Have you ever longed to recapture moments long gone, like when you gave Grandma the first present you bought with your own money, or senses working overtime from attending your first rock concert? How about both at the same time?
That warmth of Christmas magic — for rock & roll and Christmas carol fans — will pass through the Kia Center on Saturday. Holiday-rock legends Trans-Siberian Orchestra will rock the chimney off while rockin’ around the Christmas tree as they present their latest spectacular.
TSO lead guitarist and music director Al Pitrelli says there’s a lot to reminisce about for this year’s show. Celebrating the band’s 20th year touring, TSO has ramped up their show to make not just your ears merry, but also your eyes bright. “We try musically and visually to change it up enough that we constantly keep [the audience] on their heels,” Pitrelli says. “By the second week of January, we’re sitting down scratching our heads saying, ‘How do we make next year’s show different enough and bigger and better?'”
The answer? Pyrotechnics and visuals on a level of spectacle up there with Santa’s sleigh crashing to earth — you just can’t look away. Pitrelli says this year’s show includes “absolutely breathtaking” pyro and laser effects that sync to the rock music being played.
The arrangement of the score is new, too. The band is paying homage to each installment of their Christmas Trilogy. And it’s a momentous occasion; each part of the trilogy has been played in separate instances but “hasn’t been played in its entirety in about a dozen years.”
Written by composer, lyricist and producer Paul O’Neill, The Lost Christmas Eve can stand up with the live works of famous composers like Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer.
“We approached it with a very cinematic approach this year, and we wanted to think about how John Williams or Hans Zimmer or Danny Elfman would do it,” Pitrelli says. “So, it’s almost like you’re watching a film while you’re hearing live narration.”
The band members originaly met while working with Tampa-based power-metallers Savatage. Whether he was writing lyrics or heavy riffs, Pitrelli says that “Savatage was basically a curriculum getting me ready to work with Paul.”
TSO has been performing in arenas for decades, but Pitrelli says his favorite thing about the shows has never changed. It’s the first moments of the show, when he’s standing behind the curtain with both nervousness anticipation and excitement. Before the curtain rises, he has a brief interaction with stage crew and bandmates, exchanging reassuring looks and a thumbs-up or two. The curtain rises and Pitrelli is met with thousands of jolly spirits that showed up for TSO.
“I have this moment where I’m just like ‘Wow, I have a guitar around my neck,’ which I’ve had around my neck my entire life,” Pitrelli says. “And I immediately turn into a 14-year-old all over again. It’s like I’m playing the eighth-grade talent show.”
As TSO’s music fills the arena, the energy could be compared to that of a kid on Christmas morning. Pitrelli posits that the energy between the audience and the band is “exchanged back and forth and the show just starts to come to life.”
To the band, both the Orlando and Tampa shows feel like coming home for the holidays.
“The band based itself out of Tampa and I have so much family and so many friends down in the Orlando area that it literally is like a homecoming for Christmas,” Pitrelli says.
Kia Center
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This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2024.