TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA / SAVATAGE / DORO guitarist Chris Caffery has checked in with the following update:

"Hello and sorry I have not written much this week!

Yes, I have taken some time to rest and have kinda disappeared from the net this past week.

Both Philly shows were amazing. No one seemed to hapy to see an Eagles shirt so I made sure the Phillies went on last at night. This was the most people we had ever had in Philly. 26,000 total. Johnny Dee from Doro was there. Time has been flying by here. It is weird to see that there is an end coming. I don't want the tour to end, but I am really looking forward to some rest. Both crowds were so much fun. Philly definitely kicked serious ass. I think the signing line was one of the longest we had ever seen. It lasted an hour and 45 minutes!

After the show we had our usual Philly cheesesteaks and headed north to Hartford. Seems there has been a lot of North south...south north...east west...west east traveling on this tour. Way more miles for us here than usual.

Both Hartford shows were really fun. Another surprise for us because the crowds were both so lively. I have gotten so many emails from fans in Hartford saying they could not believe the usually reserved Hartford crowd was so active!

We had a visit from Dave Z for the night show. It was nice to see Skippy. I think he had fun watching us, but did admit it was weird to see it from the other side. Huff has done such a great job, thanks to everyone for welcoming him in this tour.

After Hartford we headed back south...a LONG way south...to Greenville, South Carolina. The bus ride was fun. We had a visit from Meeun and Brian Hicks. Lots of laughs. The laughs kinda stopped when I woke up in the AM and our driver Dave said we may have a serious bus problem. About an hour later we stopped again and Dave said we could not go any further. I packed a couple of small bags and we split up into the other buses and left ours. I fell asleep, or tried to at least, at a table on the bus with Bob and the girls. The much needed rest was interrupted! We made it to Greenville at about 4PM. Our bus was towed to a repair station somewhere near Lexington, Va.

That night was very quiet. I just rested, walked to grab some Indian food and watched about 15 minuted of football with Jeff and Kyle. Kyle almost won the pool. He needed 3 more points scored! It was kinda strange to see how warm it was. We went from 14 degrees in Montreal to 80 degrees in SC all in a 2 week period.

The next day I woke up and went to the Indian place again but this time it was with Alex. Great stuff. I told the guy at the restaurant to expect many more peole later because I know that a bunch of people on the tour love Indian food.

Greenville was so nice. I had never been there. Probably one of the cleanest and nicest cities I have seen in the US. A great place for 2 days off. I wandered the streets for a while with Jeff and Alex. Then I had a radio interview. This I did on a really cool footbridge overlooking a waterfall. It was again about 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! I stopped to shop on the way back and took a nap before leaving again for dinner.

Alex, James, Stevie, Jeff and I wound up at a place called Smoke On The Water. It is a really cool restaurant overlooking the river. The place was packed. I was surprised to see this on a Tuesday but found out it was half price bottle of wine night. That plus the nice weather and Greenville was pretty active for a weekday in December.

We had a great dinner and then headed back towards the hotel. We saw a place with a drum set in the window. It was a local Jazz club. We stopped in and tried to get a guitar for Alex...his was stuck on our broken bus. We were not able to make it happen. So, we headed back and al wanted to get rest because we had another 1/2 of a day before a show with this weather and this incredible town. I woke up at about 11 and went to do more shopping. I stopped back at the Smoke On The Water place for some more grilled shrimp.

Our bus had arrived at the hotel early in the AM. It needed a new fan of some sort and they flew out the wrong part on Tue. They had to send the right one via private jet on Tue night!!!

I was happy to have my home back.

After shopping and food I just walked along the river and took a nap on a huge rock along the shore. It was such a great couple of days in this town. A huge reason why I wasn't online. It was just too nice out to sit in my room.

This was only year 2 for TSO in Greenville. TSO West did it last year. The attendance was almost capacity at 10,000!!! The crowd was amazing and we all can;t wait to come back to this city next tour!!!

We headed back north to Hampton last night. Another 7 hour drive so I just slept on the bus and woke up at about 11. I wandered the waterfront near our hotel like I always do when we play there! So peaceful. We then headed to the venue. I ran quick to Wal Mart for some wrapping paper and extra Christmas decorations for the bus. It is really festive in here. I won a couple more snowmen and a huge lion in the crane machine! I rushed back for soundcheck because we have some special rehearsals going on for the upcoming NY shows. I was greeted outside the bus by CC.com message board members and their families/friends. Thanks to Zack and Duckie for the nice gifts. Sorry to Zack that I did not have time to play football. Just too busy this tour at times!

After soundcheck I did more decorating and got ready for the stage. Totally sold out show here for the first time. I was excited to see that. Weird seating arrangement. Seats far from the stage and spit up kinda odd. But the crowd was very active by the middle of the second half. It was so frickin' hot and humid onstage. Not the most fun when you are dripping in sweat during ballads!

The signing line was pretty long, but really friendly. We are now on the bus heading north again...we should be in our hotel sometime around 8AM. We have to leave for the venue early. More special rehearsals... ;-)

I will try to talk ot you tomorrow after the show, but we have a long weekend ahead of us!

Sorry again for not being around much this week.

Peace!

C

Tour dates for the east and west coast TSO companies are as follows:

December

14 - Grand Forks, ND - Alerus Center - 8:00PM

14 - Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum - 8:00PM

15 - East Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena - 3:00PM
15 - East Rutherford, NJ - Continental Airlines Arena - 8:00PM
15 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center - 3:00PM
15 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center - 8:00PM
16 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center - 3:00PM
16 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center - 7:30PM
16 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center - 3:00PM
16 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center - 7:30PM
17 - Indianapolis, IN - Conseco Fieldhouse - 7:30PM
19 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum - 7:30PM
20 - Memphis, TN - Fed Ex Forum - 7:30PM
20 - Raleigh, NC - RBC Center - 7:30PM
21 - Bossier City, LA - CenturyTel Center - 8:00PM
21 - Charlotte, NC - Cricket Arena - 8:00PM
22 - Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center - 3:00PM
22 - Richmond, VA - Richmond Coliseum - 3:00PM
22 - Richmond, VA - Richmond Coliseum - 8:00PM
23 - Columbia, SC - Colonial Center - 3:00PM
23 - Columbia, SC - Colonial Center - 7:30PM
23 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T; Center - 3:00PM
23 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T; Center - 8:00PM

26 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center - 7:30PM

26 - Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills - 3:00PM
26 - Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills - 8:00PM
27 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena - 3:00PM
27 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena - 7:30PM
27 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center - 3:00PM
27 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center - 7:30PM
28 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena - 8:00PM
28 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center - 3:00PM
28 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center - 8:00PM
29 - Little Rock, AR - Alltel Arena - 3:00PM
29 - Little Rock, AR - Alltel Arena - 8:00PM
29 - Rochester, NY - Blue Cross Arena - 8:00PM
30 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena - 3:00PM
30 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena - 7:30PM
30 - Nashville, TN - Gaylord Entertainment Center - 7:30PM
31 - Birmingham, AL - BJCC Arena - 9:30PM
31 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena - 3:00PM
31 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena - 9:30PM

January

3 - Erie, PA - Erie Civic - 7:30PM
3 - Peoria, IL - Peoria Civic Center - 7:30PM
4 - Moline, IL - Mark Of The Quad - 8:00PM
4 - Syracuse, NY - OnCenter - 8:00PM
5 - Madison, WI - Alliant Energy Center - 3:00PM
5 - Madison, WI - Alliant Energy Center - 8:00PM
5 - Wilkes Barre, PA - Wachovia Arena - 3:00PM
5 - Wilkes Barre, PA - Wachovia Arena - 8:00PM
6 - Baltimore, MD - 1st Mariner Arena - 7:30PM
6 - Green Bay, WI - Resch Center - 3:00PM
6 - Green Bay, WI - Resch Center - 7:30PM