Trans-Siberian Orchestra returns with a boom, blast, and ghosts of the past

Trans-Siberian Orchestra exploded into Charlotte’s Spectrum Center Thursday for its annual spectacle of Christmas mash-ups and blazing pyro, filling the uptown arena.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra isn’t the kind of show you need to be in the front row to enjoy, which is good considering the thousands of concertgoers lined up at multiple entrances Thursday night at Spectrum Center. In fact it was the worst concert traffic and the longest lines I’ve seen at Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable Arena) in years.

That’s not unique to Charlotte though – reviewers in other cities noted the same thing.

This is one modern holiday tradition many weren’t willing to miss.

This year’s show was again a return to the “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” accompanied by clips from the Ossie Davis-starring 1999 TV movie that Trans-Siberian Orchestra scored. During the first half of the show host/storyteller Bryan Hicks guided the audience through the story flanked by the set of an old downtown theater – which figures in the movie. These segments served as brief loose introductions to each song, which touched on both the Christmas story and family traditions.

The audience was still filing in four songs deep into the set, but the sold-out arena was filled as guitarist Joel Hoekstra (recently of Whitesnake) stepped to center stage, posing head back, headstock pointed at the sky, signaling that the show was really ready to roll as they launched into “Good King Joy.”

The musicians worked the stage, rallied the crowd, and threw in yuletide shredding when there was space. The rock opera theatrics reached an early peak during “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” – its signature song and one which dates back to the founder’s time in `80s metal band Savatage (the orchestra’s roots explains a lot about the production and appeal of the show).

The production is as important, if not more important, than the music, although the bulk of the fireworks, shooting flames, and explosions were saved for the second half. The screens transformed with each song, then returned to the outdoor theater setting for Hicks’ portions. But the mechanics are really the star of the show. At one point the light rig that hovered as far as the eleventh row of the floor section, was lowered to meet the stage as it transformed into a floating catwalk where guitarist Chris Caffery and violinist Roddy Chong stepped on and rose above the audience for the first awe-inspiring moment of the night.

The next came as laser lights reflected off falling bubbles of “snow” and danced off the swirls of stage fog.

The crowed greeted Russell Allen, one of several featured vocalists, with cheers. Allen, who has fronted Adrenaline Mob and Symphony X, gave “What Child Is This” an animated, gritty but still superbly polished, theatrical rock treatment.

The vocals and choreography (like a quartet of female singers swinging their hair dramatically to the rhythm) were often as over-the-top as the rest of the show. Like the decade of hair and excess that its seasoned players were well-schooled in, if not a direct part of, the performances were at times cheesy. But that’s part of the attraction.

The biggest spectacle was reserved for the second half of the show, which is a greatest hits-of-sorts, which touches on Beethoven and “Carmina Burana,” the Italian opera used excessively to build tension in horror film trailers or apocalyptic TV commercials. It’s a beautiful, dramatic piece, if not quite festive.

The guitar theatrics, streams of sparks and arches of fire returned as the show reached its finale – a reprise of “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)”. While Trans-Siberian is something to witness, the “Ghosts of Christmas Eve” portion with its tale of a runaway sleeping in an abandoned theater during the holidays, did conjure thoughts on the meaning of Christmas which is part of TSO’s mission despite its larger than life production.

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Trans-Siberian Orchestra returns with a boom, blast, and ghosts of the past."