I almost slept through this one thinking it was a week away. I woke up Sunday with a bad headache and got up to take some medicine and sleep for a few more hours. For some reason I was compelled to check the ticket and find out the concert date. That gave me exactly 2 hours until the concert started. It was enough time to take a shower, get directions, get what I needed, grab a bite to eat, and make it to the Verizon Center. I was so excited because it was only by chance that I made it to the show and I was excited to hear the entire Beethoven album live. I got a large concert program and two t-shirts (there was a third I really wanted but they had only small and medium-actually apart from the two I did get, all the others were only in small and medium). I had my digital camera and digital recorder all ready but Chris, when introducing a local charity, informed us that the show was being recorded for a DVD release and they were strongly inforcing their no camera policy. This was the first time I was part of an audience in a live recording (this was due to it being the last show of the tour) and was quite a thrill for me-a bigger one was yet to come.
The show was a blast, the lights, the lazer show, the pyro and the performances were all top notch. The narrator Bryan Hicks did a great job of bringing Paul's words to life, the young and old Beethovens' (John Brink and Rob Evan) performances were great as well. The amazing Jeff Scott Soto did a great performance as Mephisotpheles. I was somewhat confused as to which female vocalist did what part but they all (Danielle Landherr, Valentina Porter, Chloe Lowery, and April Berry) were amazingly beautiful and voices to match. Other good performances were done by Tim Hockenberry (who did Believe-here and on Night Castle, also the song will appear in Paul and Jon's upcomming theatrical musical: Gutter Ballet), and Jay Pierce who did Twist. Of course the highlight in TSO are the musicians. The lead guitars were handled by Chris Caffery, Al Pitrelli (mostly Al but Chris handled some of the solos). The rhythm guitars were handled by Adrew Ross anb Paul O' Neil in a few songs but not all. The piano and keys were done masterfuly by Vitaly Kupry and Al Pitrelli's beautiful wife Jane Mangini. The violinist Roddy Chang was a wild man and resembled an a asian Angus Young (with a violin in place of a guitar) and even though she was in the background with the small orchestra section a beatiful woman who's name I didn't quite catch was also going crazy with the violin and was headbanging like a woman possesed. Of course last but definatly not least was the higly underrated Johnny Lee Middleton on bass and drummer extrodinaire Jeff Plate who were also great that night.
After the show came the autograph signing which was the highlight (and lowlight) of the night. I got to meet people who made some of my favorite music of all time and say things that I always figured I'd say if I met them. I flattered Jeff Plate by telling him I don't think they could have found anyone better to fill Doc's shoes and I told Johnny Lee how underrated he is and how I count him as one of my favorite bassists of all time. Al wasn't there so I couldn't say anything to him and I froze up because I had no idea what I was going to say to Chris Caffery and like an idiot, all I could say was that I was a big fan (it wasn't till after that remembered what I wanted to tell him but maybe there will be a next time). I shocked the hell out of Jeff Scott Soto when I told him I couldn't believe he was the same guy who used to sing with Axel Rudi Pell. He couldn't believe someone stateside knew of ARP and told me that was the first time someone ever mentioned that (they usually say Yngwie). Apart from blowing it with Chris, I confused the Jay Pierce with Bryan Hicks because I thought the narrator was the same guy who sung Flick and I didn't notice there were two separate black men (no I don't think all black people look alike). Also I didn't know which girl did which voice so I just told them they all had beautiful voices (the only one that thanked me for the compliment was April Berry who also seemed the nicest-the others came off a little stuck up). I did however tell Jane how great of a keyboardist I thought she was. The other people there I congratulated on a job well done. Unfortunatly, I wasn't able to get my pictures taken with any of them because there was a long line and security wanted to keep it moving along. We were allowed to take pictures after we stepped out of line but I couldn't get any good shots (I will try to edit some of the photos I did get plus post pics of some of the pics I got, the two t-shirst, and the program).
Great night in which I was able to meet members of Savatage (one member of the Oliva and Oliva line-up Johnny, one of both Savatage eras Chris, and one of the latter era Jeff). I also got to meet one of the best metal voices in Jeff Scott Soto (I still thinks it's not fair that one can do the deep dramatic vocals and the high screaming vocals equally well). BTW if anyone gets the DVD when it comes out, at the end of the show Al will mention Jon Oliva being in the audience, if you hear someone yelling "YEAHHHH!!!!!" it's me-I was one of the few there who knew who the Mountain King was. Also the only one with a Savatage shirt (the small rip-off Mountain King one form ebay but a Savatage shrit nonetheless).
Subject: Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Beethoven's Last Night Dallas 5/02/2010 
Wed May 05, 2010 1:37 pm
