Music On Steroid

For our Christmas concert this year, we went to see the TSO on Boxing Day. No, not the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The last few Christmases, radio stations have been playing one song in particular by this group - Carol of the Bells. It's a fast, metallic, exciting rendition of the carol. I downloaded other songs by the group and liked quite a few. I surmised this TSO specializes in Christmas songs but puts a rock, metallic spin to the tunes.

I expected to see incredible instrumental and percussion musicianship. I expected the musicians to do incredible things with traditional orchestral instruments to give a new sound to traditional music. They did a bit of that.

The Man had never heard of the group before. He expected cossacks and fur hats. They didn't do any of that.

The Boy had heard of the band and their music but he knew nothing about them. He didn't know what to expect. The band surprised all of us.

By surprise I mean while the occasional play of a metallic carol was fun, a whole bunch within a short time was hard on the ear. Plus, we didn't expect a light show. The Boy joked that he expected to see in the headlines in the morning, Seizures Abound With Trans-Siberians. Really, I am sure the light and metal triggered many epileptic fits in the audience.

Despite all the noise and lights, we were bored by half time. It wasn't so much a music concert as a light show of retro glam rock, lots of poses and hair, raising of the violin, and fire. The vocals were mostly country and western with metallic instrumentals. They used every kitschy tactic and cliche in rock performance. It was like someone told them long hair is cool, so all the band members had long hair. I like this review of the show from 2004:

The whole production seemed like a Christmas pageant organized in 1978 by two 14-year-old boys with money to burn. It's easy to imagine their thought process:

"Hey, why don't we get a metal band to do Christmas songs?"

"Cool, and let's add a storyline about an angel who saves the spirit of Christmas. That'd be wild."

"And get someone who sounds like Darth Vader to narrate it!"

"Yeah, and a sexy, red-headed singer -- in a short skirt!"

"Lasers?"

"Strobe lights!"

"Power ballads?"

"Wicked!"

We have never walked out of a concert before, nor do the three of us usually agree on the same thing. But at half time, when the lead singer introduced the band members and said we have lots more to play for you in the second half, I gasped. What? There is more? The Boy and I nudged each other. We wanted to leave. A few songs into the second half, I thought, This is not pleasure I am feeling. This is pain. My stomach churned. All three of us got up and left.

So here are some pictures of the band in concert.