Trans-Siberian Orchestra: “'The Lost Christmas Eve' Tour" at the Vibrant Arena at the MARK -- December 20.
Friday, December 20, 3 p.m.
Vibrant Arena at the MARK, 1201 River Drive, Moline IL
Hailed by Sea of Tranquility as "arguably the most successful holiday-music outfit in history," the symphonic-metal musicians of Trans-Siberian Orchestra bring their national "The Lost Christmas Eve Tour" to Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK on December 20, demonstrating the visual and aural magic that led Kansas City Theater to rave that "the rock band's concerts are arguably the most visually dazzling live events you're ever likely to see."
Originating in 1996, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is the hard-rock outfit founded by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli (both members of Savatage) and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. TSO, as it's commonly known, gained in popularity when they began touring in 1999 after completing their second album, The Christmas Attic, the previous year. In 2007, the Washington Post referred to them as "an arena-rock juggernaut" and described their music as "Pink Floyd meets Yes and the Who at Radio City Music Hall." Since its inception, TSO has sold more than 10 million concert tickets and over 10 million albums and has released a series of rock operas, among them Christmas Eve & Other Stories, The Christmas Attic, Beethoven's Last Night, and their two-disc Night Castle and Letters from the Labyrinth. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is also known for their extensive charity work and elaborate concerts, which include a string section, a light show, lasers, moving trusses, video screens, and effects synchronized to music.
During their early years, whenever the band was off the road, they returned to the studio, and in 2004, TSO completed The Lost Christmas Eve, the final installment of their Christmas trilogy. The work is a story of loss and redemption that encompasses a rundown hotel, an old toy store, a blues bar, a Gothic cathedral, and their respective inhabitants all intertwined on a single enchanted Christmas Eve in New York City. In 2005, the band combined all three of their Christmas albums and released them in a box set titled The Christmas Trilogy, which also contained a DVD of their 1999 TV special The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. The Lost Christmas Eve was first performed live in 2012, followed by a encore tour, in 2013, and its subsequent performance have earned raves from the likes of Tulsa World, which lauded the production's "stunning showmanship."
Both Billboard magazine and Pollstar have ranked Trans-Siberian Orchestra as one of the top 25 ticket-selling bands in the first decade of the new millennium, and their path to success was unusual in that, according to founder O'Neill, TSO is the first major rock band to go straight to theaters and arenas, having never played at a club, never having been an opening act, and never having had an opening act. As O'Neill states at Trans-Siberian.com, "We always try to write melodies that are so infectious they don't need lyrics and lyrics so poetic that they don't need a melody, but when you combine the two together they create an alloy where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Once those songs are woven together into a tapestry they create a story which gives each song a third dimension."
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "The Lost Christmas Eve Tour" comes to the Moline amphitheater on December 20, admission to the 3 p.m. concert event is $63.99-103.99, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting VibrantArena.com.
