12-04-2015, 06:48 PM
Uh oh. People are starting to catch on haha. I didn't actually think of TSO as its own "tribute band" until this year either when I started seeing bits of "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve" tour. And I realized it's just all pieces of the Christmas trilogy combined into one, essentially creating a "tribute" tour to themselves. It is a bit of an odd arrangement.
I would suppose what is considered the "real thing" is whoever is hired by O'Neill. Oliva, and Pitrelli. But like you, I wonder what would happen if either Caffrey, Middleton, Pitrelli or Plate decided to leave, though I seriously doubt they will. Bob Kinkel is the only original member of the band not with them anymore (he wasn't on the last two albums). Oliva doesn't play live anymore and O'Neill maybe plays a song or two for opening night.
Here is another kicker adding to your "musicians for hire" theory, MikeNY. They may have lead electric violinists for their tours but they didn't actually have them leading on their albums until Night Castle with Anna Phoebe and Roddy Chong. They had orchestra members for Beethoven's Last Night and The Lost Christmas Eve, but as we know the actual orchestra gets mostly pushed to background drone in those albums. For Christmas Eve and Other Stories and The Christmas Attic, according to the credits, there was no actual orchestra present. Only a single cello solo for Sarajevo on CEAOS. I'm sure synthesizers and fake strings on the keyboard took to the forefront for lack of real strings. That bit has bothered me for a while, though.
I would suppose what is considered the "real thing" is whoever is hired by O'Neill. Oliva, and Pitrelli. But like you, I wonder what would happen if either Caffrey, Middleton, Pitrelli or Plate decided to leave, though I seriously doubt they will. Bob Kinkel is the only original member of the band not with them anymore (he wasn't on the last two albums). Oliva doesn't play live anymore and O'Neill maybe plays a song or two for opening night.
Here is another kicker adding to your "musicians for hire" theory, MikeNY. They may have lead electric violinists for their tours but they didn't actually have them leading on their albums until Night Castle with Anna Phoebe and Roddy Chong. They had orchestra members for Beethoven's Last Night and The Lost Christmas Eve, but as we know the actual orchestra gets mostly pushed to background drone in those albums. For Christmas Eve and Other Stories and The Christmas Attic, according to the credits, there was no actual orchestra present. Only a single cello solo for Sarajevo on CEAOS. I'm sure synthesizers and fake strings on the keyboard took to the forefront for lack of real strings. That bit has bothered me for a while, though.