Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Honda Center - Anaheim, CA - 11/29/25
Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a rock band formed in 1996 by composer, producer and lyricist Paul O’Neill. TSO primarily features members from the heavy metal band, Savatage. Some of those members include Al Pitrelli, Chris Caffery, Johnny Lee Middleton, Jeff Plate and Zak Stevens. Sadly, O’Neill passed away in 2017. TSO has continued to tour in his honor. TSO is most widely known for their Christmas music, live performances and most importantly, their heavy use of lights, lasers and pyro. This year, TSO is performing their story of The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. The tour is so big that it’s impossible for one band to make a full tour run during the winter. Instead, TSO breaks up into two bands with one half covering the west side of the USA and the other half covering the east. This review will focus on TSO West. The stop in Southern California was the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Like a lot of their stops on tour, they would be playing two shows in one day for this stop. A Saturday night was perfect for this show and with a packed venue, it would make a show like this all the better.
The lights went out and the packed venue cheered with excitement as the curtain lifted to reveal the entire band on stage. The first song performed was “Night Enchanted” which hasn’t been performed by the band since 2018. Right away, TSO made use of their strobe lights engulfing the stage in blue light as they beautifully sang the opening song. The next song was “Winter Palace” followed by the fan favorite “The Lost Christmas Eve.” With the first few songs finished, it was time to start the story of The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. First, the band’s narrator Phillip Brandon came out to introduce the album’s story. Once the stage cleared, the band came back out and the played the first song from the story, “O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night.” The song is always beautifully played. The next few songs performed were “Good King Joy,” “Christmas Dreams,” and “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” which is their most famous song and is often featured in media. Every song has its own light show and will always leave you in awe. During the performance of “Christmas Canon Rock,” four of their vocalists stood on platforms that raised them above the stage to sing the song. The vocalists were Lorea Turner, Chloe Lowery, Jodi Katz, and April Berry. They sang the song to perfection without missing a note. For the performance of “What Child Is This?” vocalist Daniel Emmet sang the song with force which is expected coming from an America’s Got Talent finalist. During “First Snow,” beautiful blue lights and lasers covered the stage, and snow was coming down to the audience below as their heads and bodies were covered in snow. Up next was one of TSO’s most beautiful songs, “Promises to Keep.” Always here to sing the song was Chloe Lowery who is a TSO veteran. As always, she sings her songs to perfection, and this song was no exception. The venue was in complete silence as all you could do was stare and listen in awe as her voice filled the venue. When she finished, the venue cheered and applauded her amazing performance. She also has her own music which is out now on all streaming platforms. Her singing is something you have to hear to believe. To end the story, TSO played one of its most fun songs, This Christmas Day. Vocalist Jeff Scott Soto came out front and center to sing his heart out as the stage was covered in traditional green and red Christmas lights. The band took a quick break so band leader Al Pitrelli could speak to the audience. One of his favorite things to ask is the show of hands of new attendees versus the repeat offenders. The second half of the show would be a best of TSO set. The first song performed is one of TSO’s most famous songs “Wizards in Winter” and is makes heavy use of pyro and is used in unison with strobe lights to match the rhythm of the song. The next song was another one of their most famous songs, “A Mad Russian’s Christmas.” Lights, lasers, and a video of nutcrackers filled the LCD screen in the background. Being front and center was violinist Asha Mevlana who is super fun to watch as she flawlessly plays her violin. She also has her own book out titled “To HELL With NO!: Adventures in Finally Saying YES!” and is currently available on Amazon. For the performance of “An Angel’s Share,” vocalist Lorea Turner took center stage as she sang the song sounding straight off the album itself. Another beautifully sang song. When the instrumental part of the song started, Chloe, Jodi, and April joined Lorea as they danced for the rest of the song and it was an amazing dance. As they danced, drummer Blas Elias was raised on his own platform and eventually did a drum solo in unison with the dancing. Seriously, kudos to whoever came up with the choreography to that song and kudos to the dancers for one of the best segments of the show. To slow down things just a bit, vocalist Rosa Laricchiuta took center stage with Al Pitrelli as she sang a Savatage cover of “Sleep”. To add to it, they played a snippet of “Changes” as made famous by heavy metal legends Black Sabbath as an obvious tribute to Ozzy Osbourne who tragically passed away in July. Up next was a song that hasn’t been played since 2012. That song was Dreams of Candlelight and singing the song would be Chloe. She surprised the audience by appearing in the middle of the floor wearing a white dress. For the first time ever, TSO used drones for a song as they graciously circled and danced around Chloe making it for an amazing performance. For the song “This Is Who You Are,” vocalist Daniel Emmet once again took center stage as he too sang the song beautifully. This song has also not been played live since 2012 and was great to see it on the setlist again as, for many in attendance, this was their first time hearing it live. Taking center stage for the performance of Find Our Way Home was Nate Amor. He has a great singing voice and, naturally, has his own music he has released which is available on all streaming platforms. Nearing the end of the show, the song Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness) was performed as guitarists Angus Clark and Al Pitrelli made their way to walk through the aisles and give fans an up close and personal view. This song also gave the chance for keyboardists Jane Mangini and Mark Klett to have dueling keyboard solos and show off their skills. Cutting into the song was “Christmas Jam” and it once again featured vocalists/dancers Jodi, April, Chloe, and Lorea as they stood on platforms and danced for the instrumental song. To end this amazing 2.5-hour show, TSO saved their best song for last. It was a reprised version of the Savatage cover of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”. TSO brought out all their tricks for this last song which included a huge background screen, lights, pedestals, and lots of pyro. Everyone in the band was out for this song and it’s one of the best sights to see. As the song was ending, fireworks were going off in all directions as well as pyro. They emptied the tanks when it came to the fireworks and pyro. The show came to an end, and the band came out to bow to the audience and thanked them for coming out. TSO always puts on one of the best shows of the year and they only come around once a year, so if you see them coming near you or even if you have to travel a bit for a show, do it because it’s well worth it. Even if you’re not a fan of Christmas music, this show will change your mind.