TSO Concert 2008!!

Well, this is going back a little in the time line, but since I didn't have a chance to write about the concert right after we saw it, this is the best I can do.

December 28, 2008 I went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston. It was the first time my mom and one of our friends, Bruce, had seen the band live. Two of my other friends, Kristine and Roiann, went too, but we didn't get to talk to each other because we were in different sections. They had never seen the band either.

Thinking back to the year before when John, his mom, his brother, our friend Brian, and myself had gone for the first time in Oklahoma City was very funny. I'll set the stage for you on that very cold winter night. It's about 15 degrees outside, snowing/raining/sleeting/foggy/icy mess, the drive is about 3 hours long, and we're in three different vehicles. We decided to get dinner before the show and had left early to get to Oklahoma City in time for everything. That plan went perfectly fine. We got to OKC in one piece and all together. We had dinner and still had about 2 hours before the doors opened for the concert. We all had walked down to Bricktown to have dinner because it wasn't far from the concert venue. It's still bone chilling cold and sleeting outside so we're not that excited about going outside again, but we had chilled at the restaurant as long as we could. We start walking back toward the concert venue and happen upon a Starbucks where we all just crashed for a while. The boys had even bought a small board game to play while we waited until the doors opened for the concert. It's finally time to get in the concert doors and we head back to the venue. We all get to the doors and are told that we can't go in yet because they are not ready for our show to begin yet. The band puts on two shows a day. One at 3pm and then 7:30pm. Apparently the earlier show had run a little late and they weren't set up yet for the next show. So we have to wait in a building across the street where there is no heat and no food or anything else except bathrooms for like half an hour. It was hell. Throughout this whole ordeal I keep telling everyone that this will all be worth it, trust me, I promise, you won't regret it. They doubted me. I could understand. I had not thought we'd be weathering a blizzard and ice to go to the concert. It was the threat of bodily harm that was the only thing to get them all moving when we could finally get in the doors.

We finally get in for our show and it was the most amazing thing ever!! In a previous post I had talked about Anna Phoebe, the rocking violinist. This is the first time I saw her in concert and she ROCKED!!! I didn't get pictures of that show because I had not taken my camera with me. I was worried about getting it taken away from me at the doors.

This year was much different. One thing, we were seeing the show in Houston, TX (ergo, no snow/ice/sleet/winter mess to deal with) and another thing that completely bummed us all out was that Anna Phoebe would not be playing our show this year. You see, there is actually two touring groups with TSO because they are such a big hit at Christmas time every year. They tour across the entire US and face it a single group cannot do that in two and a half months. There is a West touring group and an East touring group. Easy to figure out, the East group tours the eastern side of the US and the West group tours the western side of the US. We had seen the West tour last year and would be seeing the West tour again this year. I found out after buying tickets that Anna Phoebe, my favorite performer of the show, would be touring with the East group this year. I think I cried a little. I would not see Anna this year! I texted John that Anna would not be there and he texted back saying he wasn't gonna go then. (He was kidding of course.) Then I find out that the violinists from the two groups were swapping and we were going to get Mark Wood. Tour management made a couple other swaps and we got the East's bassist and a new violinist to assist the string master, Wood. They had to bring in two people to cover Anna's spot. I laughed then got upset again.

Anyway, all bitching aside, it was an awesome show! My other favorite performer was there. Mr. Al Pitrelli (Eeeeee!) and his lovely wife, Jane. Angus Clark, a god on a guitar (but not THE GOD, no that would be Pitrelli), rocked it despite missing his best right hand woman, Anna. The band played some new songs from their upcoming album and it was out of this world fantastic! I can't wait for the CD to hit stores. By the end of the show I had been smiling so much that my cheeks hurt. I took pictures until my camera battery died not even half way through the first half of the show. Note to self: Next year charge the camera the night before!!

After the show the band does a Meet and Greet where you can get stuff signed and shake everyone's hand and chat for a second. I got my show program signed by everyone at the table and got some awesome guitar picks from a couple of the band members. I think I will be making them into earrings and a necklace to wear to next year's show! Angus and Jeff Scott Soto called me sweetie and Jeff said he liked my tattoos! I about fell over myself. These guys are drop dead hot, by the way. (Love you, John.)

Can't wait for next year's show. It's become our tradition for Christmas!