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By Chris Hupe

Trans-Siberian Orchestra are coming to town, so Christmas must be right around the corner, right? Well, not really. We’re closer to the season of sunburns and pool parties than we are to Christmas, so one might wonder why a band famous for its Christmas music would be touring in April. It may surprise some that the roots of Trans-Siberian Orchestra actually date back to 1978 when brothers Jon and Criss Oliva formed a metal band that would eventually become known as Savatage. Lauded for their superior musicianship and their uncanny abil-ity to weave their music into the story of a concept album (sound familiar?), Savatage released a dozen albums over an 18-year period, including the commercially success-ful Hall of the Mountain King and the critically acclaimed Gutter Ballet. But it was 1995’s Dead Winter Dead that would become the most impor-tant album for the future of the band’s members. Included on that album was a song called “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24),” a song that turned a lot of heads for its originality and became an unexpected hit, giv-ing rise to the idea that some of the members would like to explore this type of music further, eventually giving birth to a new band, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” would later be re-leased as “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” on TSO’s first album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories, and has become TSO’s signature song. According to guitarist Al Pitrelli, the transition from Savatage to Trans-Siberian Orchestra wasn’t so much a conscious decision as it was a songwrit-ing progression. “Over the years, it just kind of hap-pened,” Pitrelli said in a recent interview. “As Sav-atage matured as a band, Paul (O’Neill, one of the bands main songwriters) had pretty much mastered the art of balancing classical themes and rock n’ roll in his songwriting. We knew we had made a good re-cord in Dead Winter Dead, but I think the attention “Christmas Eve” ended up getting caught us, and all of America, off guard. I compare what happened with TSO to having a baby. We gave birth to it, then nur-tured it and watched it grow up.” Now it continues to grow and explore new musical territories, including non-Christmas-themed material. In that vein, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s two non-Christmas albums are their latest album, Night Castle, and Beethoven’s Last Night, released in 2000 and the

main focus of this spring’s tour. According to the TSO website, Beethoven’s Last Night tells the fictional story of “Ludwig Von Beethoven on the last night of his life, as the devil, Mephistopheles, comes to col-lect his soul. With the help of Fate and her son Twist, Beethoven unwittingly tricks the devil and is allowed to keep his soul which he had thought lost, but that the devil had no claim on.” Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? In the live setting TSO have added a narrative to the story similar to the one used at their Christmas shows and, of course, will enhance the production with the band’s trademark pyrotechnics, laser light show and on-stage theatrics. One of the most interesting parts of any TSO show is people watching, noticing the distinct cross-

section of people who took time out of their day to attend what is, for all intents and purposes, a full-on heavy metal pro-duction. It is not uncom-mon to see a lady in her 70s sitting next to angst-ridden teens sitting next to twentysomethings and their kids out for a family

outing. For Pitrelli, this sight has become the norm, not the exception. “Seeing crowds like that doesn’t seem strange to me anymore. What actually seems strange to me is the rare times when we don’t have that cross-section of America at a show. When we see a kid in a Megadeth shirt sitting next to a grandma cro-cheting reindeer sweaters, that’s when we feel most comfortable. Seeing all these different kinds of people enjoy our music is the biggest thrill for us.” A new Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD is in the works, but Pitrelli says there is no timetable for its release. “Paul is always writing music and is starting to work on material for the new album now,” he said. “By the time we get done with the tour, he should have some stuff ready for us, and we will record all sum-mer.” When it’s time to head out on the Christmas tour again, they’ll stop recording and start working on pro-duction for that tour, whether the new album is done or not. It’s a tedious, time-consuming process, but the end results thus far can’t be disputed. O’Neill, Pitrelli, Jon Oliva and a touring cast of dozens per night have found a formula that works, composing and performing music that combines metal and classical themes and putting it in front of a new audience that overlooks labels and simply appreci-ates great songwriting and a visually exciting show. Though it may still be a while before they get new music to devour, TSO fans know when a new CD does emerge, it will have been well worth the wait.

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRABEETHOVEN’S LAST NIGHT 2012Wednesday, April 25 • 7:30 p.m.Allen Co. War Memorial Coliseum4000 Parnell Ave., Fort Wayne

Tix: $37-$57thru Ticketmaster & Coliseum box office, 260-483-1111

--------------- Feature • Trans-Siberian Orchestra -------------

Christmas in April