Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the RBC Center in Raleigh

Last night Lisa and I hooked up with Chad and my sister Anita at Chad's apartment in Raleigh. We headed out a little after 6, had a bite to eat at a nearby Quizno's and then headed to the RBC Center for a live concert by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

This was by far one of the most unique musical experiences I've ever had... to say nothing about it being the most lively Christmas concert I've ever attended! Trans-Siberian Orchestra does an amazing job doing a live concert along with various lights and sound effects (we were sitting toward the back and I still feel partially blinded by those huge flames). The first half of the show was the "story" part, where Trans-Siberian Orchestra uses music along with live narration to tell a story: in this case, it's about an angel and these other characters who converge in a bar in New York City one night at Christmas (this tale reminded me a lot about "World's End", the story from toward the end of The Sandman comic's run). The music accompanying this story was from Trans-Siberian Orchestra's The Lost Christmas Eve album. It was a VERY beautiful little show... but that was just the first half. Without any real intermission, Trans-Siberian Orchestra went into the second part of the show after some quick introductions of band members. This time they did stuff like "Carmina Burana" (the COOLEST rendition of that piece I've ever heard), their take on "Layla" by Eric Clapton, and "Christmas Canon" which has sort of become their signature piece in the past few years though this one had no children singing in but that was okay. Toward the end of the show they had a "dueling keyboards" thing between two of their keyboardists and the whole crowd went nuts when one of them started playing the "Linus and Lucy" theme from A Charlie Brown Christmas, before the band wrapped up the show with a spectacular medley of stuff.

All told it was an AWESOME two and a half hours! Trans-Siberian Orchestra is definitely worth seeing if they ever do a show near you (but do your best to get tickets early 'cuz they go fast).

When we were at Chad's apartment I took some pics of him and Anita. Anita took one of me and Lisa together with her camera but she hasn't sent it yet. Here's Anita from last night...

And here's Chad...

I'll let Chad tell the story (if he's so inclined) about how he and Anita went into this convenience store after the show to get Anita a bottle of Mello-Yello but instead wound up with Miller Lite :-P