Last night - for the fifth year in a row - Tami and I saw the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) at Albany’s Knickerbocker Pepsi Times Union Center. This has become a cherished Christmas tradition for me… the TSO music surely graces my car, home, and iPod during this time of year.
As always, the show was a mind-blowing hard-rockin’ Christmas spectacular. Alex Skolnick and Chris Caffery were monsters on their guitars. Vocals, strings, keys, lights, lasers, smoke, fog, fire, flame… everything was as good as any other year I’ve seen these guys.
One amusing note - the previous two years Chris Caffery plugged TSO’s “upcoming” non-Christmas CD release called Night Castle. But the CD still hasn’t been released (much the chagrin of hungry TSO fans like myself). This year, Chris both plugged and joked about the Night Castle release in what would be the quote of the evening:
Albany, let me ask you a question. What will be more likely to see in our lifetimes: a McDonalds on Mars, or the release of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Night Castle album?
They put on a great show. I was glad to go for the fifth year in a row. Next year I will go again. In a few months I’ll start looking forward to it. 
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is it worth going to?
they are coming to my city and im trying to figure out wether to go or not.
I’ve gone to TSO’s Christmas performances 7 times so far and will be going again this year. Now 43 years old, I’ve seen a lot of rock concerts over the years, dating back to the 70’s, and I can say with full confidence the TSO puts on the best concert I’ve ever seen. The first half of the 2-hour show follows their first CD in a story-book manner, fullfilling all your Christmas needs. The second half then just rocks.
If you have the opportunity to see them, I couldn’t recommend it more. If you enjoy their music, you will love their show.
Why did they choose to include ‘Trans-Siberian’ in the band’s name?
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra was founded in 1996 in New York City by composers Paul O’Neill and Robert Kinkel, and Savatage lead singer Jon Oliva. The group’s name is inspired by the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia which Kinkel says connects many cultures otherwise isolated, much like music.