There’s no denying Trans-Siberian Orchestra — the prog rock group that has toured behind elaborate holiday concerts for over a decade now — puts on a stunning visual display. Yesterday at the first of two shows the group played at Quicken Loans Arena, the band delivered a bit of everything. It arrived on stage with a blast of smoke and fire as LED lights cast everything in a dim blue glow. And that was just the band’s entrance. Throughout the evening, the group would use its elaborate lighting rig to project images on a series of video screens, at times making it look as if holographic images were hovering over the stage. Toward the nearly 3 hour-long concert’s end, a couple of players ran to the soundboard where they stood atop risers that lifted them into the rafters. It was all very impressive and kept the concert moving at a good clip.
This article appears in Dec 26, 2012 – Jan 1, 2013.
Some very re-memorable elements Jeff Niesel pans were in the narration. I sadly did not record the words which were deep, and poignant, the language was rich with period references reminiscent of scholarly works. “The man blessed to see, although he was not blind” was one grain of sand on a sandy beach embracing a shoreline of emotion and thought.
The concert was billed as a new rendition from a previous presentation, an effective and crisp performance non-the-less with light and para-technique effects that matched the spirited enthusiasm of the performers.
In keeping with their tradition, TSO presented a donation to a local charity which put their hearts in line with their stage theme or as Mr. Niesel states “The problem was that the band chose…”
I agree with Sarah. Although the pacing of The Lost Christmas Eve may occasionally have seemed a bit slow, the narration heightened the whole concept of storytelling and made for a most powerful tale. I found the show (8:00) to be every bit as wonderful as the one I saw in 2009. I’ve seen many concert acts over the past 44 years (Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones and many other iconic performers), and TSO is absolutely in my top 5 concert experiences of all time. Their raucous encore of ‘Cleveland Rocks’ totally nailed a great performance!
As Chuck said, the show was great! Just for clarification, the story of the Lost Christmas Eve is partly about a businessman that gave up his son after his wife’s death. The whole story is about God sending His smallest angel to Earth to find the person that is best carrying on His Son’s work. It is a beautiful story, and the text is on TSO’s website.