Trans-Siberian Orchestra holiday concert tour is ‘biggest, best one ever’ – Orange County Register

People celebrate the holidays in many different ways.

Yet, those who prefer to mark the season with face-melting electric guitar solos, symphonic rock music arrangements, laser light shows, towering special effects and an abundance of pyro are most likely very much into the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Indeed, they might even be what TSO’s Al Pitrelli calls “repeat offenders” — i.e., the die-hard fans who turn out each year to see the Orchestra’s annual over-the-top touring extravaganza.

This year’s road show, “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve — the Best of TSO & More,” will be performed at Toyota Arena in Ontario on Saturday, Dec. 2.

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The Orchestra — which was founded by the visionary producer-composer-lyricist Paul O’Neill in 1996 — will be revisiting its popular TV special/album/rock opera “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” which follows the journey of a runaway teen on Christmas Eve. The performance will also include a second set filled with more TSO fan favorites from the imagination of O’Neill (who died in 2017).

I recently had the chance to catch up with Pitrelli, the TSO music director and outstanding lead guitarist who has been a core member of the band right from the very start.

Q: Good to talk with you, Al. I’m looking forward to seeing you and the TSO crew in concert again this year — especially after receiving an email blast from the band promising no less than your “biggest tour ever!”

A: We pride ourselves on making the show bigger and better every year. In 1999, our first show, we had one 24-foot box truck. We rolled out of Dodge last year, I think I had 22 tractor trailers and 12 buses. So this thing has grown up like my children have grown up — like exceeded every one of my expectations.

It’s our job to make sure that the folks get a better show than last year. Because I have got a bunch of people in the audience that I consider the repeat offenders. They come back year after year and they just can’t get enough of it. They want their holiday tradition.

Q: So, we’re not just talking the regular rock ‘n’ roll marketing hyperbole. You’re saying the tour is going to top what fans have seen before.

A: I would say the biggest, best one ever — absolutely. And I say that year after year and I don’t think I have ever disappointed or let anybody down. I think what would break my heart would be if somebody came up to me after a show and said, “You know, dude? It was better last year.” That means I failed. And that’s not going to happen. Not on my watch.

Q: What do you think Paul O’Neill would’ve thought of this show?

A: I think he would be pretty happy. I think he would always go like, “Hey — more pyro.” Paul was my favorite pyromaniac ever. He just loved pyro. He loved laser. He loved big rock productions. He put everything — his heart and soul — back into the show. I would like to think we are carrying on his legacy and we are doing a good job.

Q: There is certainly no shortage of people who would agree with that assessment.

A: You’ve got everybody in the organization — management, myself and a bunch of the other people who have been there since this thing opened its eyes 28 years ago, not to mention his wife and his daughter. So, if everybody is kind of in agreement that “this is what Paul would do” or “Paul would be cool with this” — if we are all saying the same thing — I am pretty comfortable in the fact that, yeah, man, he would be proud of us.