The world’s most popular progressive rock band, the Trans–Siberian Orchestra, is coming to Salt Lake City as a part of “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” Winter Tour. TSO is scheduled to perform at the Vivint Smart Home Arena at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 20. This year marks the band’s 20th consecutive year of touring — a period in which it has staged over 2,000 shows and amassed over 15 million fans.
This year’s tour is a presentation of TSO’s unforgettable “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” featuring founder, composer and lyricist Paul O’Neill’s timeless story of a runaway who finds her way into a mysteriously abandoned theater. The highly-anticipated annual event which has cemented the group’s status as a must-attend, multi-generational, holiday tradition is set to begin on Nov. 14. It will visit 65 cities across North America for over 100 shows before concluding on Dec. 30.
If you have been to a TSO concert before, you know it is more than just a traditional rock concert. It’s best described as a multisensory extravaganza marked by the band’s colorful, loud and very unsubtle efforts to overload your senses with dozens of full–color lasers, hundreds of speaker boxes, pyrotechnic modules, light shows, video screens and effects synchronized with the best in class rock opera, progressive rock and symphonic rock music. No wonder the group has been selling out venues year after year.
Paul O’Neill launched TSO in 1996 with the debut album “Christmas Eve and Other Stories,” a rock opera which remains among their best-selling works to date. Since 1996, TSO has sold more than 10 million concert tickets and over 10 million albums. The rock opera also features enduring fan favorites such as “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” “Promises to Keep,” “O’ Come All Ye Faithful,” “Christmas Canon,” “Good King Joy,” “Music Box Blues” and “This Christmas Day.”
TSO’s Winter Tour 2017 achieved a record gross of more than $61.5 million with approximately one million tickets sold. The tour was ranked number 11 on the Worldwide Ticket Sales “Top 100 Tours” chart and number 15 on the “Top 200 North American Tours” chart. It was also number 15 in the Top 200 for Pollstar Magazine’s 2017 “Year End Top Tours” in North America and number 27 for Worldwide tours.
This year’s tour it is all set to roll out with new awe–inspiring effects, as well as amazing staging with an all–new design from the dedicated team handpicked by the group’s late creator, Paul O’Neill.
You most definitely want to clear your calendar for this. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster, and start at $42.50. As is the usual custom for TSO, a portion of every ticket sold benefits select local charities. For more information, visit the band’s website.