11-29-2017, 03:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-29-2017, 07:26 PM by sundance7490.)
I love hearing how everyone came to know and love TSO! These stories are the best.
It wasn't even me who found out about them. My aunt and her boyfriend at the time had seen them the year prior in 2005 when they were coming here to Albuquerque, New Mexico. They bought tickets for us to go in 2006. My aunt raved about it and said how amazing not only the band was but how they told a story and that they had an amazing laser show. I was 16 and had never seen a laser show before so I didn't know what to expect. BUT, this particular aunt of mine had a habit of taking me to a lot of generic things so I was not expecting much.
Tingley Coliseum is located in downtown Albuquerque in a sort of obscure part of the city. It is not a place meant for a lot of traffic and unfortunately we were about 30 minutes early before the show was to begin and the line to the show stretched as far back as the highway. It took us another 45 minutes just to make our way to the arena. The show had already begun but we'd only missed about three songs because when we walked in, First Snow was just beginning. I'll never forget that moment. I remember liking the music instantly and thinking this sounded like a neat band. Walking up the concourse, I could see the snow falling from the rafters. Next thing I knew the lasers shot on. Everyone in Tingley went crazy. I had never seen anything like it before.
Of course the rest of the show was quite possibly the most amazing show I had seen up to that point in my life. But it ended up being the last year they came to Albuquerque! I was so disappointed wanting to make it a yearly thing after that. Prior to 2004, they had been performing in the theaters in town, then they switched to Tingley Coliseum which is pretty much our only arena... and to be blunt it's kind of ghetto. It seats 12,000 but the roof is REALLY low so the height requirements wouldn't be nearly enough for all the pyro and to be even more blunt, it was a miracle they were able to fit the 2006 stage into that place. We got another arena the next year but it's a bit smaller only seating about 8,500 at max and the only time they've come back was when they toured Beethoven's Last Night in 2011 and 2012. Now, of course, we haven't seen them in five years since then.
But luckily I was able to rekindle my love for them in 2013 with my grandparents (who raised me). They asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I immediately said to see TSO in Las Cruces... three hours from Albuquerque. I knew it could be a nice road trip and to make it a sort of event for the three of us. I joined the fan club and got us fifth row tickets so I was thrilled. And though they were going along with the trip, the two of them rolled their eyes when I said how excited I was to see the Orchestra. They didn't think much of it... until the stage lit up and fire illuminated the stage of Las Cruces' Pan American Center. They were 66 and 83 at the time of the show and the two of them were screaming and whistling louder than I was. For me, even though it was seven years later it was just as incredible and beautiful as I could've ever remembered it being before. The best part was it was the last time they toured The Lost Christmas Eve, then the next year they moved onto The Christmas Attic, then The Ghosts of Christmas Eve the year after that. So three years in a row we got new shows.
The irony of Las Cruces is that since TSO has been touring The Ghosts of Christmas Eve and the tour has been shortened, they've ditched New Mexico altogether. If we want to see them now we have to go to Arizona unless they come back. Luckily we have family there but it's a shame they don't come back to us.
It wasn't even me who found out about them. My aunt and her boyfriend at the time had seen them the year prior in 2005 when they were coming here to Albuquerque, New Mexico. They bought tickets for us to go in 2006. My aunt raved about it and said how amazing not only the band was but how they told a story and that they had an amazing laser show. I was 16 and had never seen a laser show before so I didn't know what to expect. BUT, this particular aunt of mine had a habit of taking me to a lot of generic things so I was not expecting much.
Tingley Coliseum is located in downtown Albuquerque in a sort of obscure part of the city. It is not a place meant for a lot of traffic and unfortunately we were about 30 minutes early before the show was to begin and the line to the show stretched as far back as the highway. It took us another 45 minutes just to make our way to the arena. The show had already begun but we'd only missed about three songs because when we walked in, First Snow was just beginning. I'll never forget that moment. I remember liking the music instantly and thinking this sounded like a neat band. Walking up the concourse, I could see the snow falling from the rafters. Next thing I knew the lasers shot on. Everyone in Tingley went crazy. I had never seen anything like it before.
Of course the rest of the show was quite possibly the most amazing show I had seen up to that point in my life. But it ended up being the last year they came to Albuquerque! I was so disappointed wanting to make it a yearly thing after that. Prior to 2004, they had been performing in the theaters in town, then they switched to Tingley Coliseum which is pretty much our only arena... and to be blunt it's kind of ghetto. It seats 12,000 but the roof is REALLY low so the height requirements wouldn't be nearly enough for all the pyro and to be even more blunt, it was a miracle they were able to fit the 2006 stage into that place. We got another arena the next year but it's a bit smaller only seating about 8,500 at max and the only time they've come back was when they toured Beethoven's Last Night in 2011 and 2012. Now, of course, we haven't seen them in five years since then.
But luckily I was able to rekindle my love for them in 2013 with my grandparents (who raised me). They asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I immediately said to see TSO in Las Cruces... three hours from Albuquerque. I knew it could be a nice road trip and to make it a sort of event for the three of us. I joined the fan club and got us fifth row tickets so I was thrilled. And though they were going along with the trip, the two of them rolled their eyes when I said how excited I was to see the Orchestra. They didn't think much of it... until the stage lit up and fire illuminated the stage of Las Cruces' Pan American Center. They were 66 and 83 at the time of the show and the two of them were screaming and whistling louder than I was. For me, even though it was seven years later it was just as incredible and beautiful as I could've ever remembered it being before. The best part was it was the last time they toured The Lost Christmas Eve, then the next year they moved onto The Christmas Attic, then The Ghosts of Christmas Eve the year after that. So three years in a row we got new shows.
The irony of Las Cruces is that since TSO has been touring The Ghosts of Christmas Eve and the tour has been shortened, they've ditched New Mexico altogether. If we want to see them now we have to go to Arizona unless they come back. Luckily we have family there but it's a shame they don't come back to us.