TSO 2006

[Yippee38]

The Al Pitrelli lineup rules!!!!!!!!!!!! That's the one we see every year with his wife on keyboards, Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, and Angus Clark and Al on guitar. I'd love to see the lineup with Alex Skolnick. It's just not the show in our area.

Yeah. We prefer the Pitrelli lineup too. Don't forget Tommy Farese.

 

[LunaTEKKE]

Hia ll - lookinga t the link for the touring bands I dont see Jill anywhere. I know she is recordinga new solo cd but damnit she is supposed to be onthe West tour - every year!!! Damnt hat stupid rockstar supernova for taking up her time - the cd could be done, she could be touring with TSO - I'm sure whoever they get will be awesome too - but TSO has been a tradition with me since the first tour - and we old people do not like change dammit.

Jeff

Nope, Jill's not touring with the West group this year...the speculation is that she didn't "re-enlist" due to uncertainty over how Supernova (or whatever they renamed themselves as...) would turn out.

Her husband, Carmine Giglio (Jane's counterpart on keyboards) is out as well, and so is Michael Lanning. Lots of changes this year, although TSO has a great track record of finding excellent musicians.

 

[SavaRon]

Went and seen this last night. Great show as always. This was the 6th time we have seen them and it just gets bigger and bigger each year. Jill wasn't there, but they had a good replacement for her parts. Michael Lanning is not with them this year as well, and this was very noticable. That guy just had a great voice and stage presence. The dude they have singing now was alright, but not in the same league IMO. They also changed up the second set a bit, so it's not the same as last year.

I'd recommend anybody to go to this show. I don't know how they keep the ticket price as low as they do. $38.50 was the highest price and you get every pennies worth.

 

[Angrafan]

Went and seen this last night. Great show as always. This was the 6th time we have seen them and it just gets bigger and bigger each year. Jill wasn't there, but they had a good replacement for her parts. Michael Lanning is not with them this year as well, and this was very noticable. That guy just had a great voice and stage presence. The dude they have singing now was alright, but not in the same league IMO. They also changed up the second set a bit, so it's not the same as last year.

I'd recommend anybody to go to this show. I don't know how they keep the ticket price as low as they do. $38.50 was the highest price and you get every pennies worth.

I am going to the show in South Florida tonight! Tickets are a bit more expesive here, though..
They are playing a huge venue (A hockey arena).. I don't see the point! They played in smaller place last time and there were plenty of empty seats!
I

 

[Kathy]

Yeah. We prefer the Pitrelli lineup too. Don't forget Tommy Farese.

How could I forget to mention Tommy Ferese! Bad girl....

Will miss seeing Jill this year...

 

[zekeyou]

Perhaps I missed it but which lineup is the east-coast lineup?

 

[Magius]

East coast gets Caffery and Mark Wood. West gets Middleton and Pitrelli.

 

[manowarfan1]

Well I am about to break down and buy the front row tix for this show (pre-sale tix sucked this year - anyone else think this?). Jill not being there is a blow - she rules (love her solo albums), Carmine - as much as I like the guy - he's married to Jill (DIE BASTARD, just kidding), but no Michael Lanning? Wow - that hurts, he was great every year and a heckuva nice guy. Oh well, they can pull in the best with the momentum they've got going nowadays, so I'll say bring in Simone (let's her her do some blues) to replace Jill, Don Airey in on keys, hmmm - replacing Michael Lanning - still gonna be tough though.

Oh well, the good news is I will get to sit up close for the first time in years. The ex never wanted to sit up close - she lvoed to wtch the whold show unfold (of course, she'd never been to a concert outside of Ukraine/Russia besides this, Lizzy Borden & -itis lol) - but now I shall reclaim my spot in front - after a what 7 year absence or something? When was the first tour - getting old sux

Jeff

 

[fatesmiles]

The East tour also has Alex Skolnik who is probably better than any of the other guitarists on either tour (but they are all good). Sucks that the West show is missing 2 very good vocalists this year. It will still be good though, how could it not be?

 

[ConnieOH]

Just got back from the TSO show! It was really good and we had better seats than the last time we went. Caffery was awesome!! I liked the 2nd half of the show best...when they really start to rock out. This was my 10-yr old son's first concert and he had a good time, but started to get sensory overload into the 2nd half. It is a long show - went 2 1/2 hours. Great stuff!

 

[rjrousseau]

Great show last night in Greenville. Had front row seats and loved every minute of it. Drummer, John O. Reilly, even came down and handed my daughter his sticks at the end of the show. This was my first time so I don't know how this year compared to others but I would definitely go again.

 

[VenomGA]

Great show last night in Greenville. Had front row seats and loved every minute of it. Drummer, John O. Reilly, even came down and handed my daughter his sticks at the end of the show. This was my first time so I don't know how this year compared to others but I would definitely go again.

Who all was in the band that you saw last night? you had the same lineup that will be playing in Atlanta in 2 days, so i am curious

 

[rjrousseau]

Names and faces I remember: Al Pitrelli, Angus Clark, Tommy Farese, Buy LeMonnier, John Lee, Anna Phoebe (amazing), and Tony Gaynor. There are others, just can't remember names-program is at home.

 

[VenomGA]

Names and faces I remember: Al Pitrelli, Angus Clark, Tommy Farese, Buy LeMonnier, John Lee, Anna Phoebe (amazing), and Tony Gaynor. There are others, just can't remember names-program is at home.

Ok so we are getting the West Coast show. Interesting. thanks dude!

 

[Magius]

Atlanta always gets the West.

 

[VenomGA]

Atlanta always gets the West.

Really!?!?!? Why is that? We are not remotely west.

 

[Magius]

Really!?!?!? Why is that? We are not remotely west.

That's true, and I don't know why. Atlanta has had TSO West every year, except last year when they didn't play here at all. The closest show to Atlanta was in Birmingham last year, and that was also TSO West.

You know, before realignment the Atlanta Falcons were in the NFC West for years.

 

[Pellaz]

And the Braves were in the NL West. Go figure.


Someday I'd like to see TSO East here. This would have been a good year for it, too, with part of TSO West's amazing talent sidelined.

 

[DT Jesus]

Last night's encore at the Milwaukee show included a one-night-only special guest appearance by Buck Dharma of Blue Öyster Cult. On top of the usual TSO show being pretty amazing (I have some gripes), seeing Dharma perform a beefed up "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" with Pitrelli, the rest of TSO, and full string section -- totally unexpected -- was something I'll never forget. It sounded great. He also stayed on stage to play guitar for the farewell performance of "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)". Paul O'Neill was on stage playing guitar for that song, too (not sure if that's normal?) -- they had 5+1 guitarists+bassist playing that final song (Pitrelli, Angus, O'Neill, Dharma, Tommy Farese, and Middleton). They were lined up in the middle of the stage with the lead violinist making for a 7th person. Pretty cool sight.

You could tell that O'Neill was just ecstatic to have Dharma join them. When he introduced him, hugged him, and walked away he was pumping his fist like a kid who just met his favorite athlete.

Also, the Bradley Center was sold out and O'Neill claimed it was their largest crowd to date for the West company. (Or maybe largest crowd so far in 2006?) About 14,000 was the attendance (which seemed low for "largest" to me).

 

[LunaTEKKE]

Last night's encore at the Milwaukee show included a one-night-only special guest appearance by Buck Dharma of Blue Öyster Cult.

Very cool - they've had some pretty stellar guests on this tour. Sadly, no guests at the shows I attended this year in Phoenix and Vegas. The one I am *most* upset about missing is the Seattle show...which included a rendition of "Silent Lucidity" with Geoff Tate.