home | music & nightlife | bars and clubs
BARS AND CLUBS LIST MUSIC VENUES MUSIC REVIEWS MUSIC EVENTS
San Jose Club Gallery |
HP Pavilion 525 W. Santa Clara St. 800.745,3000 Sunday, Nov. 29 |
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
WHEN they first started putting a rock opera twist on holiday tunes in 1996, the music industry definitely didn't "get" Trans-Siberian Orchestra. "I'm pretty sure they don't get it now," says Al Pitrelli, guitarist and musical director for the group. This despite more than a decade of arena shows that earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million annually, putting them among the most successful tours year in and year out. Their first year, they played to about 130,000 people. By the end of this year, they'll have played to 1.3 million, at 140 shows. The uninitiated might know TSO's song "Wizards in Winter," which was everywhere in 2005, especially after a video of Carson Williams' insane home Christmas light show set to the song went viral on the Internet. Pitrelli still can't believe that one. "That was one of those things we couldn't have thought up," he says. But it also showed how the group's founder, Paul O'Neill, is an consummate perfectionist. "That guy did it so well that Paul called up our lighting director and said, 'Why are his lights perfectly in sync, and ours aren't?'" O'Neill's drive has led to the epic TSO shows which feature somewhere around three dozen musicians, vocalists and narrators, along with 17 semis' worth of equipment. "It's a couple acres of gear," says Pitrelli. "It's absurdly huge." The group has found a home in San Jose, returning to HP Pavilion on Sunday for two shows, on the heels of their latest release, the non-Christmas album Night Castle, which debuted on the Billboard charts at No. 5. Pitrelli says the group, which he still thinks of as "a bunch of kids from Long Island" (no, they're not Russian, the name refers to the connection between cultures), may have known better than the industry suits, but even they never thought TSO would get this big. "It's a dream come true, and I try to enjoy every second of it." | |
Metro Silicon Valley Bars and Clubs 2009
Metro Silicon Valley Bars & Clubs 2008
How to Be a Dive Bar Superstar
Metro Silicon Valley Bars and Clubs 2007
San Jose is bringing sexy back
Metro Silicon Valley Bars and Clubs 2006
Pool parties rule. Our Bars & Clubs issue jumps in feet first.
Metro Santa Cruz Bars and Clubs Guide 2007
From Boulder Creek to Watsonville, we visited 80 bars so you won't have to.
Metro Silicon Valley Bars and Clubs Guide 2005
Everybody says their city's nightlife scene is 'hot,' but this year ours is literally on fire.
Metro Santa Cruz Bars and Clubs Guide 2005
Our guide to Santa Cruz County watering holes.
Silicon Valley 2004
Exactly 271 bars, clubs, coffee and teahouses.
Santa Cruz 2004
An A to Z of Santa Cruz bars and clubs.
Silicon Valley 2003
Metro's essential annual guide to Silicon Valley's finest drinking establishments.
Santa Cruz 2003
Bars and Clubs guide: 2003 edition.
Silicon Valley 2002
Metro beats the bushes and scours the plains for the best watering holes in Silicon Valley.
Santa Cruz 2002
A neighborhood guide to bars, pubs, clubs, watering holes and other assorted favorite nightspots.