mushinnoshin

It’s been a very, very long time since the days when I swore by artists like King Diamond and albums like The Great KAT’s “Beethoven on Speed“. And though I would like to believe my pallette has grown somewhat more refined over the years, my heart does still hold a spot for progressive rock and metal.

So a few years ago when I started hearing that orchestral metal version of “Carol of the Bells” on the radio every Christmas, I couldn’t help but be curious about it. Still, it wasn’t until recently that I finally got around to googling for the scoop on the creators. And, well — damn, I KNEW that sound was familiar — it turns out the brains behind the Trans-Siberian Orchestra are none other than Paul O’Neil, Jon Olivia, & Robert Kinkel — the producer and members of Savatage, one of my absolute favorties from prog-metal’s heyday.

Which of course means that when I heard they were coming to town, I had no choice but go. And last night’s show was worth every penny. To be sure, as I’ve discovered myself over the years, there are some problems inherent to the meeting of the operatic and electric which make it typically turn out less than the ideal for which the artists and fans alike are searching — especially live. But I do still believe the combination can be very powerful when done right — and the TSO seems to be getting as close to doing it right as I’ve ever heard.

The show was in two parts — the first half was the Christmas opus. And to be honest, if that’s all there was to it, I’d have found it a little sad — rather than a triumph, I might have seen it as “this is what they’re reduced to? John Denver’s Christmas Special for Generation X?”. But then they took a break while they introduced the musicians, and went on to put on arguably the “real” show, cutting loose with other material including a lot of Beethoven, a cover of “Layla”, and — perhaps my favorite of the evening — a phenomenal version of Orff’s Carmina Burana, which will apparently be on their next album. Visually the show was stunning, with all the laser, pyro, and lighting spectacle one could want, and the musicianship was extraordinary, and I dare say I’d put some of them on par with anyone I’ve seen at the Schermerhorn. Now if I could just talk them into doing some Shostakovich…

The best part is that it seems they’re getting rewarded well. I was shocked to find out that the show would be at the GEC. I mean, in Savatage’s heyday, the biggest show I saw them do was third billing behind Megadeth and Dio at Municipal Auditorium. Meanwhile Queensryche, their much more popular contemporaries, are playing the Ryman, and probably considering themselves lucky to do it — it’s more than most 80′s metal bands are doing. So here they are 20 years later, playing music that delves even further into the classical side and out of the mainstream, and I find throngs of people streaming into the GEC, and to find out that the local top 40 station “The River” was involved in the promotion? I mean these weren’t metal heads, or goth kids, or art-rock weirdos like myself, these were regular working/middle class salt-of-the-earth Wal-Mart shoppers. My head was spinning. Well, good on ‘em. The band is getting to do exactly the sort of grand, dramatic production I know they’d always envisioned. I’m absolutely thrilled for them (and a little jealous…). I guess sometimes you really can succeed by sticking to your guns — though it helps to hook your wagon to Christmas!

Of course I have to giggle wondering how many people there had any idea that these were the same people who brought us this gem:

And just because this post isn’t complete without it: