TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA Director PAUL O'NEILL - Drop In Gas Prices "Was Like A Miracle"
December 22, 2008, 15 years ago
John Sinkevics at The Grand Rapids Press recently spoke with TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA director/co-founder Paul O'Neill. An excerpt from the story appears below:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra Set To Launch Another Yule Blast
Christmas music has never sounded or looked quite like this before, which is just what O'Neill, 55, was after when he devised TSO, then launched separate East and West Coast touring ensembles.
And despite the extra gear and glitz (hauled by several dozen trucks and buses), tickets for the 2008 show are the same price -- $41 and $51 -- as 2007. That could be why TSO's tour has continued at a sellout pace as the country's most popular holiday tour. Attendance has surged ahead of last year with 1.5 million-plus tickets sold, despite bleak economic conditions.
O'Neill conceded the drop in gas prices "was like a miracle," considering TSO decided to hold the line on ticket prices at a time when fuel costs were soaring earlier this year.
Again, with assistance from WLAV-FM, $1 from every ticket sold for Tuesday's shows will go to support God's Kitchen and Grand Rapids Public Schools' Student Advancement Foundation.
"Besides food, drink and shelter, human beings need moments of joy; if not joy, then at least moments without stress," O'Neill said. "What we try to do is make the show so big, so different, with so many special effects ... all the brain can do is absorb all these things we're throwing at you. It can't worry about things going on outside the arena. We just don't want to let the fans down."Go to this location for the complete story.
