Christmas encore
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, named after a railroad, continues to barrel down the tracks.
Its current holiday tour is scheduled to play more than 100 performances, up from seven during its first year in 1996. That was when Paul O’Neill – previously a producer, promoter and guitarist in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Hair” – hit upon the idea of creating a band that specialized in rock operas.
He and his collaborators produced a song called “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” based on the true story of a cellist in war-torn Sarajevo.
The song took off and then became the key component of “Christmas Eve & Other Stories,” the first TSO album, released in 1996. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra has been a Christmas staple ever since. This holiday season, it’s doing more dates than ever, and at bigger arenas.
By the way, if 100 dates sounds like too many to cram into the pre-Christmas season, you’re right. Nine shows are actually scheduled the week after Christmas, including the Spokane show on Monday.
Oh, and one other detail: There are actually two different Trans-Siberian Orchestras. As the band itself puts it, they have “morphed into two touring bands” to accommodate the demand. The other unit will be playing Madison Square Garden the same night as the Spokane show.
Yet that doesn’t mean fans will get half the spectacle. The show will be “even more grandiose than in past years, with lasers and pyro,” according to a publicist.
And the music, best described as symphonic rock, can be described as grandiose as well. The first half of the show will feature music from “Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” and other Christmas collections, as well as music from the band’s new CD, “The Lost Christmas Eve.” The second half will include the band’s rock-orchestra versions of pieces by Mozart and Beethoven, some of them retooled with Christmas themes.
All told, about 25 musicians will be on stage including heavy metal guitarists (Al Pitrelli, formerly with Megadeth, is one of the mainstays) and a handful of symphony musicians, hired locally at each date.
A reviewer at a previous tour stop in Birmingham, Ala., described the show as “part Pink Floydian rock opera, part big Broadway musical.”
“It went over the top immediately, with thundering arrangements, piercing guitar-god solos and an absolutely dazzling light show,” wrote Mary Colurso for the Birmingham News.
“The Lost Christmas Eve” CD follows the successful TSO formula, interspersing original Christmas-themed compositions by O’Neill and other band members with rocked-up versions of Christmas Carols such as “The First Noel” and “What Child Is This.” It also delves into the classical repertoire with power-chord versions of themes by Liszt (“The Wish Liszt”) and Pachelbel (“Christmas Canon Rock”).
The CD comes with a 50-page booklet which tells the story of “The Lost Christmas Eve,” involving an angel in search of a lost soul on Earth.
“I like to think of our albums as large, old castles,” O’Neill said in a press release. “They’re magical from a distance or even close up, and the further you delve into them, the more there is to find.”