Monday – Not Your Grandmother's Idea of an Orchestra

[ninanevermore]

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Last night Jeff and I saw Trans Siberian Orchestra in Houston. My father and step-mother bought the tickets before I lost my job and a more pragmatic Christmas gift may have been more in order, but I'm not sorry we went. While a Christmas-themed rock opera may seem like a strange idea, it works surprisingly well. The lazar show and pyrotechnics alone made the stuff I saw at the Pink Floyd show years ago look amateurish. The rock music was louder and harder, too.

If you think that Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 sounds like an instrumental political statement when you hear it over the radio (a mix of the two peaceful Christmas carols God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen and Carol of the Bells played in a driving, violent heavy-metal style), the live show with the background images of multi national flags and world leaders accompanied by the lead in narration leaves no doubt.

The rock opera centers around an angel sent to observe mankind and report back. When he observes Sarajevo and other places (Belfast, Darfur, Rwanda and Palestine all got a mention), the narration intoned: "…And in the gardens where children played, now soldiers only trod. And stranger yet he heard them say they were killing for their God. Now the angel had heard God speak many times, and he'd always paid attention; but this killing of your neighbor was something the Lord had never mentioned."

"Oooooh, that's harsh," Jeff said over my shoulder.

Indeed.

Anyway, if you like your Christmas shows with heavy metal guitars, fire, lazar beams, and blond back-up singers in skirts so short that I’m sure they are illegal in some states, TSO is worth checking out. But don't take your grandmother with you. Unless she's into hard rock, she probably won't dig it.

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Comments

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[back2me.livejournal.com]

I saw them a couple years ago, and was completely blown away! I'd love to see them again. :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I don't know what I was expecting, but blown away is a good description for what I got out of the show. :)

[austin-boo-moo.livejournal.com]

I saw them the Sunday after Thanksgiving, (it was my 4th time seeing them), and each show just gets better. Their laser/pyrotechnic show has come a long way since I first saw them! :)

[poetlady.livejournal.com]

I LOVE your icon!

[austin-boo-moo.livejournal.com]

Hehe, feel free to take the icon, if you like. :)

[poetlady.livejournal.com]

Thanks:) Did you make it?:)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I wasn't sure what to expect, but even if I'd had expectations going in they would have been blown out of the water. The show was amazing. :)

[hermes-wade.livejournal.com]

Yes, it has a political message. And it is also an amazing show. I'd love to see them again.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Me, too. Maybe next year I'll have an extra $110 dollars laying around that I can buy my own tickets. :)

[adamant-turtle.livejournal.com]

Aw, man, I'm so jealous! I love TSO...

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

If you haven't seen them live, you need to try to. They released a non-Christmas (In the Night Castle) album a few months ago and are doing a Spring tour to showcase it in 2010.

[poetlady.livejournal.com]

I want to see it sometime.

I love the way you wrote this:)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

Fair warning: the show is loud. A lot of it is classical music played in a very hard-rock style.