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View Full Version : Trans Siberian Orchestra and my musical weekend


guitrr
11-19-2008, 09:29 PM
Last weekend was quite musical, even though I wasn't gigging:

I found out that the Black Crowes were going to be playing in St. Augustine on Friday, at a small outdoor amphitheatre. So I booked a bed & breakfast room, and two Crowes tickets, and surprised my better half with it. Not only did I get huge points for the unexpected getaway, but we went and saw the concert. It was her first time seeing the Crowes, and she liked the instrumentalists and the songs, but the mix was awful, and Chris Robinson's vocals sounded terrible; very muddy and hard to decipher. IMO, they were pushing the volume way higher than was appropriate for the venue, consequently pushing the PA system and severely distorting the vocals.

I like the Crowes, but every time I've seen them I thought they were too loud, and the vocals are always muddy.

The next night we drove down to Orlando, got a hotel room, and went to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I'd never heard of them, but saw their TV commercial a few weeks ago, and asked my honey, "That looks pretty cool, would you be interested in going to that?", to which she agreed.

Well, let me tell you, it was one of the best shows I've seen in years - the TSO rocks! I mean ROCKS, hard! The music was great, the playing killer, the showmanship superb. The light show was better than a Kiss concert, with pyro, lasers, smokepots, dry ice, and moving light fixtures dangling from the ceiling, and even an elevating stage platform out in the floor seats! And every woman in the show was smoking hot, which sure didn't detract either!

For those of you not familiar with the TSO, they tour during the Christmas season every year, and the band and repetoire are a mix of metal, classical, and holiday music. The only guy in the group I'd heard of was Alex Skolnick, from the metal band Testament, and his own NYC-based jazz trio. You can check them out on YouTube.

What I can say without reservation, is this - if you ever get a chance to see the TSO onstage, DON'T MISS IT - the concert is awesome!

Kane

Lt_Core
11-19-2008, 11:52 PM
I've been a fan of TSO since their first CD in the mid-90's. They evolved from a classic 80's/90's metal band called Savatage. Savatage had an album called "Dead Winter Dead" in 1995 with the song "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" on it. Somehow the song got picked up on radio during the holidays and become a hit. Paul O'Neill and Jon Oliva took it one step further and formed TSO. The rest is history. I've seen TSO once (going again in 3 weeks) and I've seen Savatage 3 times back in the day. Killer musicians, great entertainers and like Kane mentioned above, a top-notch lights & pyro show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Orchestra

TSO is actually playing two classic Savatage songs on their tour this year: "Believe" and "Hall Of The Mountain King"

jcs
11-20-2008, 02:45 AM
is al pitrelli still one of the guitarists?

i've met al a few times,great guitarist and good guy.. saw him with alice cooper around 1990 and on the megadeth dvd...

axehunter
11-20-2008, 07:04 AM
Going in a few weeks...can't wait!

lespaulreedsmith
11-20-2008, 08:57 AM
One of my best friends auditioned for TSO for both the East Coast and West Coast tours. He went to one of the shows a few years ago and spoke to one of the violinists about auditioning for the guitar position (there was an opening at the time) and she gave him her e-mail and it ensued into a long aquaintance with Al Pitrelli and Mark Wood (violinist) and Jane Mangini (keys). My buddy is on stand-by basically and they have a stand-in list for Angus Clark and Alex and basically they have replacements waiting for every position in case of illness or the unexpected of course.
One thing I've noticed from my friends dealings with them, all the people he converses with are top notch and very nice people to boot...

pir8matt
11-20-2008, 09:13 AM
A little smile to add to this post.

My wife ended up going to this, a manager at her work had tickets.

She went with a couple other ladies from her office, both older than her (late 50's or so).

They thought it was a 'Christmas Concert'. :)

Needless to say, once she got back and started describing it, I realized it was TSO that she ended up going to.

And I had passed on going, thinking it was going to be some boring 'nutcracker' rehash. The devils in the details!

Lt_Core
11-20-2008, 09:22 AM
A little smile to add to this post.

My wife ended up going to this, a manager at her work had tickets.

She went with a couple other ladies from her office, both older than her (late 50's or so).

They thought it was a 'Christmas Concert'. :)

Needless to say, once she got back and started describing it, I realized it was TSO that she ended up going to.

And I had passed on going, thinking it was going to be some boring 'nutcracker' rehash. The devils in the details!

Doh! Did your wife like the show? Friends of mine that aren't rock/metal fans still love it.

andrekp
11-20-2008, 01:30 PM
They are NOT a band. It's a show, like any other musical show. Unless you can figure out how they can be in multiple cities at once.

Not that you can't like them, if that's you bag, but let's not pretend this is a real band.

bkd_guitarist
11-20-2008, 01:38 PM
I'm going to see them for the second time on December 3. Can't wait - they are fanastic, musically and visually. Call 'em a band, a show, I could care less. They rock.

AFAIK, Pitrelli is still one of the guitar players on the western tour.

pir8matt
11-20-2008, 01:46 PM
Doh! Did your wife like the show? Friends of mine that aren't rock/metal fans still love it.

She ended up being 'impressed' by it. Hard not to be with the kind of firepower they bring out.

I think her older work friends might have a little scared, though. :)

pir8matt
11-20-2008, 01:47 PM
Unless you can figure out how they can be in multiple cities at once.


They were performing with 70 members, and they broke it up into two groups of 35 so they could hit more dates during the actual holidays. Thats what I read in a recent interview, anyway.

It's hard to imagine once you get past a certain number of people really being a 'band', but polyphonic spree had like 20+ members and they were a 'band', kinda.

franksguitar
11-20-2008, 02:25 PM
Al Petrelli subbed in Blue Oyster Cult on a tour when Alan Lanier was ill and not on leg of a tour a few years back and didn't he play for a time in Megadeth?

mcp
11-20-2008, 02:31 PM
The light show was better than a Kiss concert

The east coast shows of TSO is the same Lighting Designer / Operator that does Kiss.

bkd_guitarist
11-20-2008, 04:28 PM
Al Petrelli subbed in Blue Oyster Cult on a tour when Alan Lanier was ill and not on leg of a tour a few years back and didn't he play for a time in Megadeth?

Yes.

jcs
11-20-2008, 05:10 PM
it appears al pitrelli is the lead guitarist for TSO..

besides the 'savatage' gig,al pitrelli played on a few later 'asia' recordings and i saw him in a club with dee sniders band 'widowmaker'...

first time i met al pitrelli was at a 'peavey' seminar he was doing,for some reason we kind of hit it off and both of us wound up at a club to see 'the heat' which were a partial version of 'quiet riot' (early 90s)..

i distinctly remember 'the heat' because carlos cavasos had a black 50s les paul with humbuckers installed and an early metalface marshall 50 (like mine) and 4x12 and the tone was incredible!!

i remember al pitrelli saying how he loved duane allman..

MOJO
11-20-2008, 08:42 PM
TSO rocks..

makes sure you check out their non-Christmas album

Beethovens Last Night