Just curious if anyone has seen this year's Trans Siberian Orchestra tour? We are taking my dad on Sunday, but have not seen much about it so far.
Just curious if anyone has seen this year's Trans Siberian Orchestra tour? We are taking my dad on Sunday, but have not seen much about it so far.
I'm going in a few weeks. They fired long-time TSO West drummer John O'Reilly and hired former Slaughter drummer Blas Elias to take his spot. It's the same story as the previous two years but they added a few different songs in the second half including a ballad that they dedicate to co-founder Paul O'Neil who OD'd earlier this year. Should be a solid Show once again though
I also have seen The Wizards of Winter twice already. They added six new songs to their set and put on a really good concert as well. They do an all-Christmas concert with none of the spectacle if you're interested.
Dan, was there any mention of Dave Z, the TSO East bassist who was killed in a tragic bus accident while touring with Adrenaline Mob?
"It's such a fine line between stupid and... clever" -- David St. Hubbins & Derek Smalls, Spinal Tap
Dave gets a mention on the East tour when they introduce the new bassist. They also incorporated an image of his bass in some of their background visuals. There are also a couple pages dedicated to Dave and Paul in the program.Originally Posted by paythesnuka
Dave and Paul got special dedications during the show. I hadn't seen them in quite a few years, but this years show had production way over the top. What a hell of a show they put on. A little tough through some of the sappier Xmas moments, but I absolutely love their shows. Their LD does an amazing job.
JG
"MARKLAR!"
The Wizards have played here the last two years, but are not coming around this year that I know of. For TSO we will be seeing the east coast version.
Yes, they definitely have their cheesy moments, but I can handle it. We first took my father a couple of years ago. I kind of thought it would be all too much for him, but he loved it. We could not make the tour last year due to a conflict, but he is now 86 and is totally into going again. For me, I go all the way back to Savatage with these guys, so always enjoy it. Very cool that they are doing the tributes to Paul and Dave. Is Russell Allan with them again? I was not sure if he had recovered from his injuries or not. What about Zak Stevens, is he with them this year?
Looks like they have two dates in your state: Traverse City and Adrian. Highly recommended if you can make it. Some nice proggy moments as well.
Yes, both are still there. Zak only gets one song to sing which is criminal.
Blas is a good friend of mine and I was very happy that he got this gig. His everyday gig is with Blue Man Group in Las Vegas, and do I miss him drumming for Slaughter -- just saw them perform a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, when they announced the two performances in my area, I already had a commitment that I could not break.Blas is having a great time and posts daily from the tour.
https://www.facebook.com/blaselias
Unfortunately Michigan is a big ass state. Adrian is about a 2.5 hour drive from me and Traverse City is about a 5 hour drive north.
Glad to hear Russel Allan has recovered enough to perform. I will be wearing my Symphony X T-shirt. Agree about Zak. I think he only did one solo tune the last time I saw them as well. He deserves more of the spotlight.
Now that I live in Florida, I get to see TSO West (never knew Fla. was part of the west). As a Savatage fan beginning with "Dead Winter Dead," it's nice to see Al Pitrelli again, but I'd much rather see Caffrey, Plate, Middleton and Stevens, as well as Russell Allen on TSO East.
I've seen TSO since the very first tour (gig?) in 1999 when they were playing small venues like the Beacon Theater in NYC (well, smaller than arenas) and saw my first TSO West show last year. What a spectacle it has become!
"It's such a fine line between stupid and... clever" -- David St. Hubbins & Derek Smalls, Spinal Tap
You will get Middleton since he is still with the West cast.
This is a review from their recent Lexington, KY Show - the reviewer certainly captures the spectacle aspect of it well: http://www.kentucky.com/entertainmen...187492913.html
I first saw them in a theater as well. It has certainly grown way beyond what anyone would have thought.
I still remember seeing Savatage's last tour for "Poets And Madmen". They were playing a club just down the street from the Hockey arena. TSO had sold out two shows at the hockey arena a couple of months before. Savatage had maybe 200 people in attendance to see basically the same band. I always thought Savatage should have been bigger than they were.
I also noticed that the East company has Joel Hoekstra on guitar from Whitesnake which is cool.
Since they moved them to a crappy venue a couple years back I stopped seeing them.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
I will be seeing them for the first time here in Philly. I've always been curious, but not curious enough to go. A friend of mine felt the same way, so we decided to check it out together!
I will be interested to hear what you think. Parts of the show are cheesy as hell, but they do have great musicians and singers, and the stage show is about as spectacular as anything you are going to see. We are seeing them this afternoon.
Show was incredible this afternoon. Wow, lots of fun was had by all.
Some pretty cool video taken from yesterday's show:
Steve, you saw them at a good time. Vocalist Rob Evan just quit the tour. He only had that one song ("what child is this") but he is an amazing singer to lose. He has his own show opening on Broadway in the spring and a "The Voice" type show in Vegas that he is gonna focus on instead.
Why did he quit??
His official statement said he is just going to concentrate on his own projects (Rocktopia on Broadway and The Voice in Vegas) which open in the spring.
Evans was not there in Grand Rapids. I thought it was odd, because I had thought he was supposed to be part of the show this year. I have seen him on past tours and agree he has an amazing voice.
Ah that's right - forgot you saw them there. Yeah, that was the first show that he missed before his announcement. He had been a part of this tour up until then.
A friend and I saw The Trans-Siberian Orchestra today. First time for both of us. We had both been curious but probably wouldn't have gone on our own. I'm glad that I went, but I only enjoyed half of the show.
The first half told a story, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve." The music was fairly boring, not rocking very much. There were some cool visual effects at least. The second half combined Christmas music, classical music, and hard rock. This was more like what I was expecting. Much better!
The overall production was amazing. Great video, fire, lasers, moving stage pieces, etc.
If you go see concerts very seldom, this type of show is for you. Mainly because it stands out from all other "conventional" shows that happen during the year except for the major summer tours. The stars of the show are the multi-color lights - lasers - explosive flame throwers - moving hydraulic rigs, not so much the musicians and music that are more of a backdrop to the whole visual extravaganza. It's fun though and you'll have a helluva great time, but won't be hearing your favorite rock anthems from your favorite bands. So it's like going to a Laserium show but with live musicians instead of a Pink Floyd or Tangerine Dream soundtrack. The musicians are very talented and I'm not taking that merit away but they too are visual components being most of them very good looking ladies and gentlemen in tuxedos.
I have seen TSO at least eight times since 2002; saw them last 2 years, 2015 in San Antonio and 2016 in Sacramento, all the rest in Houston (only West) and will miss them this 2017 living in forsaken Halifax, Canada. But all is well, I can't complain - TSO brightened my past Christmas years***
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks