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Reading, PA - Ghosts of Christmas Eve 2015
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I saw my first show of this 2015 tour in the small-ish Santander Arena in Reading, PA. Wikipedia says the capacity for concerts ranges from 6,000-9,000, depending on setup. The check was for $4200, so that gives a pretty good indication of how many people were there for this Show. A friend went to the matinee and said they saw some entire empty sections in the bowl for that Show.

The rear stage didn't elevate, nor was there that weird pyramid that they are carrying around this year. I suspect it was due to the size of the arena. I did like the main stage alot - clean and open. Those video screens made it seem huge!

The audience did not seem that into the Show. No spontaneous standing ovations. And even when Chris does his usual signalling for folks to stand up, it was very sporadic. There are numerous "hold for applause" moments in the TSO Show - and for the most part they came across a little awkward as there wasn't the usual instant applause that usually accompanies those. That was different from past tours where fans seemed to readily spring to their feet often.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Show. I have lost count how many times I have seen them since 2006, but this was real enjoyable.

The pros:

• The setlist! I can always nitpick and pick out some songs that I would like to have replaced with other songs, but this is a real solid set with many of my favorites.

• More songs from their Christmas albums in the 2nd half than they have had in a while - I counted six plus the Sarajevo reprise.

• Russell Allen - I miss James Lewis a ton. And Michael Lanning and Tommy Farese owned these songs. However, Russell does a tremendous job with “Christmas Nights in Blue” and “This Christmas Day” - really just owns the stage during these.

• Just about all of the vocal performances were dynamite, as usual

• Bill Hudson! I was never a fan of the hammy, overdone stage presence of Joel Hoekstra. Bill harkens back to the days of Alex Skolnick - just lets the music do the talking for the most part.

• Less dancing than in years past!

The cons:

• Not a fan of Lisa Lavie's overwrought rendition of Music Box Blues. Chloe and Erika Jerry own this song since Daryl passed and Lavie's rendition just sounds like she is trying too hard. Just doesn't do it for me.

• As with most groups I see in concert frequently, there is always a song or two that I wish they would retire and switch out for something new and fresh. For TSO, it is “The Mountain”. Nothing about this performance interests me anymore. And the second part of the song where Kayla marches out with the signed guitar and the other ladies surround her in that odd "dance" is always a low point for me. So much is thrown into “The Mountain” that it's like a carnival for six minutes. And why does Kayla always look like she does not want to be on stage? Is she being told to be the "serious rocker" while performing? Smile once in a while!

• The spotlight on Roddy “playing” the violin during the opening cello part of Sarajevo. The cellist is just sitting there now not playing and the cello sound we hear is coming from the keys. All of that is fine – but don’t put the spotlight on a violinist and make believe that somehow those cello notes are coming out of it.

• Only one song for Rob Evan to sing? Boo!

• Only one song for Zak Stevens to sing? Zak is not your ordinary TSO vocalist – I thought for sure he was here to sing something special – maybe a Savatage song or something out of the box. I felt both he and Rob were way under-utilized in the Show.

• The Johnny Green remake – “Forget About the Blame” – sung fantastically by Robin Borneman. It just doesn’t sound like a TSO song to me.

• And the ultimate con: Photoshopping Tommy Farese’s photo out of that movie still. It was shown twice and it was disgusting each time. Things ended badly between Tommy and Paul – we get that, but Tommy is TSO royalty. He meant so much to TSO’s fans. And for him to photoshop another man’s face where Tommy’s face was is so low and petty. Bad, bad form and really disappointing.
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Reading, PA - Ghosts of Christmas Eve 2015 - by danfromnj - 11-27-2015, 11:33 AM

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