Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert Review

(Austin, TX) Have you ever seen a long-haired metalhead lay his or her head down at night with a smile on their face? It’s almost like they’re anxious and excited about losing consciousness. They are. The reason they’re smiling is once the eyelids close, bright-colored lasers are bouncing around at every angle. There’s pyro — LOTS and LOTS of fire! And the music — it’s singing guitars and athletic vocals that try to escape the limitations of the musical scale.

The massive Christmas-time touring that Trans-Siberian Orchestra does is pulled off in part by splitting into two teams. It seems that Austin, Texas always get the same team (TSO West), which is quite a blessing, as they’re extremely talented. The Frank Erwin Center had a lot of folks present for both the 3pm and the 8pm shows, and the first thing one would notice upon arriving pre-show is the massive amounts of lighting trusses up in the rafters above the main stage and floor seats.

While the previous three years’ tours have been basically the same (with songs from The Christmas Trilogy: Lost Christmas Eve, The Christmas Attic and Christmas Eve & Other Stories), this one made it clear from the beginning that this was a new tour.

Visually, the lights were striking, with an electric blue neon vibe acting as a giant moving backdrop. The blues gave way to reds and other bright colors. The rectangles in the back featured a sort of netting with liquid crystals that condensed made a nice video screen, which portrayed rapid-fire images throughout the night. The giant trusses cascaded up and down with the background lights dropping while the foreground truss raised and then vice-versa. Definitely a great light show in the time span of about five minutes into the show.

Visually and musically, it felt unfamiliar (and new) until about the third song, where the narrator came out and introduced “An Angel Came Down” story. With a new album on the way, Night Castles, the band was eager to showcase the new material. We were treated to several, including the intro of “Dreams We Conceive,” “The Mountain” and “Carmina Burana.” Two standouts were both used as introductions. “Night Enchanted” started the show with an ominous low end throb that set the volume levels and tone for the evening. “Toccata-Carpimus Noctem” did the same for the second act (though there was no intermission this year).

Solo spots abounded on this night, from violin runs that included acrobatic shoulder-height split jumps from Roddy Chong. Dude’s amazing. His counterpart, Caitlin Moe, ain’t no slouch, either, as they traded fast riffs like it was easy and fun. I believe the fun part… Al Pitrelli took center stage several times with long, melodic solos. I thought of the great Michael Schenker several times as Pitrelli made his Les Paul guitar sing, with long, searing notes that seemed to cry.

When guitarist Angus Clark played solos, he impressed as well. Besides running through the audience following a similar jaunt by a vocalist that made vocal warm-ups sound like a time to have fun and show off, he also joined violinist Moe for a run through the aisles and atop a hovercraft bellowing smoke and raising way up in the air. Clark also had a big spotlight moment on top of a hydraulic platform riser at center stage. I can imagine how the stage plotting and planning meeting went: “How about during my solo we have FIRE EVERYWHERE — giant flames across the entire stage — and lightning flashing behind me when I’m playing trills and hammer-ons?” It was visually and sonically stunning.

Besides impacting the city with donations to musical organizations that help under-privileged kids get musical instruments and education, this group gives its audience a warm Christmas holiday time to reflect on what’s important, like the admonition that “every man’s our brother, and that every child is ours” (in “Prince of Peace”); as well as the unabashed worship of God’s Son in numerous other songs. The story-song by vocalist/actor Bart Shatto (in winter-time homeless garb) “Old City Bar” is a heart-warmer that probably pulls a few tears out of the audience. TSO has proved that old Gospel and holiday standards need not be boring old rituals. The bombastic and triumphant song “On A Cold Winter Night,” for example, is like having church in Madison Square Garden.

I don’t know how they do it, but these guys seem to top themselves each year — no mean feat with the bar they set high long ago. Everyone needs to see this show at least once (and you’ll want to make it an annual affair after that one taste, trust me…).