Trans-Siberian Review

Saw the TSO show last night.

First and foremost, a standing ovation for the lighting engineer.

The musicians were very good, not spectacular, but very good. However, I don't remember a show in which I have seen so much fluff.

The sound mix was very guitar-heavy. It took the sound board guys 30 minutes to find the bass drum -- they finally got it. The 7-man string section was apparently all for show because we never got to hear them in the mix. Once the hot-female violinist got to do her big part, she was covered note for note with the guitars........ugh.

I'm not sure I like the idea of Christmas rock. However, the classical rip-offs from Bach, Mozart, Liszt and Beethoven were handled much better. Late in the show they introduced some guy from off stage "that wrote all this stuff"..........HUH ?

The show went for 2.5 hours; without all the fluff and cheese, it would have been half that long.

I was screaming for an encore from the lighting engineer.