I finally witnessed my (and Jason Segel’s) dream of a live rock opera Sunday night when Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) took the stage at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, CO. The third stop on their Ghosts of Christmas Eve 2015 Tour kicked off in good spirits with a formal check dedication of a portion of the group’s ticket sales revenue to a local charity, presented by representatives from local radio stations, The Gazette, The Penrose Club and the group’s music director and lead guitarist, Al Pitrelli.

Lead composer, lyricist and producer Paul O’Neill originally wrote “Ghosts of Christmas Eve” as a made-for-TV movie in 1999, which debuted (and went multi-platinum) for Fox. The story, which the band had yet to perform in front of an audience, follows a young runaway who finds shelter in an abandoned vaudeville theater in New York City and experiences ghostly visions from the concert hall’s vivid past, all while dreaming of her family and a Christmas miracle. Video excerpts from O’Neill’s original screenplay will accompany this year’s never-before-seen show as a visual tangent to the ensemble’s narrative interludes and plot-based set list.

If you’ve never seen TSO perform, an important detail to keep in mind is that they place just as much importance on the stage production as the musical composition.  Sunday’s show started off with a brief celestial journey through wintry woods and a looming castle, all with beds of fire shooting out flames all across the stage. This mirrored the quaint-into -explosive intro piece “The Lost Christmas Eve.” The juxtaposition of the wintry-blue lights and the warm flamethrowers together on stage set a wild precedent for the rest of the show. My mind whirred through sentiments like “buckle up!” and “Is this a KISS show or a Beethoven recital?”

The format of TSO’s Christmas concerts follows a loose pattern of song-story interlude-song-song-story interlude-song-repeat. During each interlude, a man in a long black coat takes the stage, this year joined by a video on the backdrop, to introduce the ensemble’s proverbial tale of universal love, heralded promises, and a vacant New York hotel discovered by an angel on this Christmas Eve night. As the narrator faded into the background on Sunday’s stage, the amps blared as the band set into “O Come All Ye Faithful/Oh Holy Night,” and the crowd blared back with excitement (and some faint surprise from the gust of the electric guitars.) The visual on the backdrop, meant to represent a dilapidated hotel in accordance with the narrator’s story, perfectly resembled Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti album cover, comfortably juxtaposing rock and religion.

Continuing his mysterious, sometimes eerie Christmas tale, the narrator again took the stage to share news of a Child’s birth. This was then followed by a riotous yet bluesy version of “Good King Joy,” adding the perfect amount of spunk and soul to the celebration of the Lord’s birth. The narrator recited next, as a young girl with shaky hands opened an old music box on the screen behind him,

“These were dreams/ and hers to keep…”

Thus introducing a celebratory version of “Christmas Dreams,” supported by mild “oohs” and “aahs” and a Milky Way-laden backdrop.  Next, queue long black coat:

“He made her look inside/ where shadows from a distant past/ once more came alive.”

Then, into one of the band’s most renowned tracks, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo.” This was a uniquely powerful performance with visuals of morbidly themed propaganda clips flashing across hundreds of TV screens that fluttered all over the backdrop, and was matched with a spinning pyramid of lights showing the same images of war, disease and famine on the backside of the floor area. The audience was completely surrounded with these visuals, most likely from the Siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War during the same time of the band’s inception in the early 1990s, as electric violinist Asha Meldvana roared on her strings and thrust her body to the beat. The song’s eerie melody coupled with the haunting stage art was a thought-provoking presentation, shadowed by its title.

A brief interlude then led us to a swift version of “Christmas Canon Rock” complete with Simmons-like guitar riffs, gospel choir vocals in perfect harmony and a trip through the galaxy on the backdrop.  

The next interlude spoke of an old playbill that our mystery girl is given and instructed to read. The band then dove into “What Child is This?” and boasted a backdrop afloat with moonlit clouds and blood orange lights at the foot of the stage. This stage set was particularly interesting in a most peculiar way: for the entirety of this inquisitive song the dawn-colored lights that shown on the audience from the foot of the stage fluctuated between dawn’s pinkish-orange and an innocent sky blue, while the clouds and the blue sky on the backdrop simultaneously morphed between moonlit blue and dusk’s orange-red, sometimes exhibiting both at the same time. It was as if the song’s feeling was causing the sky to change colors and dive into chaos. These symbolic flares added a subtle Christ-like hue to the performance, rendering a ubiquitous feel to the themes of the song. This was especially apparent as the vocals here were accompanied by a 17-person band and the local Colorado Springs Strings* group that backed the band all night.

Next up was the somber yet optimistic “Music Box Blues,” belted by female vocal lead Gabriela Guncikova, surrounded by a dim living room scene with a smoldering fire and music box sitting on the mantle on the backdrop. You could feel the burdened soul of the song’s subject from light years away during this performance. Laser beams and guitar solos then took over for the instrumental “First Snow,” inciting boisterous audience reactions and what seemed like a kneejerk reaction in the form of “all lasers on deck” from the lights guy.  The narrator again took to the microphone, expressing a deep sigh before boasting his wisdom:

“The most magical thing about this night/ we will now reiterate/ is no matter where you are in life/ it never is too late.”

This excerpt premeditated a riveting “Promises to Keep,” accompanied by a starry backdrop, subtle fuscia lighting and airy guitar riffs at the top of each crescendo.  The song ended lightly on a silver platter, which was then tossed aside by a poignant narration reflecting on the human connection.

The next song, “This Christmas Day,” was in inspirational performance both musically and visually. The backdrop resembled a Lois Lowry-inspired outside-looking-in viewpoint of a large brick house ornate with the most astounding Christmas decorations, altogether provoking sentiments of the wealth of family and the selfless Christmas spirit, as ornaments and toy airplanes spun slowly in the windows.

The narrator then approached for the final interlude, concluding the story with a warm farewell:

“May God keep you and protect you this and every Christmas Eve. MERRYYYY CHRISTMAS!”

The audience then bid farewell to the voice of the Christmas spirit. Pitrelli then took a moment to introduce the band, as well as give a gratuitous shout out to all members of the Armed Forces in the military-heavy audience that one can expect in Colorado Springs.

The rest of the show was dedicated to songs from the band’s latest album, “Letters From The Labyrinth,” its first non-concept album that came out in 2015, and other Christmas-themed albums. First up was a feisty, up-tempo “Wizards in Winter” from 2004’s “Christmas Trilogy,” complete with scenes from various Disney Christmas-themed movies frolicking across the backdrop and a robust pyrotechnic show, from which I could feel heat all the way on the second level. The next song from the same album, “A Mad Russian’s Christmas,” patiently began with an illuminated, picturesque stone mansion on the backdrop with an animated Siberian tiger roaming and growling throughout the caged windows. The song, which everybody has heard at least once in nearly any Christmas movie ever made, then took a drastic turn as the tempo sped up and an army of nutcrackers began to march across the backdrop, trudging to the beat of Melvana’s front-and-center explosive antics.

After the song came to an abrupt end, Guncikova once again took to center stage for a powerful performance of “For the Sake of Our Brother,” supported by a dimly lit chapel with picturesque stained glass windows on the backdrop. This performance was solely vocals and keys, a perfect salute to the reverent and tear-jerking lyrics, which Guncikova sang in an equally as moving a manner.

The band followed this slow-paced song by taking to the amps and drums and the spinning pyramid with “Christmas Jam,” revisiting the classic metal ambiance and electronica-style light show. The next song from the new album, “Madness of Men,” rode this momentum with bursts of fire and a light show mimicking what one can only assume is the composer’s blunt rendition of the inside of a madman’s brain: frantic, plentiful and without purpose. The next song, “Forget About the Blame,” portrayed Steven Tyler-type feels with its catchy rock-and-roll composition and retrospective romance lyrics that caused the audience to sway back and forth. This was followed by a slow soliloquy, “Not the Same,” during which Guncikova delivered the song’s gloomy lyrics in the most heart wrenching manner possible.

Next up was “Night Conceives,” which seemed to come straight from a Grace Potter album with its Joplin-esque rugged vocals and uninhibited dancing. The next two songs included a fire-breathing dragon backdrop for “Mountain Labyrinth,” and a scene from The Polar Express during the nostalgic “Finding My Way Home.” The final song, “Requiem/Sarajevo Reprise,” was an out-of-this-world take on Beethoven’s 5th Symphony intertwined with the band’s own compositions. Backup guitarist Angus Clark and Melvana flew through the sky on the stage’s two mobile platforms that rose and spun to the astonishment of the audience. The pyramid shot out flames and spun furiously as band members galloped through the audience while tearing through the final song. The show ended with sparklers, fireworks, mad guitar riffs and the audience on its feet. The lights dropped, and all 18 band members took the stage for a final bow, signaling the end of the third-ever live performance of TSO’s “Ghost of Christmas Eve.”  

“Someone once said that if you want to change the world, don’t become a politician — write a book, write a great song. I believe in that, and that’s what Trans-Siberian Orchestra is about,” O’Neill is quoted for saying. After my inaugural concert, I am wholeheartedly convinced that these guys are here to prove this theory correct.

For the 2015 tour schedule and album information, visit the band’s website.

Set List: Trans Siberian Orchestra at Broadmoor World Arena, Colorado Springs, CO – 11/22/15

The Lost Christmas Eve *
O Come All Ye Faithful/Oh Holy Night *
Good King Joy *
Christmas Dreams *
Christmas Eve/Sarajevo *
Christmas Canon Rock *
What Child is this?
Music Box Blues
First Snow *
Promises to Keep *
This Christmas Day *
Wizards in Winter
A Mad Russian’s Christmas
For the Sake of Our Brother
Christmas Jam
Madness of Men
Forget About the Blame
Not the Same
Night Conceives
Mountain Labyrinth
Finding My Way Home
Requiem/Sarajevo Reprise

* With such a demanded presence across the country, the group’s 2015 winter tour is setup to where the 36 band members split up to perform simultaneous shows at different locations across the country. To supplement the missing pieces, the group on Sunday brought on local string group the Colorado Springs Strings, a subset of musicians from around the area. 

TSO’s “Ghost of Christmas Eve” 2015 West Coast Band Members:

Al Pitrelli – Guitar, music director
Angus Clark – Guitar
Vitalij Kuprij – Keyboards
Jane Mangini – Keyboards
Johnny Lee Middleton – Bass
John O. Reilly – Drums
Asha Mevlana – Violin
Phillip Brandon – Narrator
Jeff Scott Soto – Vocals
April Berry – Vocals
John Brink – Vocals
Ava Davis – Vocals
Gabriela Guncikova – Vocals
Joe Retta – Vocals
Jodi Katz – Vocals
Chloe Lowery – Vocals
Andrew Ross – Vocals
Bart Shatto – Vocals

[Photo via TSO Facebook Page]