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| The Transiberian Orchestra on Tour |
It's a Christmas concert not to miss, enhanced and electrified -- blazing and blasting with the energy of laser lights and pyrotechnics; a six-piece rock band, two guitars, two keyboards, bass drums, an eight-piece string section, six vocalists and a narrator. It's the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which now has two TSO ensembles traveling throughout the United States
In the 60s and 70s, this musical experience would have been called a "happening." The sensory effect has been described as a witnessing a rock opera that takes its inspiration from The Who's "Tommy," "A Christmas Carol," "The Nutcracker Suite" and combines it with the gospel fervor of Mahalia Jackson, transforming it all into a heady spectacle.
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a magical fusion of sight and sound, with nothing else remotely like it, blends rock, heavy metal, the elegance of classical orchestra and showtunes with rhythm and blues.
In TSO's creator Paul O´Neill's words, “As a band, we like having no limits. I like to think of our albums as large, old castles. They're magical from a distance or even close up, and the further you delve into them, the more there is to find. It's magical just to go inside, and it's magical just looking at the walls and wondering what might be behind them. But if you ever knock down a wall, what's behind it may, or may not, be the most magical thing of all.”
How Trans-Siberian Began
Trans-Siberian Orchestra was formed in 1996 by Paul O'Neill, a New York City native who performed as rock guitarist in the touring productions of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Hair" and produced Aerosmith's platinum "Classics Live, Volumes I and II."
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| Paul O'Neill |
O'Neill approached long time friends and collaborators Robert Kinkel and Jon Oliva to form the core of the writing team. The trio produced the metal band Savatage album, "Hall of the Mountain King." Trans-Siberian Orchestra was formed as an offshoot of Savatage after its 1995 single "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" became a hit. O'Neill was looking for ways to make the music have greater and greater emotional impact -- searching for music that was so melodic it didn't need lyrics as well as lyrics that were so poetic they didn't need music. His solution was putting the songs within the context of a story to give the result a third dimension.
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| Jon Oliva |
O'Neill began writing not just albums, but rock operas coupled with intimate, loving settings. Says O'Neill, "It's about creating great art. The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art. Good art will make you feel an emotion that you have felt before; you see a picture of a forest and you remember the last time you went fishing with your dad, you hear a song about love and you remember the last time you were in love. Great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before; seeing the Pieta, the world famous sculpture by Michelangelo, can cause someone to feel the pain of losing a child even if they've never had one. The emotions of love, empathy and laughter are much harder to trigger, but since they operate on a deeper level, they bring a much greater reward."
On the Road with Bob Kinkel
Keyboardist, composer and music producer Robert Kinkel took out time from the Christmas road tour to talk about almost ten years of performing, making albums and touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. During the phone interview from Toledo, Ohio, he noted that while the constant touring could be grueling, it was worth every minute of the hours of rehearsing and travel.
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| Robert Kinkel |
"Our first tour was in 1999 and we didn't even know if anybody wanted to come see us live," he says. "The first show sold out in an hour and a half. And we went… Whoa! Somebody wants to come see us."
"Live performing is incredible. We can feel the energy from the crowd. Even when we're tired, when you hear the audience cheering, and we get recharged," says Kinkel. What's so amazing is that we get people at our concerts from all walks of life -- your hard rockers, your classical music buffs, children, families and grandparents. Maybe it's because we've taken Christmas music and are doing it a whole different way."
Kinkel notes, "The show takes up 180 degrees of vision, with lights coming out over the audience and lasers spreading out everywhere. If you're sitting up above, we've been told that it seems as if the audience is looking through a translucent atmosphere of light to view the band. Bryan Hartley is our lighting designer and he's done work for Kiss and Meat Loaf." We just tell him, 'go out there, pull out all the stops and go for it!' "
Pausing a moment from his exuberant description of the tour, Kinkel takes a moment to remember late band member Daryl Pediford. "He was the most amazing singer and had the sweetest soul of anyone I've ever known. It's hit us all pretty hard but we feel his presence as if he's on the tour with us."
The Performance
Trans Siberian Orchestra's two-and-a-half hour long show is about an angel's journey to find one thing on Earth that signifies Christmas, mysterious strangers who do good deeds and bars full of people feeling the joy of the holiday.
The first half of the performance is generally "Christmas Eve And Other Stories." The second half is a bit looser, with songs from "The Christmas Attic" Attic" and "Beethoven's Last Night" with more audience interaction.
TSO has also recently released The Christmas Trilogy Box Set. The set will include Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic, The Lost Christmas Eve, and The Ghosts of Christmas Eve DVD. For more information on Trans-Siberian Orchestra, visit their website, www.trans-siberian.com or visit their Facebook Tour page.
