I feel like Shannon! Well, not really. You see, Shannon goes to see the hippest, coolest bands out there. Where she hears about them, I do not know. Where she gets the energy to sit through concerts at night, I do not know. I on the other hand go to Christmas concerts at 3:00 in the afternoon but because it’s Christmas music done with keyboards, drums and electric guitars and violins (in addition to a strings section), I feel I can make a slight comparison to Shannon.

So last Saturday we took the girls to see Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Meadowlands (aka, the Izod Center, but this place changes names all the time, so who can keep up – we in Jersey just call it the Meadowlands).

That’s a clip of the show, done with my crappy cell phone before Becky informed me, “You know, you can set the phone to take videos for longer than 15 seconds.” Duh! Of course, she took longer videos which I asked her to send me but hers are so long, that her phone software won’t let her transmit them, bummer. Anyway, maybe you can get a glimpse of what the concert is like – lots of loud music, lights and during the second half, pyrotechnics. They really put on an amazing show.

Now, that reminds me, the first half of the show is a rock opera based upon the CD, Christmas Eve and Other Stories. The first time we saw them in concert, last year, when they finished the first half, we thought that was the end of the show. But then Chris, from the band, came out to introduce everyone and said, “Don’t leave, we’ve got some great surprises for you during the second half.” So who knew about the second half? Not us, and not about half the audience that did leave. But we stayed and they did put on a great show and had a surprise, one of the guys from Emerson, Lake and Palmer, came out to jam with them. I don’t remember if it was Lake or Palmer but it was someone big.

So this year, we knew not to get up after the first half because the second half, while it contains some Christmas music, also has some other songs from the band, which I like to say is like Bethoven on acid, or maybe steroids. Chris (my Chris that is), likes to say, it’s how Bethoven would play if he were alive today. Anyway, again, Chris (band Chris that is), told us about the great surprise that awaited us at the end of the show. Then Paul O’Neal came out (the band founder, not the baseball player) and he started to talk about the surprise and how the rock opera Tommy was an early influence on his composing and how he saw this great concert in the 70s…yada, yada, yada.

So we’re thinking, oh they got someone who wrote some songs for The Who coming out, whoopdee doo but noooooooooooo……

It’s Roger Daltry!

Yep, Roger Daltry comes out and sings Behind Blue Eyes and Pinball Wizard before playing a couple of songs on the guitar with them. Now of course, the girls don’t get why the place is going bonkers, so I shout to Becky, “CSI theme song.” And after the concert, we explain to Sammi, imagine how you’d feel if Hannah Montana came out on stage, so that put it all into the proper perspective for her.

Okay – well another crappy video; apologies but it’s the best I can do.