Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings ‘Christmas Eve and Other Stories’ to Spokane Arena

For the last three years, rock orchestra Trans-Siberian Orchestra has delighted audiences with performances of “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve.”

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.

But during its 2019 winter tour, Trans-Siberian Orchestra will return to the album that started it all: “Christmas Eve and Other Stories.”

The group will bring its debut album, which takes listeners around the world as a distraught father works to find his young daughter, to Spokane Arena on Friday. The concert also will feature a second set of fan favorites from across the orchestra’s discography.

According to drummer Jeff Plate, the decision to return to “Christmas Eve and Other Stories” was one Trans-Siberian Orchestra founder Paul O’Neill was contemplating before his death in 2017.

“He realized that this story was probably the most significant one in our catalog,” Plate said during a conference call. “You know, ‘Christmas Eve and Other Stories’ was released in 1996, and that is really the CD that put us on the map.

“It has sold the best. We toured that story for the first 12 years of our touring existence, so this is what really made a mark with the fans all across the country. And it has always been a fan favorite and a band favorite. I can personally say it’s my favorite story that we’ve done.”

“Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” the band’s debut album, features the hit “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.” In 2011, the album was certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, marking 3 million copies sold in the U.S.

Though it’s been a number of years since the band toured behind “Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” guitarist Al Pitrelli said by the time the musicians hit the stage, it will be like no time has passed.

“When the setlists went out a while back, everybody’s home diligently working on their parts to come in and represent the records exactly how they were,” he said.

“We’re not just a rock band or a classical orchestra or a theatrical presentation of Paul’s work. We’re bringing these characters to life. So everybody’s been digging in for a while, you know, doing their homework, learning the parts and examining the characters involved.”

This year marks the band’s 21st year on the road, a feat that continues to amaze Plate and Pitrelli.

The duo remember preparing to take the stage at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia for Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s first ever live show. The pair glanced at the crowd and saw an older couple dressed to the nines in the front row. Next to the pair was a younger guy wearing a Slayer sweatshirt.

“We kind of looked at each other and said, ‘This is either going to go really bad or really great,’ ” Pitrelli said. “And two hours later, we realized that this was the most amazing thing ever.”

Over the years, Pitrelli and Plate have come to learn that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra audience includes any and all demographics. It all comes down, they say, to the stories and songs O’Neill created.

“Everything in the story is relatable to somebody in the audience,” Pitrelli said. “If you insert your name or situation or circumstance into Paul’s work, the entire show becomes about you.”

As such, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has a lot of what Plate and Pitrelli lovingly refer to as “repeat offenders.” In other words, people who attend their concerts year after year after year.

In order to keep its concerts interesting for those repeat offenders and new fans alike, Trans-Siberian Orchestra tries to switch up things each season, which is where that second set of fan favorites enters.

“Every year we try to bring something a little bit different to, at least, the back half of the show, and usually the intro of the show, too, is changed up quite often,” Plate said. “But, every year it needs to be something better, obviously, but different, too.”

Over the years, Plate and Pitrelli have noticed that a lot of fans don’t get into the holiday spirit until they’ve seen a Trans-Siberian Orchestra show. It’s a responsibility the pair, and the rest of the band, doesn’t take lightly, a responsibility that makes all the time away from their own families during the holidays worth it.

“Being away from home, it can be a drag at times, but, at the same time, we have this extended family of about a million people a year, and, for probably over half of them, they come to see us every single year, if not more than once a year,” Plate said. “And the ones that are seeing us for the first time, we’ve got them once they come into that arena. We’re going to turn them into fans by the time they leave.

“So for us, it’s a huge responsibility, not just to perform this show, but we also realize that a lot of these people really kind of depend on us to kick this whole thing into gear in terms of the holiday spirit, so it’s very cool.”