Now, wouldn’t that be the ultimate festive wish to come true! Of course new music would be a beautiful thing, the fact that the Trans-Siberian Orchestra continues to shatter attendance records and deliver one of the most entertaining live shows in rock history, is just a miracle in itself. A Christmas miracle of course. And how the off-shoot of Savatage grew into this massive holiday extravaganza, that literally blankets North America each fall, is a truly remarkable achievement. Drummer Jeff Plate is the backbone to both, he’s seen it all. And nobody has a better sightline on things than the drummer.
And BraveWords scored recently. How? We were able to catch Jeff Plate on a day where TSO’s East Coast line-up were only performing one show, not two. So there is a bit of downtime, and we filled it with some great career-covering conversation. But right there, is something stupefying. TSO has two separate touring entities working at the same time in the United States and Canada. And as mentioned, some markets have a matinee show. Do the math. That’s a heck of a lot of rock opera Christmas cheer to be had!
BraveWords chat with drummer Jeff Plate will air on Streaming For Vengeance tomorrow (Wednesday, December 17th), but in the meantime here is an excerpt about the possibilities of new music. Keep in mind, we tragically lost producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O’Neill in 2017, who had joined this incredible group of musicians for Savatage’s Hall Of The Mountain King in 1987.
“I don’t really have a good answer,” Plate states honestly. “When Paul O’Neill passed in 2017, it really affected everything. So… us moving forward with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, obviously we have plenty of music to choose from. We’re able to maintain these shows and keep developing these shows and improving them every year.
Same thing with Savatage. Wonderful catalogue of music. You could never play all the songs that people want to hear in a night, and be on stage for five hours. But, having said all that, when Paul passed, it really created a huge void that I think Jon (Oliva) and Paul’s family are still kind of dealing with. So, they have all our best interests at heart.
But moving forward, you know, that’s something where… here again, you can have opinions and questions and, you know, say what you want about this and that. But this is this is really in their hands. And I can only say that I hope so. But if there is not, I think we’re still in a very, very good place, and there’s still some very good things to come.”
BraveWords: I love that answer. Thank you.
“You are not the first one who’s asked that. You know, not just of me, but of people like Chris Caffrey and Zach Stevens, you know. We get hit with these questions all the time. I mean, Jon Oliva, he gets hit with this stuff all the time.
So trust me, everybody’s got some really good intentions here if we can just get the things sorted out and make it work, it’ll be great. In the meantime, and I want to say something about John Oliva too.
I give that man so much credit for recognizing the fact that, ‘Hey, people still want to hear my music. My bandmates are here with me. They’ve been with me for all these years. I trust them. I’m giving you guys my blessing. The five of you go out there, play my music, and just go out there and kick ass.’ I think that really took a lot for Jon to say that, just for understanding that ‘I can’t be there, but my music’s gonna be there.’ You know, Jon’s spirit is there every night.
Criss Oliva’s spirit is there every night. But I think it was a lot for Jon to really come to grips with that. I can’t actually do this, but my guys can. I give him all the credit in the world for making the decision and allowing us to go out there and perform. You could never, ever replace Jon Oliva. He is such a unique personality. A unique energy when he’s on stage, it is a different thing.
You can’t replace that. How do we fill that space? So when we went out with Savatage this year, we hired two other players, two keyboardists that could both sing very well.
So now we can cover a lot of the orchestration, a lot of the vocal stuff that we weren’t really able to do that well in the past. So, yes, this version doesn’t have Jon Oliva up there, but all his music is and all his parts are, and he is like with us note for note. He was at every rehearsal, he was conducting everything, you know, from song, tempos, to vocal parts, to segues, to et cetera, et cetera.
His fingerprint was all over this. But, hey, that man has been through a lot in his life, and I think it’s just so cool to be able to take his music out there and keep that alive and keep his spirit alive. Along with Criss Oliva and Paul O’Neill, too. I mean, just some great music.
That’s why we’re still able to do this, the fans never forgot that.”
“Metal” Tim Henderson’s entire BraveWords chat with TSO/Savatage drummer Jeff Plate will air on Streaming For Vengeance tomorrow (Wednesday, December 17th). 
Trans-Siberian Orchestra are currently on their 2025 Winter Tour, bringing the multi-platinum rock group to 64 markets for 106 concerts across the country. This year’s tour features an all-new production of their beloved “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” alongside a special second set of hits and fan-favorites that includes a 25th-anniversary salute to Beethoven’s Last Night. “The Ghosts Of Christmas Eve: The Best Of TSO And More” tour promises to continue TSO’s tradition of captivating audiences nationwide with an unparalleled blend of rock, classical, and theatrical spectacle, complete with dazzling pyrotechnics, lasers, and incredible storytelling.
For more details on tour dates and ticket sales, visit trans-siberian.com.
Building on the monumental milestones celebrated in their last tour, TSO continues to redefine its success. With over 20 million concert tickets sold and a staggering more than $20 million donated to charity since their inception, TSO remains one of rock’s most generous bands, proudly upholding Paul O’Neill’s vision, by contributing at least $1 from every ticket sold to local charities.
With an incredible $1 billion in gross sales, TSO’s remarkable and consistent appeal is reflected in recent industry accolades: Pollstar recognized TSO at No. 4 for Top North America Tours and at No. 6 on their Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart by gross for Midyear 2025, while Billboard placed them at No. 5 in Midyear 2025 Top Ticket Sales and No. 13 on the Midyear 2025 Top Tours chart. Adding to their impressive achievements, their iconic hit, “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” has just surpassed 100 million streams across digital platforms, further cementing its status as a timeless holiday classic.
Tour dates:
December
17 – Albany, NY – MVP Arena – 7:00 PM
17 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center – 7:00 PM
18 – Elmont, NY – UBS Arena – 7:30 PM
18 – Austin, TX – Moody Center – 7:00 PM
19 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center – 3:00 PM & 8:00 PM
19 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
20 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena – 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM
20 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
21 – Philadelphia, PA – Xfinity Mobile Arena – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
21 – San Antonio, TX – Frost Bank Center – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
23 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
23 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
26 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Arena – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
26 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena – 2:30 PM & 8:00 PM
27 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
27 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
28 – Hamilton, ON – TD Coliseum – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
28 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
30 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
30 – Fargo, ND – Fargodome – 3:00 PM & 7:30 PM
Trans-Siberian Orchestra are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the acclaimed rock opera album, Beethoven’s Last Night. To mark this grand milestone, they released two exclusive, limited-edition 2LP vinyl sets on September 12.
Join Al Pitrelli and Chris Caffery from as they unbox the special 25th Anniversary Red Colored Vinyl and a Lenticular Cover Edition of Beethoven’s Last Night:
The first edition features a lenticular cover with 3D-style artwork and two silver LPs, available exclusively at Rhino.com and the official Trans-Siberian Orchestra website.
The second edition showcases the same 3D-style artwork, but features two royal-red LPs, available in select stores and online retailers, offering you another special way to experience this amazing album!
Order here.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s 2000 rock opera, Beethoven’s Last Night, dramatically reimagines Ludwig van Beethoven’s final hours as the Devil attempts to claim his soul, only to be thwarted by Fate and her son Twist. Through TSO’s signature classical crossover rock, featuring nods to Beethoven’s melodies, the album unfolds a powerful narrative of redemption. This unique concept album delivers soaring vocals and instrumentals, showcasing a captivating blend of rock and classical music.
Beethoven’s Last Night tracklisting:
“Overture”
“Midnight”
“Fate”
“What Good This Deafness”
“Mephistopheles”
“What Is Eternal”
“The Moment”
“Vienna”
“Mozart”
“The Dreams Of Candlelight”
“Requiem”
“I’ll Keep Your Secrets”
“The Dark”
“Für Elise”
“After The Fall”
“A Last Illusion”
“This Is Who You Are”
“Beethoven”
“Mephistopheles’ Return”
“Misery”
“Who Is This Child”
“A Final Dream”
“Mozart”:
“The Dark” lyric video:
“Beethoven”:
Did you know BraveWords has an active Facebook Group where you can start your own metal discussion or take part in many other discussions. The BraveWords Facebook Group is the evolution of the old BraveWords message board from years ago.
Bands… feel free to promote your shows and albums.
Podcasts… feel free to promote your new episodes.
Radio Shows… feel free to promote your latest show.
Record Labels… feel free to promote your latest releases
Click to join and start discussing: https://m.facebook.com/groups/bravewordsmetal/
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source bravewords.com ’
