CONVOCATION CENTER TSO's special effects thrill record crowds

A string section and eight vocalists are part of the orchestra.
By GUY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Trans-Siberian Orchestra pulled off a first Sunday for the Youngstown Convocation Center: two sellouts in a single day.
Extra seats were even added on the floor to satisfy demand.
The arena has been open for only a few weeks, but it might be a while before another band duplicates TSO's feat. The Christmas-season show, now in its eighth season, enjoyed strong word-of-mouth advertising ever since it was announced.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra isn't just long-haired rockers in tails playing Christmas carols and Beethoven. It's all about special effects.
Dancing laser beams, strobe lights and shooting flame pots embellished the music.
The band -- three guitarists, two keyboardists and a drummer -- was joined onstage by an eight-piece string section, and occasionally, an eight-person choir.
The first half of the 2:30 p.m. concert was a replaying of TSO's 1996 album, "Christmas Eve and Other Stories." Brian Hicks used his warm and wondrous voice to narrate the Christmas tale. TSO's great vocalists illustrated the chapters in song.
Ambience
With fog shrouding the stage, the show took on a Charles Dickensian feel, which was at times lonely, cold and ominous, and at others, warm and transcendent.
It was more Broadway than rock show.
When the first half of the concert was finished, guitarist Chris Caffery donned a Youngstown SteelHounds hockey jersey and introduced the band.
In the second half, TSO played assorted songs from its repertoire -- and pulled out all the stops on the special effects.
The light show got so grand that only the folks farthest from the stage could grasp it in its totality. Laser beams flashed a geometrical grid pattern overhead. A bank of white lights lighted up the hall for a second or two. And always, bouncing, twinkling, multicolored lights played across the stage.
In one of the closing numbers, a row of giant fire pots flared to the music, with heat so intense you could feel it dozens of rows back.
The "classical" rockers saved their biggest stunt for last.
Caffery and another guitarist jumped off the stage and strolled to the rear of the floor seats. There, they stepped on a platform that lifted them 40 feet. With jets of smoke billowing beneath, the two rockers played to the roaring crowd.
TSO also played another concert at 7:30 p.m.