and Paul’s family legacy will continue to live.”

Zablidowsky’s death hit the band hard. The musician joined Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 2000 and performed with the group on and off for nearly 15 years until he was killed in a traffic accident.

“We watched him grow up and we watched him mature as an artist, as a person, as a performer,” Pitrelli said. “Again, there’s just another hole not only in our hearts but his poor parents’.”

Zablidowsky’s death made Pitrelli realize how quickly life can change, a thought he connected to many of O’Neill’s stories, including “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” which are about loss and redemption.

In “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” a runaway wants to return home while her father, upset at himself for yelling at her before she ran away, wonders whether he’ll see her again.

“Now, obviously all of Paul’s stories end with a happy ending, but in life they don’t sometimes,” Pitrelli said. “It’s funny that even from the other side Paul is still always going to teach all of us. Tell somebody you love them. Say goodnight to the person you love and if something went upside down and you’re in a fight with somebody, you’re not guaranteed there’s a tomorrow to fix it so just take care of everything right now. Every day’s a gift.”

Though saddened by the passing of O’Neill and Zablidowsky, Pitrelli and the rest of Trans-Siberian Orchestra realize the show must go on, as it has for 20 years.

Pitrelli said every element of the show – each guitar note played, every word sung, each part of the production – has become a tribute to the man who created it.

And since, according to Pitrelli, O’Neill and writing partner Jon Oliva had a few projects in the works and O’Neill was a workaholic, plans for future tours, records and production ideas had already begun to take shape before his death.

Pitrelli is looking forward to the future of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and hopes to make O’Neill’s wish that the group be remembered not decades but centuries down the road a reality.

“Walt Disney, Disney World and Disney Production and everything Disney was carried on by Disney’s family, and it has grown up to something that even Walt didn’t foresee,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the same thing with Paul.”