I have to admit, I was skeptical going in, but I'm glad I went. Seeing them perform live was amazing. I recommend anyone to go see them if they are going to be playing in their hometown.

They're awesome.

I got The Lost Christmas last year and it was excellent. I also loved Savatage growing up.

Yep, great stuff. Saw them last year about this time in Detroit. My mom got drunk and became a TSO groupie that night. She's going to see them in Dallas in a couple of weeks. Since that fateful night, I've turned my mom onto Nightwish, Therion, Gathering, After Forever, and a host of other symphonic metal bands, and she's become a headbanger at age 57.

I saw them last year in New Orleans, and I'll be seeing them in two weeks in Pittsburgh. I'm looking forward to it.

saw them in NYC a couple years ago, thought they were awesome, i just wish they would do their beethoven album as a show.

yep, yep, yep and yep... awesome show every year. There is a readio station in the Milwaukee area that plays "Christmas in Sarajevo" every holiday season, usually way too much. But... the son gis awesome. So about 7 years ago my wife decided to buy tickets to their concert in Milwaukee. I must say that i too was skeptical going in. But the show was awesome. I had a great time... we have seen the show every year since, most years going to both the Chicago and Milwaukee stops. I'll be enjoying the Chicago show this coming Saturday!! I just hope Angus and Al are touring this side of the country... if you have the means to get to a show I highly recommend it!!

Saw them a couple of times now and loved both shows.

Saw them a couple of years ago and loved it. However, I'm waiting for the new show before I go again ... if they ever finish it. ;)

I can look this up on allmusic...but could someone maybe give me a little info about them? Usually I take praise of music with a grain of salt, but there seems to be a consensus here.

I saw them last year in New Orleans, and I'll be seeing them in two weeks in Pittsburgh. I'm looking forward to it.

Pumpy,

Where are they playing in Pittsburgh I'd like to go see them?

I can look this up on allmusic...but could someone maybe give me a little info about them? Usually I take praise of music with a grain of salt, but there seems to be a consensus here.

Big. Epic. Electric Guitars.

Pumpy,

Where are they playing in Pittsburgh I'd like to go see them?
They're playing at Mellon Arena on the 18th, I'm pretty sure. I know it's at the Igloo, but I'm not sure of the date. I do know that it's a Sunday, and I do know that it's in the afternoon (3pm?). Probably the 18th.

Big. Epic. Electric Guitars.And don't forget that it's almost entirely Christmas music, or at least it has a Christmas/winter theme to it all.

Edit: I should note that it is their live show that has this theme to it. They actually do more varied music than Christmas stuff on some of their albums.

The live show I saw a couple years back was half Christmas Eve and Other Stories (performed straight through, with a narrator reading the printed narrative you get with the CD) and the other half other material. Best I can recall, most of the other material was non-Christmas, I remember them doing Carmina Burana and Flight of the Bumblebee. Beethoven's Last Night might have come out recently, I think they did at least one song off of that.

If you want to picture them, imagine Flight of the Bumblebee performed with electric guitars and a rock-style light show. :D

I can look this up on allmusic...but could someone maybe give me a little info about them? Usually I take praise of music with a grain of salt, but there seems to be a consensus here.
TSO is basically the culmination of what the heavy metal band Savatage grew to be at the time Criss Oliva died tragically after being hit by a drunk driver. Savatage was a run of the mill (IMO) metal band from Tampa that, in the 90s, began to write "opera-style" epic concept albums that involved piano, orchestra, etc. After Criss died, his brother Jon continued the band but created TSO with Savatage's producer, Paul O'Neill and basically used the rest of Savatage as TSO's band, including the singer, Zak Stevens. At this point, they've graduated to using multiple male and female singers. They had a huge hit with Sarajevo about 10 years ago, which is based on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. In fact, the hallmark of their sound is that they combine heavy metal with classical music. Most of their stuff centers on Christmas themes, but they've also done a Beethoven album.

This kind of stuff is hugely popular in Europe, but TSO is really the only band of this kind to get widespread play in America. And they've marketed themselves well - first, the music isn't really as heavy as their European counterparts, and second, they incorporate familiar classical music into their songs, rather than write completely original stuff. The live show is fantastic. That Christmas light thread I and a few others started is based off a TSO song, so that should give you a good idea what they sound like.

So, they're a metal version of Mannheim Steamroller then?

Basically.

TSO is basically the culmination of what the heavy metal band Savatage grew to be at the time Criss Oliva died tragically after being hit by a drunk driver. Savatage was a run of the mill (IMO) metal band from Tampa that, in the 90s, began to write "opera-style" epic concept albums that involved piano, orchestra, etc. After Criss died, his brother Jon continued the band but created TSO with Savatage's producer, Paul O'Neill and basically used the rest of Savatage as TSO's band, including the singer, Zak Stevens. At this point, they've graduated to using multiple male and female singers. They had a huge hit with Sarajevo about 10 years ago, which is based on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. In fact, the hallmark of their sound is that they combine heavy metal with classical music. Most of their stuff centers on Christmas themes, but they've also done a Beethoven album.Seriously, do you have to look this stuff up?

No, I know it all. I saw Savatage open for Megadeth and Dio in 1987. I was supposed to attend the Livestock festival in Zephyrhills the night Criss was killed. I have their Streets: Rock Opera and a couple other CDs. My wife has the TSO stuff, so I've been familiar with them (and who they are) for years. I've spent hundreds of hours on the internet researching music and learning these mostly usless background details of dozens of bands, some I don't even like or listen to. It's just what I enjoy, what can I say?

BTW. anyone who likes the Savatage piano-driven concept albums should check out the Jon Oliva's Pain album Tage Mahal. It's pretty good, and sounds just like early-mid 90s Savatage.

No, I know it all.

I fucking hate know-it-alls.

:D That was in response to Pumpy's quote. I don't know everything, just what I typed in that paragraph.

:D That was in response to Pumpy's quote. I don't know everything, just what I typed in that paragraph.

I know. I was twisting your words. :)

another side note... their concerts have the widest margin (in terms of different types) of people going to their shows that I have ever witnessed. The first show that I had gone to was at the Cadillac Theater in downtown Chicago, a rather nice place. There were older aged ladies in mink coats standing next to young dudes such as myself in their black concert T's.. a thing of beauty I tell ya. For some it's a tuxedo affair, for some it's time to show their devotion to the band.

Yep. When we went to the show at Auburn Palace last year, they were selling glasses of wine and bouquets of roses. My mom had way too much wine. It was a strange mixture of 20-30-something metal fans and 50-60-something Broadway fans.

Only crowd stranger, IMO, was for Rufus Wainwright - young male homosexuals and their female friends (lesbian or not), 30-40 year old straight couples, and 50-60 year old women in love with Rufus, and their curmudgeon husbands sitting in the back of the club ignoring the whole thing.

Bump

Today, they played two shows in Pittsburgh (actually, they're probably still playing the second show right now). I was at the first show of the day, and it was awesome, as expected. :)

you probably had the tour with Al, Tommy and Angus, eh? You officially suck...

you probably had the tour with Al, Tommy and Angus, eh? You officially suck...
Actually, no, and that shocked me. They were in New Orleans last year, but they weren't in Pittsburgh this year.

My mom saw them in Dallas Saturday night, and they apparently said they would have a new album out soon, called Night Castle or something. My mom thought that was funny because she loves Nightwish and figures the new album is an attempt to get Nightwish fans to buy TSO's new album.

My mom, the symphonic metal guru.

My mom saw them in Dallas Saturday night, and they apparently said they would have a new album out soon, called Night Castle or something.
Yeah, I didn't catch the name of the new album, but the band in Pittsburgh said the same thing. It's not going to be a Christmas album, so it gives us a chance to hear some more of their non-Christmas stuff.

I don't remember the show being so long last year. Maybe it's because the place they played in New Orleans was fairly small, but about two-thirds of the show was Christmas stuff last year, if I remember correctly. This year, the show was nearly three hours, and I thought the guy was joking when they finished the Christmas stuff and he said that they were only at the halfway point. Well, it wasn't a joke. They played non-Christmas stuff for quite some time. I was surprised. Either they cut the show down in New Orleans last year, or they just added some more things to the show for this year. Either way, both shows were great.

I remember seeing an interview with Chris Caffery in which he said Night Castle should be released early in 2006, followed shortly thereafter (hopefully) by a Beethoven's Last Night / Night Castle spring tour. Of course, they've been planning a BLN tour for years now, but we can hope.

It all depends on how much money they want to make. I assume there are good business reasons to expand their appeal beyond the holiday season.

Has anyone seen the Miller Lite commercial with this playing?

Is Alex Scholnick (sp) still playing with TSO? I thought Al Petrelli was for a time too.

yes and yes... alex was on the tour that came through chicago.

As a side note... anyone have any music by Dave Z or seen Z02 at all???

yes and yes... alex was on the tour that came through chicago.

As a side note... anyone have any music by Dave Z or seen Z02 at all???

Dave Z? Not familiar. David Z is Bobby Z's (Drummer for Prince and the revolution) brother. He is a pretty big record producer.

The wife and I are going to see TSO here in Lexington on Saturday night. Lucky us, my wife's parents happen to be visiting from Florida, so we have in-house babysitters. Looking forward to the show, although I have no clue from their website which set of performers we're getting at this show. I didn't know Kelly Keeling was doing this tour. I remember him from his days with Baton Rouge.

I have tickets to see TSO in OKC on Dec. 15th. Can't wait.

December 3 for me in Pittsburgh. :)

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Is that the same guy from last year, or someone else?

I thought there were like three different groups that toured around the holidays as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They're coming here on November 27th.

There are two "productions," I think - West Coast and East Coast. If you look at their schedule, they play multiple shows on the same nights in different cities. But I can't tell who's in which production.

Yeah, I know that the same night they are playing in OKC they are playing at Richmond. We better not get the scabs!

Well, Paul O'Neill and Jon Oliva are no longer part of either production, so scabs, in the literal sense, is all we're getting!

Still, I'd like to get the Ap Pitrelli and/or Alex Skolnick production. Not sure if they're together or the lead guitarists of both.

does anyone know if they ever put the BLN show together...i saw them 3 years ago in NYC and they said they would have it out the next year, which never happened....i really want to see the new show, as that is probably my favorite album ever.

My mom got drunk and became a TSO groupie that night.

She got drunk and slept with the band? Usually people don't admit to those kind of things about their mom... :D

Great show, pretty much a carbon copy of the show I saw 2 years ago in Detroit. There might have been a couple differences with the second half song selection, but I don't recall. We had the Robert Kinkel/Alex Skolnick band.

Strangest thing about the show, though, was the Lexington crowd. I honestly don't know whether most of them understood what they were getting. At least 75% of the crowd sat there through the entire show, and not only didn't stand up, but as far as we could tell, never nodded a head or tapped a toe to the music. They could have been reading phonebooks on stage and you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. The people next to us didn't clap or move the entire night, and only stood up when they couldn't see. It was beyond bizarre.

Yesterday, we listened to The Lost Christmas Eve CD in the car and realized that the guitar is way back in the mix on CD, whereas in concert it's at the forefront. I assume most of these people thought they were getting a real orchestra with one guy on guitar or something. Instead, they got a full-fledged rock concert with lasers and pyro and hot chicks and long-haired musicians...and I don't think they knew all of that was coming. Which is strange, because I thought that's what everyone knows about them if you've heard the music (or even just Sarejevo).

Anyway, it kicked ass and you'll all love it.