Trans-Siberian Orchestra -Concert Review

Beacon Theatre
NYC
Dec 9, 2003

Demonstrating what music might sound like if electric guitars and modern keyboards were around in Beethoven or Mozart’s time, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra warmed the Beacon Theatre with holiday spirit on its 5th annual tour of Christmas Eve & Other Stories.

Featuring a long-haired, tuxedoed cast of rock musicians, string players, vocalists and a narrator, Producer Paul O’Neill’s symphonic rock show fused elements of hard rock, Broadway, R&B and classical music to tell a story about the true meaning of Christmas.

Positioned against a backdrop of stars and more lights than a church organ has pipes, Trans-Siberian Orchestra performed fragments of holiday standards woven around original compositions, all tied to this season of giving. In this optimistic Christmas world where anything could come true, the music was magnificently unpredictable.

Snippets of Silent Night rang out underneath Roland V-Drums and guitars on "An Angel Came Down," a song sung by vocalist Rob Evan about an angel seeking out good deeds done on earth. The ensemble riffed through an instrumental rendition of "O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night," with soaring guitars enhancing the drama on the highest notes. A Mad Russian’s Christmas, a deliciously psychotic instrumental composition opened delicately with Co-Producer Robert Kinkel’s keys, and then unleashed its dancing string sounds and swirls of energy.

Long Island violinist Mark Wood and guitarist Chris Caffery faced off against bassist Dave Zablidowsky and guitarist Tristan Avakian for a battle of the strings during Nutrocker, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s rendition of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s rendition of Tchaikovsky’s "Nutcracker Suite." Another powerful tune included, "Carmina Burana," inspired by the centuries-old writings of a Benedictine monk.

New Jersey soloist Joe Cerisano’s raspy delivery on the tune "Ornament," a melodic rock ballad about being lost, was more than moving. And "Old City Bar," a simple acoustic singer/songwriter number sung by Rob Evan again, also struck a chord throughout the theatre. Anyone who had ever spent a lonely night on a bar stool cheered when Evan sang, “For the rest of the night, no one paid for a drink.”

With a Dr. Seuss-like rhyming pattern, show narrator Bryan Hicks furthered the evening’s storyline in between songs: “It’s in every kindness that we give,” said Hicks about Christmas, “Each simple little act. It’s every gift we give and expect nothing back.”

The obvious highlight for the crowd was the blistering, heavy, instrumental, "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," the song that inspired this show’s beginning.

“This song was inspired by the true story of a cellist who refused to be intimidated by the gunfire in his native city of Sarajevo,” said O’Neill. “His playing outdoors amidst the shelling all around him represented the defiance of the violence that tore the city to pieces only a few years after it hosted the Olympics.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra was created in 1996 by O’Neill and writing partners, Kinkel and Jon Oliva.

“The marriage of rock and classical always seemed like a natural to me,” said O’Neill. “In my mind, the first hard rock/heavy metal star was Beethoven. The opening notes of his Fifth Symphony, ‘Da da da dum,’ if they had been written 20 years ago by Ozzy Osbourne for Black Sabbath, they would have fit right in.”

Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly Jan '04.

Video for "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24."