Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Steve and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert today. It was sort of a last minute thing; I got a call on Wednesday from a friend at work asking if I was still interested in her two extra tickets to the show. Neither Steve nor I had been to see TSO before and were very much interested in going.
When I got the tickets from Lindsay, I found out they were front row seats in the first floor section. We literally could reach out and touch the stage. As one friend put it, we were going to get sweated on. And when we arrived we discovered our seats were directly in front of a set of huge speakers. Seriously, the speakers together were about 8 feet by 3 feet. The tickets themselves also were very cool, printed with a design from the cover of the new Night Castle album.
Things got off to a rough start. We arrived an hour before the posted starting time and they hadn't opened the doors yet so we were standing outside in bitterly cold weather, at which point I regretted leaving my hat in the car.
Once we got inside, things looked up. We slowly found our way to the floor and our seats, which were five feet from the stage. About 10 minutes before the show, two guys from the crew came around and said there was going to be video and photo guys running back and forth in front of us and here were free T-shirts for the inconvenience.
Then the concert actually started. The concert was phenomenal, and we were amazingly close. We were so close to the stage that we could see the fingering the guitarists and violinist were using when they were on the close side of the stage. (We were to the audience right side of center, six seats from the end.) I could watch the closer keyboardist's fingering when he was turned the right way. When they used the flame pyrotechnic devices, we could feel the heat from the flames. And many times, one of the musicians would come down to section of stage right in front of us so close we could have touched him or her.
Near the end of the concert, one of their guitar players, Alex Skolnick, was playing on the segment of stage closest to us. The crowd was on their feet cheering so I was standing just a few feet away. Skolnick finished playing that segment of the show and threw his guitar pick to me. Lindsay said the look on my face was priceless. Astonished, I think. There was no question that he threw it to me, not just randomly into the crowd. Fortunately my reactions were good enough to catch it. I don't know if I looked especially enthusiastic or just cute, but I'll take it. :)
In all, it was a fantastic concert. The entire production was amazing. And I came away with a cool souvenir ticket, a T-shirt, and a guitar pick.
When I got the tickets from Lindsay, I found out they were front row seats in the first floor section. We literally could reach out and touch the stage. As one friend put it, we were going to get sweated on. And when we arrived we discovered our seats were directly in front of a set of huge speakers. Seriously, the speakers together were about 8 feet by 3 feet. The tickets themselves also were very cool, printed with a design from the cover of the new Night Castle album.
Things got off to a rough start. We arrived an hour before the posted starting time and they hadn't opened the doors yet so we were standing outside in bitterly cold weather, at which point I regretted leaving my hat in the car.
Once we got inside, things looked up. We slowly found our way to the floor and our seats, which were five feet from the stage. About 10 minutes before the show, two guys from the crew came around and said there was going to be video and photo guys running back and forth in front of us and here were free T-shirts for the inconvenience.
Then the concert actually started. The concert was phenomenal, and we were amazingly close. We were so close to the stage that we could see the fingering the guitarists and violinist were using when they were on the close side of the stage. (We were to the audience right side of center, six seats from the end.) I could watch the closer keyboardist's fingering when he was turned the right way. When they used the flame pyrotechnic devices, we could feel the heat from the flames. And many times, one of the musicians would come down to section of stage right in front of us so close we could have touched him or her.
Near the end of the concert, one of their guitar players, Alex Skolnick, was playing on the segment of stage closest to us. The crowd was on their feet cheering so I was standing just a few feet away. Skolnick finished playing that segment of the show and threw his guitar pick to me. Lindsay said the look on my face was priceless. Astonished, I think. There was no question that he threw it to me, not just randomly into the crowd. Fortunately my reactions were good enough to catch it. I don't know if I looked especially enthusiastic or just cute, but I'll take it. :)
In all, it was a fantastic concert. The entire production was amazing. And I came away with a cool souvenir ticket, a T-shirt, and a guitar pick.