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How did you discover TSO?
#1
In 1990 or so, one of my dad's friends used to give me mixed tapes of heavy metal bands.   One of the tapes had a couple of Savatage songs and I thought they were awesome.  They had a great singer and guitarist and even though they were 'heavy', they also had a tint of theatrics to them. The first time I heard Prelude to Madness, I was hooked.  This song became TSO's The Mountain.

I bought all of the Savatage CDs I could find and they quickly became my favorite band.  Fast forward a few years and I bought Savatage's Dead Winter Dead which had the song Christmas Eve (Sarajevo).  Of course, that song was re-packaged as TSO since the Savatage version, although exactly the same, was 'too heavy metal' for the mid 90s.  That song became TSO's greatest hit and the early fan's wink and secret. 

I remember going to Tower Records in Massapequa, NY to pick up the Christmas Eve and Other Stories CD when it was first released.  They never heard of it but were able to find it in their computer system.  I thought most of this CD was great and O' Holy Night is still one of my favorites. 

I saw TSO a few times at the Beacon Theater and had an impromptu run-in with Paul O'Neill in the lobby where he signed one of my tour books.  I am still a TSO fan, obviously, but miss the earlier days where they were not so well known.  It is not as much fun to to me once the secret is out but it is still fun to take a first timer who has no idea what to expect.  They are usually in awe of the spectacle.
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#2
I liked Christmas Eve in Sarajevo.  Found out they were playing a smallish theater in Louisville, KY.  Had balcony seats and Chris came upstairs and played for us!  Unfortunately, I didn't get them to sign my program (kicked myself over and over for that one).  I later found out from Jeff Plate that they played the Palace the first year they toured!  I had the DVD and my Dad loved it!  A few years later I got us tickets to see them in Lexington, KY.  A couple of years (or so) passed and I saw they were doing BLN at the Palace.  I was able to get us good seats up front, stayed for the meet and greet.  I was then hooked!  I have my 13th show on Thursday in Lexington and 14 and 15 on the 21st in Cincinnati!
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#3
Back in 2008, I'd heard Wizards in Winter & Sarajevo on the radio & really liked the sound. Picked up the Christmas trilogy for my husband when I caught it on sale CHEAP & we were both just blown away by the sound. Just so happened, they were getting ready to play Lexington KY so I jumped online and grabbed tickets for the family. The seats were horrible - back corner of the arena & one of the lights from the stage darned near burned our eyes out so we coudln't see half the show. But the sound.... and the spectacle...

The tradition began...

A few months later, I stumbled onto the Beethoven CD online & ordered it and OH MY GOSH... If I hadn't already been hooked, I sure would have then. It was, and still is, my favorite!!! So when they announced that they were actually going to tour with it, I was ecstatic! Got tickets for the premier in Cincinnati, let the kids skip school, my husband called in sick to work, and we ROAD TRIPPED to the most awesome TSO show I've ever seen..... JSS brought the house down - I think my husband was one of the first on his feet giving him the first of 2 standing ovations that night. The depth and breadth of Rob's voice was just amazing. He'd hit a note & we were all like "HOW IN THE HE** CAN HE HOLD THAT?!?!!?!?!?" And... and.... and.... Paul O'Neil was sitting just a couple of rows behind us, along with Bob Kinkel (who I later ran into in the lobby as we were leaving but couldn't find the words to say hello).

We've seen every show since 2008, including all 3 years of Beethoven. Can't afford more than 1 a year but.... we've got several videos from he-who-was-known-as-ClemsonTiger-on-the-old-boards so we watch them year after year after year.
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#4
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.
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#5
Being an older metal head, in the late 80's and 90's I was just listening to "Classic Rock & Metal". It was until the internet age that I broadened my horizons musically.
Anyway, an person I new had seen them play the Christmas show at Nassau Coliseum in 2010. They just went on about how fantastic it was. In 2011 BLN came to town so my wife and I went (she is not a fan of metal at all). I got seats in the 3rd row and we were both blown away.
We did not see them in 2012 and then in 2013 Connecticut public TV was airing either Ghosts or The Birth of Rock Theater and you could buy tickets through them for Mohegan Sun, and it was on my wife's birthday. Needless to saw we went and have been going ever since.
Last year we went to both East and West shows and this year we are going to 2 east shows.
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#6
Of course they had a couple songs on radio at Christmas time (Sarajevo, Wizards and Canon) and always heard they had a great show. My only real knowledge of them was that it was started by somebody that used to be in a heavy metal band but never really knew what band (at least I thought that's what I knew..I now know differently). I always wanted to check them out but never could find anyone else that was interested. In 2010 I won tickets on the radio. My wife wanted to go since she's into softer rock but I chose to take my 10 year old daughter instead. That proved to be a good choice..probably too much for the wife. I assumed at the time that Chris was the heavy metal guy that formed the group since he was the one giving the check presentation before the show started. Then a few minutes later the lights went out and this majestic classical song came on (Night Enchanted). I had no idea what it had to do with Christmas since I really couldn't make out the words very clearly but I was blown away just the same. Then came the narration and I wasn't quite sure what to think of that either. Seemed strange at first but I caught on quickly. All the pyro and lasers obviously made almost as much of an impression as the music. I was completely hooked. I was very fortunate to start my TSO career at this given time (big thanks to the local Cincinnati radio station). The next year I bought tickets and me and my daughter went again, she loved it also. This time there was some other dude making the check presentation just as we were walking in. When the lights went down I noticed an entirely different group up on the stage. I was unaware that they had two touring groups. So my first year I got to see the East. The second year I got to see the West. At that point I started buying all the cds they had and doing a little research. Previously I had only gotten the first because that's all I saw in the store. Who exactly was this "new" guy Al. Who was this heavy metal band Savatage ( I did actually remember their video for Mountain King on MTV). The following spring I bid on ebay for two tickets for a show at an Indiana casino near Chicago. Starting bid was $1 for 10th row seats. Bidding ended at a whopping $1.00. I ended up going by myself. In part those in attendance were lucky because they played the entire Beethoven album (as opposed to omitting a couple songs at other arenas). This was done because the casino wouldn't let them play long enough to get their normal set in. Unfortunately, the only song they did after BLN was Carmina. I did not get to see Chance or any other songs they usually did. Kayla wasn't even allowed in because she wasn't 21. So now that Zak has joined I've seen all the members of Savatage (that I care to see) other than Jon. And, btw, year 3 (I believe, maybe 4) of the Christmas shows Paul joined onstage in Cincy. I also have never sat back further than 10 rows for a show since that casino concert and my daughter has been with me every time except for that one too.
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#7
(12-09-2017, 09:11 AM)Flyer Wrote: Of course they had a couple songs on radio at Christmas time (Sarajevo, Wizards and Canon) and always heard they had a great show. My only real knowledge of them was that it was started by somebody that used to be in a heavy metal band but never really knew what band (at least I thought that's what I knew..I now know differently). I always wanted to check them out but never could find anyone else that was interested. In 2010 I won tickets on the radio. My wife wanted to go since she's into softer rock but I chose to take my 10 year old daughter instead. That proved to be a good choice..probably too much for the wife. I assumed at the time that Chris was the heavy metal guy that formed the group since he was the one giving the check presentation before the show started. Then a few minutes later the lights went out and this majestic classical song came on (Night Enchanted). I had no idea what it had to do with Christmas since I really couldn't make out the words very clearly but I was blown away just the same. Then came the narration and I wasn't quite sure what to think of that either. Seemed strange at first but I caught on quickly. All the pyro and lasers obviously made almost as much of an impression as the music. I was completely hooked. I was very fortunate to start my TSO career at this given time (big thanks to the local Cincinnati radio station). The next year I bought tickets and me and my daughter went again, she loved it also. This time there was some other dude making the check presentation just as we were walking in. When the lights went down I noticed an entirely different group up on the stage. I was unaware that they had two touring groups. So my first year I got to see the East. The second year I got to see the West. At that point I started buying all the cds they had and doing a little research. Previously I had only gotten the first because that's all I saw in the store. Who exactly was this "new" guy Al. Who was this heavy metal band Savatage ( I did actually remember their video for Mountain King on MTV). The following spring I bid on ebay for two tickets for a show at an Indiana casino near Chicago. Starting bid was $1 for 10th row seats. Bidding ended at a whopping $1.00. I ended up going by myself. In part those in attendance were lucky because they played the entire Beethoven album (as opposed to omitting a couple songs at other arenas). This was done because the casino wouldn't let them play long enough to get their normal set in. Unfortunately, the only song they did after BLN was Carmina. I did not get to see Chance or any other songs they usually did. Kayla wasn't even allowed in because she wasn't 21. So now that Zak has joined I've seen all the members of Savatage (that I care to see) other than Jon. And, btw, year 3 (I believe, maybe 4) of the Christmas shows Paul joined onstage in Cincy. I also have never sat back further than 10 rows for a show since that casino concert and my daughter has been with me every time except for that one too.

I love the Daddy daughter thing!  I've taken my Dad to a couple of shows.  After the last, he says he was too old to be doing all that stuff!
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#8
I saw TSO on t.v. a couple years back and instantly fell in love with the music!!! The first album I ordered, which was off Amazon, was "Letter from the Labyrinth"--it is my favorite album out of my little collection... Big Grin
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