Episode #424 of the Iron City Rocks Podcast features Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra.

"Joel and the TSO have begun rehearsals for the upcoming 2019 holiday tour. This years tour will feature a new product of their debut album Christmas Eve & Other Stories. Joel talks to us about getting ready musically for a tour of this magnitude, how the role in the TSO differs from that of his role with Cher and Whitesnake, and much, much more."

Tune in here.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), the multi-platinum, critically-acclaimed progressive rock group, recently announced its highly-anticipated Winter Tour 2019. Returning with all-new staging and effects is the unforgettable show that started it all, Christmas Eve And Other Stories. TSO’s show that started small, performed to 12,000 people in five cities in 1999, which then exploded onto the national scene, eventually playing to 9 million fans over the course of an incredible 12 years (through 2011), the mega-hit Christmas Eve And Other Stories has grossed an incredible $377 million over 1224 performances. Watch a new video trailer below.

A product of the vision and imagination of TSO’s late founder/composer/lyricist Paul O’Neill, Christmas Eve And Other Stories began the unique format O’Neill called “Rock Theater” and forged a deep connection with their fans that it turned into the wildly-successful tour, cementing the group’s status as a must-see, multi-generational, holiday tradition and kick-started the trend of Yuletide season tours. This year’s multi-sensory extravaganza is set to begin on November 13th and will visit 66 cities for 109 performances across North America before concluding on December 30th (see full itinerary below and online).

For more details on tour dates and ticket sales, visit trans-siberian.com.

Tour dates:

November
13 - Green Bay, WI - Resch Center (4 PM , 8 PM)
13 - Council Bluffs, IA - Mid America Center (7:30 PM)
14 - Sioux Falls, SD - Denny Sanford Premier Center (7:30 PM)
15 - Youngstown, OH - Covelli Center (3:30 PM, 7:30 PM)
16 - Allentown, PA - PPL Center (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
16 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
17 - Worcester, MA - DCU Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
17 - Colorado Springs, CO - World Arena (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
20 - Raleigh, NC - PNC Arena (7:30 PM)
20 - Salt Lake City, UT - Vivint Smart Home Arena (3:30 PM, 7:30 PM)
21 - Baltimore, MD - Royal Farms Arena (7:30 PM)
21 - Boise, ID - Taco Bell Arena (7:30 PM)
22 - Wilkes Barre, PA - Mohegan Sun Arena (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
22 - Spokane, WA - Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena (8:00 PM)
23 - Manchester, NH - SNHU Arena (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
23 - Portland, OR - Moda Center (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
24 - Hartford, CT - XL Center (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
24 - Tacoma, WA - Tacomadome (3:30 PM)
26 - San Jose, CA - SAP Center at San Jose (8:00 PM)
27 - Toledo, OH - Huntington Center (4:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
29 - Cincinnati, OH - US Bank Arena (4:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
29 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
30 - Dayton, OH - Nutter Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
30 - Ontario, CA - Toyota Arena (3:30 PM, 7:30 PM)

December
1 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
1 - Phoenix, AZ - Talking Stick Resort Arena (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
4 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena (7:30 PM)
4 - El Paso, TX - Don Haskins Center (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
5 - Lexington, KY - Rupp Arena (7:30 PM)
5 - Lubbock, TX - United Supermarkets Arena (7:00 PM)
6 - Greenville, SC - Bon Secours Wellness Arena (4:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
6 - Wichita, KS - INTRUST Bank Arena (8:00 PM)
7 - Charlotte, NC - Spectrum Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
7 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
8 - Duluth, GA - Infinite Energy Center (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
8 - Oklahoma City, OK - Chesapeake Energy Arena (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
11 - Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum (7:30 PM)
11 - Birmingham, AL - Legacy Arena at The BJCC (7:30 PM)
12 - Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena (7:30 PM)
12 - Jacksonville, FL - Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (7:30 PM)
13 - Hershey, PA - Giant Center (4:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
13 - Sunrise, FL - BB&T Center (8:00 PM)
14 - Buffalo, NY - KeyBank Center (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
14 - Orlando, FL - Amway Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
15 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
15 - Tampa, FL - Amalie Arena (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
18 - Rochester, NY - Blue Cross Arena (7:30 PM)
18 - New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center (7:30 PM)
19 - Albany, NY - Times Union Center (7:30 PM)
19 - Memphis, TN - Fedex Forum (7:30 PM)
20 - Uniondale, NY - NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (8:00 PM)
20 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center (8:00 PM)
21 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
21 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
22 - Pittsburgh, PA - PPG Paints Arena (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
22 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
23 - Washington, D.C. - Capital One Arena (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
23 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
26 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
26 - St Louis, MO - Enterprise Center (3:00 PM, 7:30 PM)
27 - Cleveland, OH - Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
27 - Milwaukee, WI - Fiserv Forum (3:30 PM, 8:00 PM)
28 - Detroit, MI - Little Caesars Arena (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
28 - St Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
30 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena (3:00 PM, 8:00 PM)
30 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena (2:30 PM, 8:00 PM)

Christmas Eve And Other Stories is based on the triple-platinum album of the same name and follows a story by TSO’s late founder/composer/lyricist Paul O’Neill.  In keeping with the classic line “If You Want To Arrange It, This World You Can Change It,” the story is set on Christmas Eve when a young angel is sent to Earth to bring back what is best representative of humanity.  Following favorite TSO themes of “strangers helping strangers” and “the kindness of others,”  Christmas Eve And Other Stories takes listeners all over the world to help reunite a young girl with her distraught father. The album and tour feature such fan-favorites as “Ornament” and the epic “Old City Bar,” both of which have not been performed live in recent years. The rock opera also features such TSO classics as "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," "O’ Come All Ye Faithful," "Good King Joy," "Promises To Keep," and "This Christmas Day." Additionally, the tour will enjoy a new second set containing some of TSO’s greatest hits and fan-pleasers including "Christmas Canon," “Wizards In Winter” and many more.

Since its historic touring debut, TSO has played nearly 2,000 Winter Tour shows for more than 16 million fans, with tour grosses of more than $725 million, and has sold in excess of 12 million albums and DVDs.  Year-after-year TSO hits the upper reaches of the domestic and worldwide tour charts. Recently in July 2019, TSO was ranked No. 6 on Pollstar’s North American Tours Mid Year chart and No. 8 on Pollstar’s Worldwide Tours Mid Year chart. In 2018, TSO came in at No. 16 on Pollstar’s 2018 Top 200 Year End North American Tours and at No. 17 on Pollstar’s 2018 Year End Worldwide Ticket Sales Top 100 Tours chart with more than 925K tickets sold. Additionally, in July 2019, TSO was featured in Billboard’s Money Makers of 2018. In 2009, Pollstar ranked TSO at No. 20 on the “Top Tour(s) of the Decade” and Billboard placed TSO at No. 25 on its “Top Touring Artists of the Decade.”

Always embracing the O’Neill’s sense of altruism, TSO remains one of rock’s most charitable bands. This year, as in years past, TSO will give at least $1 from every ticket sold to charity – to date approximately $16 million has been donated by the group.

TSO’s Winter Tour 2019 is presented by Hallmark Channel.

(Photo - Marko Syrjala)