Highway to Heaven

While I am no heavy metal rocker my hometown buddy, Daron, did give me an appreciation for the band AC/DC so I couldn't help but think of their song, "Highway to Hell" , last night when my date and I attended the Christmas show (yes, post-Christmas on December 27th) of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - http://www.trans-siberian.com/intro.html -- at Target Center in Minneapolis.

BACKGROUND - Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) was formed in 1996 by Paul O'Neill who immediately approached long time friends and collaborators Robert Kinkel and Jon Oliva to form the core of the writing team.

Having never seen TSO in concert before we decided to see them based on the Target Center's website description of them performing, "...........80's style music.........." which we both love -- but then again are you really human if you DON'T love the 80's ? :) Little did we know that the only segment of 80's music utilized by TSO was HEAVY METAL complete with a laser light show which would have inspired Pink Floyd to pay homage to TSO. The concert opened with three guitars jamming on stage with TSO's speakers set to "11"!! TSO's complete team included -- keyboard player, drummer, six (6) singers, a string section, a narrator, and their arranger.

Given the time crunch of squeezing in a racquetball match before the concert we ended up eating at the Target Center which I would rate with a generous "3" (on the 1 to 5 Space Beagle scale) primarily due to their variety of menu items. We ate light with a pretzel and the fruit and cheese platter which was quite tasty. Let me call on my beloved Iowa State University Cyclones to implement such menu changes at their sporting events -- http://www.cyclones.com -- since not everyone wants to eat a hot dog at every game.

Overall the concert was entertaining, unique, and worth seeing if you get the chance. One element that would have really added to the overall concert experience would have been to see the show with my fraternity brothers -- Carl and Pete given their love of Van Halen (Van Hagar?) and White Snake -- since it would have been very entertaining for us to watch those two boys enjoy the sounds of metal. While no nativity scene I have experienced has ever included a lead guitar playing for the Baby Jesus it would be an interesting addition :)

Keep on rocking in Bethlehem,

Todd