A Quarter Century of Christmas
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f you still haven ’ t experienced the Trans- Siberian Orchestra ' s annual winter holiday show , you should seriously consider adding it to your bucket list .
The TSO traveling holiday rock opera is a multimillion-dollar act that has grown exponentially since the band ’ s inception , making it one of the biggest-grossing concert bands in the US . In true holiday-giving fashion , $ 1 of each concert ticket sold goes to local and national charities . To date , the band has donated a total of $ 12 million . TSO germinated into the dynamic act that it is today out of the progressive / power metal band Savatage ' s song , “ Christmas Eve ( Sarajevo 12 / 24 ),” which appeared on the band ’ s 1995 Dead Winter Dead album .
According to then Savatage guitarist and current TSO guitarist / musical director Al Pitrelli , none of the band members could predict how much a single song , “ Christmas Eve ( Sarajevo 12 / 24 ),” would take off . “ Paul ( O ’ Neill ) explained to me that it ’ s a story about a cellist playing classical music in the town of Sarajevo protesting the bombing raids in the ( Bosnian ) War that was going on ,” Pitrelli explained during a recent phone interview during a break from production rehearsals for the upcoming The Ghosts of Christmas Eve : The Best of TSO and More tour 2023 . “ I felt the story was so special and so deep that I just started noodling with that opening ostinato that we
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put “ God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman ” over the top of it and then played through the song . To be honest with you , I thought that was going to be the end of it ; who ' s gonna listen to a heavy metal Christmas song ? But in November of ’ 95 , it got in the hands of a couple of DJs in America who played it accidentally , and the phone lines lit up , and it was the number one song in America right until the end of the holiday season .” The instrumental track got everyone ’ s attention and ignited the spark that led to the late producer / composer / writer O ' Neill ( R . I . P . 2017 ), Savatage vocalist Jon Oliva , Pitrelli , and keyboardist / producer Robert Kinkel to form the creative core of TSO in 1996 after the Savatage album was released . “ Paul said he was going to write an entire record around this long piece of music , and he was going to call it the Trans-Siberian Orchestra ,” Pitrelli remembers . “ Twenty-eight years later , we are still talking about it . It ' s bigger than it was . It ' s more relevant than it was . It ' s more important , and people have fallen in love with it and made it part of their holiday tradition .”
The demographics of a TSO audience are one of the most diversified of any band in recent times , as generations of fans of different ages and tastes in music show up consistently to TSO shows every year . TSO ’ s popularity rapidly exploded during its first four years of formation ; by 2000 , the band split into two
camps with an East and a West lineup , enabling the musicians to perform simultaneously in two cities , sometimes two shows daily .
TSO ’ s 1996 debut album , Christmas Eve and Other Stories , was an immediate success and became one of the biggest-selling Christmas albums in the US . “ Christmas Eve ( Sarajevo 12 / 24 )” also appeared on this album . “( There was ) no preconceived idea or anything ,” Pitrelli says about the debut album ’ s creation . “ Paul just knew exactly what he wanted , and the four of us would be sitting in the room , and we ’ d just toss ideas around , being musicians . We recorded the record , and the next thing you know , it sold 4 million copies . We did another record and that sold a couple million copies , and then we did the movie that Hallmark picked up .”
Both TSO and Savatage coexisted together for a few more years , with Savatage releasing its last full-length album , Poets and Madmen , in 2001 . However , due to the increasing popularity of TSO and his own solo project – Jon Oliva ’ s Pain – Oliva decided to put Savatage on hiatus in 2002 . “ I think it just became an overwhelming situation to maintain both bands ,” Pitrelli states . “ In the beginning , we were doing TSO records , and there was no tour . I used to joke with Paul , saying , ‘ I feel like we ' ve become the Steely Dan of Christmas .’ We were making records and selling millions
By Kelley Simms photos by Bob Carey
of them , but we never played a live show . So , we could do the record , put it out , do a Savatage record , do a Savatage tour . It made sense . But by the time this thing started kicking in – I ’ d say by 2001 or ’ 02 – it became so overwhelmingly full-time . It wasn ' t a conscious thought . It was like , ‘ This thing ' s really exploding , so let ' s focus on this right now .’”
Also during this time in the early 2000s , Pitrelli took a break from Savatage and joined heavy thrashers Megadeth , recording his only full-length album The World Needs A Hero with the band . After the disappointment of the band ’ s previous album Risk , The World Needs A Hero steered Megadeth back into a heavier musical direction . With two recently reunited appearances by former guitarist Marty Friedman joining Megadeth on stage for a few songs , Pitrelli doesn ’ t see that invitation being extended to him . “ When Dave ( Mustaine ) and I parted company , it was pretty amicable ; he ’ s said some nice things in the press over the last 20 years ,” Pitrelli admits . “ Although we haven ’ t really spoken – for no real reason other than that life kicks in on both sides – if he ever reached out … First , it ’ d be great to hear his voice and chat about the old days . But I don ’ t think anything like ( reuniting ) would occur ; Marty was the guitar player in that band . That was the era when Megadeth was at its height . It ’ s almost like ( Mike ) Portnoy rejoining
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