Trans-Siberian Orchestra -Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA 12/23
By John Knowles and Jeffrey Easton
Christmas time is here, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra have once again hit the road to bring holiday joy and rock n’ roll to the masses. As they have done year after year, two touring companies have hit the road on both coasts to play for hundreds of thousands of fans. The West Coast company, led by founding member and Savatage alumni Al Pitrelli, is joined by fellow Savatage member Johnny Lee Middleton, guitarist Angus Clark, violin maestro Asha Mevlana, drummer Blas Elias, keyboardist Jane Mangini, as well as an all-star Cast of vocalists including Jeff Scott Soto, Andrew Ross, Moriah Formica, and newcomer Nate Amor.
The band is touring in support of The Ghosts of Christmas Eve storyline originally compiled in the 1999 made for TV film of the same name. Over the decades this storyline has evolved into a standardized song list – some of which differs from the film version – to include cuts from the bands third Christmas album, The Lost Christmas Eve. The Ghosts of Christmas Eve recently saw a new Narrated-version release and is available on all digital platforms. And speaking of narration, the West Company was privileged to have narrator Phillip Brandon who did an excellent job welcoming attendees into the plot of a young runaway who takes refuge in an abandoned theater on Christmas Eve. Sometimes it is hard to admit when we are wrong, and we just want to go home which is where we find our runaway.
The show opened with the mighty Savatage cut “The Hourglass,” the closing track from the band’s 1998 release The Wake of Magellan. This was a powerful and unforgettable way to open the show, with the full ensemble of vocal performers, screaming guitars, and technical effects filling the venue. This was also, a beautifully fitting way to pay tribute to the band which formed the foundation and backbone of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s founding by the visionary Paul O’Neill. The band followed this with “The Lost Christmas Eve”, “The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve” other cuts from their vast catalog to get the fans warmed up. As the stage unfolded into the scene of the old abandoned theater we listened to “Christmas Bells, Carousels & Time” and were then greeted by narrator Philip Brandon who brought us right into the heart of the story before we were treated to the iconic “O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night” and blown away by Al Pitrelli’s unparalleled tone and guitar finesse. The story moved quickly into the deeper parts of their catalog with “Good King Joy”, the soaring “Christmas Dreams” and the track that brought all of this together in the first place, “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)”. When this was first released as a single, the world was not ready for this kind of progression in music and here we are, almost 3 decades later and it still brings fans to their feet. There is so much pent-up emotion in that track and to see it brought out live, flawlessly by Al and company, it's still a showstopper. Seamlessly, the band progressed into “Christmas Canon Rock”, the soaring “First Snow” from the debut album and concluded with the amazing “This Christmas Day” performed by scene veteran Jeff Scott Soto. As someone who’s seen Jeff Scott Soto with this band over the years I can testify to his growth and absolute perfection of his stage charisma and craft. The man’s ability to engage with and captivate the crowd is unrivaled and enhanced the overall spectacle of the show on this performance and with the swagger of “Christmas Nights in Blue” further into the show.
Act II of the show enhanced the overall spectacle with more lights, more lasers, projections, stage acrobatics, fire, snowfall, and a life-sized snow globe where singer April Berry belted through “Queen of the Winter Night.” Savatage fans were treated to additional Sava-classics with “Temptation Revelation” opening Act II performed by Angus Clark who more than honored the memory of founding Savatage guitarist – the late Criss Oliva. The band performed a loving tribute to Savatage Producer/Writer and Trans-Siberian Orchestra founder Paul O’Neill with an acoustic rendition of “This Isn’t What We Meant” sung by Moriah Formica who brought a poignant emotion to the Dead Winter Dead classic. So much of the legacy of TSO rests in Savatage and Dead Winter Dead, the latter partly the brainchild of Paul O’Neil.
The overall technical brilliance of these shows cannot be overstated. TSO’s crew deserves all the credit for their ingenuity, creativity, and toilsome work. I was especially impressed with how they leveraged the venues existing monitors and infrastructure to surround the audience in a lake of fire on “Carmina Burana” and “Requiem (The Fifth).” The band moved through the final movements of the evening not leaving out A Mad Russians Christmas, the breath-taking Wizards In Winter, pummeling the audience with joyful metal fury for a full 2.5 hours straight. They closed out the night with the aforementioned Requiem and a reprise of Chritsmas Eve as they bid farewell to their fans. They did however permit time to recognize their late founder, Paul O’Neill, the fans, and of course our brave men and women in the armed forces.
If you have never treated yourself to the rock n’ roll glory and holiday spectacle that is a Trans-Siberian Orchestra performance, you owe it to yourself to plan now to catch them on their remaining dates or Winter 2024. This a family-friendly show, entertaining in an incomparable way. What you will take away from this experience is an unforgettable night filled with top-notch entertainment, amazing songs, and beautiful melodies showcasing some of the best talent in the business. Do not miss Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they come to a town near you.
Official Trans-Siberian Orchestra Site
Setlist:
The Hourglass
Mozart/Figaro
The Lost Christmas Eve
The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
Christmas Bells, Carousels & Time
O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night
Good King Joy
Christmas Dreams
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)
Christmas Canon Rock
What Child Is This?
Music Box Blues
First Snow
Promises to Keep
This Christmas Day
The Best of TSO
Temptation Revelation
The Mountain
Christmas Jam
Joy of Man’s Desire/An Angel’s Share
Christmas Nights in Blue
The March of the Kings/Hark the Herald Angels Sing
A Mad Russian’s Christmas
Queen of the Winter Night
This Isn’t What We Meant
Wizards in Winter
Carmina Burana
The Snow Came Down
Requiem (The Fifth)
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) reprise
By John Knowles and Jeffrey Easton
Christmas time is here, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra have once again hit the road to bring holiday joy and rock n’ roll to the masses. As they have done year after year, two touring companies have hit the road on both coasts to play for hundreds of thousands of fans. The West Coast company, led by founding member and Savatage alumni Al Pitrelli, is joined by fellow Savatage member Johnny Lee Middleton, guitarist Angus Clark, violin maestro Asha Mevlana, drummer Blas Elias, keyboardist Jane Mangini, as well as an all-star Cast of vocalists including Jeff Scott Soto, Andrew Ross, Moriah Formica, and newcomer Nate Amor.
The band is touring in support of The Ghosts of Christmas Eve storyline originally compiled in the 1999 made for TV film of the same name. Over the decades this storyline has evolved into a standardized song list – some of which differs from the film version – to include cuts from the bands third Christmas album, The Lost Christmas Eve. The Ghosts of Christmas Eve recently saw a new Narrated-version release and is available on all digital platforms. And speaking of narration, the West Company was privileged to have narrator Phillip Brandon who did an excellent job welcoming attendees into the plot of a young runaway who takes refuge in an abandoned theater on Christmas Eve. Sometimes it is hard to admit when we are wrong, and we just want to go home which is where we find our runaway.
The show opened with the mighty Savatage cut “The Hourglass,” the closing track from the band’s 1998 release The Wake of Magellan. This was a powerful and unforgettable way to open the show, with the full ensemble of vocal performers, screaming guitars, and technical effects filling the venue. This was also, a beautifully fitting way to pay tribute to the band which formed the foundation and backbone of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s founding by the visionary Paul O’Neill. The band followed this with “The Lost Christmas Eve”, “The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve” other cuts from their vast catalog to get the fans warmed up. As the stage unfolded into the scene of the old abandoned theater we listened to “Christmas Bells, Carousels & Time” and were then greeted by narrator Philip Brandon who brought us right into the heart of the story before we were treated to the iconic “O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night” and blown away by Al Pitrelli’s unparalleled tone and guitar finesse. The story moved quickly into the deeper parts of their catalog with “Good King Joy”, the soaring “Christmas Dreams” and the track that brought all of this together in the first place, “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)”. When this was first released as a single, the world was not ready for this kind of progression in music and here we are, almost 3 decades later and it still brings fans to their feet. There is so much pent-up emotion in that track and to see it brought out live, flawlessly by Al and company, it's still a showstopper. Seamlessly, the band progressed into “Christmas Canon Rock”, the soaring “First Snow” from the debut album and concluded with the amazing “This Christmas Day” performed by scene veteran Jeff Scott Soto. As someone who’s seen Jeff Scott Soto with this band over the years I can testify to his growth and absolute perfection of his stage charisma and craft. The man’s ability to engage with and captivate the crowd is unrivaled and enhanced the overall spectacle of the show on this performance and with the swagger of “Christmas Nights in Blue” further into the show.
Act II of the show enhanced the overall spectacle with more lights, more lasers, projections, stage acrobatics, fire, snowfall, and a life-sized snow globe where singer April Berry belted through “Queen of the Winter Night.” Savatage fans were treated to additional Sava-classics with “Temptation Revelation” opening Act II performed by Angus Clark who more than honored the memory of founding Savatage guitarist – the late Criss Oliva. The band performed a loving tribute to Savatage Producer/Writer and Trans-Siberian Orchestra founder Paul O’Neill with an acoustic rendition of “This Isn’t What We Meant” sung by Moriah Formica who brought a poignant emotion to the Dead Winter Dead classic. So much of the legacy of TSO rests in Savatage and Dead Winter Dead, the latter partly the brainchild of Paul O’Neil.
The overall technical brilliance of these shows cannot be overstated. TSO’s crew deserves all the credit for their ingenuity, creativity, and toilsome work. I was especially impressed with how they leveraged the venues existing monitors and infrastructure to surround the audience in a lake of fire on “Carmina Burana” and “Requiem (The Fifth).” The band moved through the final movements of the evening not leaving out A Mad Russians Christmas, the breath-taking Wizards In Winter, pummeling the audience with joyful metal fury for a full 2.5 hours straight. They closed out the night with the aforementioned Requiem and a reprise of Chritsmas Eve as they bid farewell to their fans. They did however permit time to recognize their late founder, Paul O’Neill, the fans, and of course our brave men and women in the armed forces.
If you have never treated yourself to the rock n’ roll glory and holiday spectacle that is a Trans-Siberian Orchestra performance, you owe it to yourself to plan now to catch them on their remaining dates or Winter 2024. This a family-friendly show, entertaining in an incomparable way. What you will take away from this experience is an unforgettable night filled with top-notch entertainment, amazing songs, and beautiful melodies showcasing some of the best talent in the business. Do not miss Trans-Siberian Orchestra when they come to a town near you.
Official Trans-Siberian Orchestra Site
Setlist:
The Hourglass
Mozart/Figaro
The Lost Christmas Eve
The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
Christmas Bells, Carousels & Time
O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night
Good King Joy
Christmas Dreams
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)
Christmas Canon Rock
What Child Is This?
Music Box Blues
First Snow
Promises to Keep
This Christmas Day
The Best of TSO
Temptation Revelation
The Mountain
Christmas Jam
Joy of Man’s Desire/An Angel’s Share
Christmas Nights in Blue
The March of the Kings/Hark the Herald Angels Sing
A Mad Russian’s Christmas
Queen of the Winter Night
This Isn’t What We Meant
Wizards in Winter
Carmina Burana
The Snow Came Down
Requiem (The Fifth)
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) reprise
