Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s grandiose blend of classical and hair metal endures for 20 years

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — An hour before showtime, Elliot Saltzman is behind the Trans-Siberian Orchestra stage, excitedly showing off the elaborate guts of the spectacle set to unfold at Van Andel Arena.

“It’s a little city in there!” he says to a visitor, pointing under the stage at the labyrinth of cables, elevator video displays and cubbyholes for assorted crew members — instrument technicians, laser specialists and the like.

Soon, all those gears will be in frenetic but precise motion as TSO’s musicians and singers unleash their Christmas rock opera up top. With pyrotechnics blazing and video pods glowing amid a grand pageant of lights, they’ll serve up nearly 2½ hours of drama and dazzle for an arena packed with generation-spanning fans.

The concertgoers in Grand Rapids are among the millions of Americans who have grown enchanted with this most unconventional of holiday rituals since it sprang to life at the turn of the millennium.

Despite playing just five or six weeks each year, its box office muscle was enough to make it the 23rd-top-grossing tour of the 2010s, according to Pollstar. Since hitting the road in 1999, it has racked up more than $725 million.

“It started as the ugly duckling,” Saltzman says. “Now it’s a fixture in the entertainment industry.”

This matinee show in early December is the first of a doubleheader in Grand Rapids, a common scenario for the TSO, which closes its 2019 schedule with two shows Monday at the Allstate Arena. Two touring companies travel the land, and between them, they boast 38 tractor-trailers, 240 crew members and 50 tons of gear.

Jason McEachern

On its face, Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an unlikely yuletide success — a grandiose extravaganza that melds ’80s hair metal sizzle with classical elements and a production that puts some of the biggest pop stage shows to shame.

Early in the show, guitarist Joel Hoekstra lights into a medley of “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “O Holy Night,” blond mane thrashing amid the six-string heroics. The sound of 1988, it seems, has found immortal life as a Christmastime custom.

Onstage at Van Andel, there are moments of Christmas-miracle solemnity and holiday cheer, presented by nine vocalists, seven touring musicians, a locally hired string section and a sonorous narrator who periodically steps out to guide the story along.

This year’s tour revives the story that winds through Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s 1996 debut album: the tale of an angel sent down from heaven on a snowy Christmas Eve, hearing the prayers of a distraught father and leading a lost little girl home. The two dozen musical numbers include TSO originals and juiced-up holiday chestnuts.

Founder Paul O’Neill died in 2017, but his spirit still runs deep in all things TSO — including his insistence that the production grow every year.

“He was so insanely driven to make this thing special,” says drummer Jeff Plate, whose metal band Savatage was the musical kernel that grew into TSO in the ’90s.

“We came from that world of Broadway and the Who and Queen and Kiss. This wasn’t going to be a show where you just sat quietly and the band played a few songs. He wanted to hit you with everything. As it kept growing, he had the means to beef up the production.”

This year’s extravaganza includes everything from new laser colors to an array of overhead kinetic lights — 4-foot sticks coated with LEDs, choreographed with wireless commands.

Most impressive is a massive Tesla coil at the back of the arena, firing off bolts of lightning synced to the music on “The Storm/The Mountain” — the zaps digitally tuned to match the melody.

“Paul was a big Pink Floyd fan,” Saltzman says. “He wanted stuff all around the arena.”