Trans-Siberian Orchestra aims to spread a little joy

When Paul O'Neill and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra roll into town, they have a couple of simple goals: They want to put on the best rock music show you've ever seen. But even more than that, they want to bring you a couple of hours or so of joy.

"Every human being is entitled to moments of pure joy," said O'Neill in a telephone interview from on the road in Wisconsin. "It's our job to deliver it."

If your life is going great, he said, then just enjoy the show. "But most of us have some speed bumps along the way, and if you've hit those, you can come and enjoy a time of no worries, no troubles. And you'll be able to face those speed bumps better." Everyone makes mistakes, he said, "but everyone needs to know it is never too late to undo them. That's our message. We have happy endings. If you want sad endings, read the newspaper."

If O'Neill sounds passionate about his music, it's because he is, and has been ever since he grew up in New York listening to every thing from classical music to Broadway to musicals to Motown, folk singers, and rock groups such as Queen; Emmerson, Lake & Palmer; Yes; Pink Floyd and the Who. So, it's not surprising that his Trans-Siberian Orchestra incorporates flavors from all of those. "The whole idea was to create a progressive rock band that would push the boundaries further than any group before," he said.

They do that primarily through their unique approach to rock opera. Thus far there have been a trilogy of Christmas offerings, followed by "Beethoven's Last Night" and then "Night Castle," a venture into time travel.

TSO will bring its energy to Salt Lake City for two shows on Thursday, Nov. 18, at EnergySolutions Arena. "We very psyched to be getting back to Salt Lake," said O'Neill. "It's a great rock city."

The first half of the concert will feature their first Christmas rock opera, "Christmas Eve and Other Stories." The second half with include everything from selections from "Beethoven's Last Night" and "Night Castle" to works from their newest projects, "Gutter Ballet" and "Romanov: What Kings Must Whisper."

Those new works are really old ones, explained O'Neill. "Romanov" was the first thing he completed with his pre-TSO Savatage band. "At the time, people who knew a lot about those things thought it should be on Broadway, so we pulled it back." It has taken all this time but now looks like it is Broadway-bound, accompanied by the release of a newly recorded album.

"Gutter Ballet" is their first rock musical, he said. It, too, started as a Savatage album; it, too, is planned for a theatrical production on Broadway.