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[0:00] Robert Bannon: This is Robert Bannon, and before I hit the theme song and introduce the show, I want to tell you about some exciting Roundtable news. The Roundtable has a brand new website. You can go to robertbannon.com, find out all about me, find out all about the show. Brand new and now up and running with brand new Roundtable merchandise. Go to robertbannon.com, follow me on Instagram, and make sure you're subscribing to us wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube. Now let's do a show.

[0:28] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Good morning, welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon, you're listening to us on BroadwayWorld, the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, and when I moved to Detroit, one of the traditions of my entire family is to make sure you see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, they're coming to Little Caesars Arena, December 23rd. It's the perfect way to celebrate right before the holiday, school's out, you'll be home, your kids will be driving you crazy, go see the show. Welcome to the show. What a great lead-up, I love that whole introduction, thank you for that. We've been coming to Detroit a long time, my friend, since the Fox Theater back in '99, so it's gonna be a party.

[1:08] Al: That's right, Al, you've been with this group from, like, the go.

[1:11] Al: From the jump, yeah. 30 years, 30 years and change now. And the crazy thing is that if you think about it, it went by in 30 minutes, you know, and sometimes I think, like, how did it go by so fast? How did we get here so fast? But oh my gosh, how much we've accomplished in three decades, not only as a band, but with the community of Detroit, how we've grown together, how you got three generations of families coming out to see us and still celebrating with us. Very proud to kick off Christmas, and like you said, the day before Christmas Eve, best show ever. Best show ever.

[1:43] Kayla: Oh my goodness, I'm starting to lose count. It's been since 2010, and we've done so many tours. A lot of years together, aren't I?

[1:55] Robert Bannon: Yeah. I can't wait to see you both and hear you and celebrate the holidays. Now, what I love about y'all is this is not your—no shade—this is not your grandma's little Christmas show. This is a rock and roll spectacle. This is, like, lights, sound, fire, pyro, flying, music, rock and roll, Christmas, all of it. You get all of it together. How, Aleph, if people have never seen your show before, how do you describe what they're going to see this year?

[2:18] Al: Well, and it's your grandma's Christmas show. Yes, but your grandma too. So it's grandma's, grandkids, it's everybody's Christmas show, it's everybody's rock show, it's everybody's, more importantly, everybody's musical celebration as a community to come out. Okay, we get to kill the house lights, close the curtains, drop the curtain on the stage, and at three o'clock, it's Christmas Eve. Okay, and we're going to take you through this circuitous path, or down the circuitous path through Paul O'Neill's wonderful story that goes to Christmas Eve, like Kayla's always saying, everybody relates to the people and the characters in the story, so it becomes about the audience member as well. So there's no division of church and state between the band and the audience.

We are all on a communal level celebrating Paul's work, and I think that's one of the reasons why we've been coming through town for so many decades. Again, you know, sold out at the Fox back in '99, and here we are, we've got two shows at Little Caesars Arena the day before Christmas Eve. This is going to be awesome, my brother, I promise. This is going to be awesome.

[3:13] Kayla: So when you talk about not only are people going to be able to see the ghost of Christmas Eve, they're going to get the greatest hits. So you're going to hear the bum-ba-da-bum-bum, you're going to hear it all, plus the music. So how does it feel to be on stage in front of 15,000 people and to be able to sing this iconic music that has become a holiday tradition for everyone?

[3:35] Kayla: Oh my gosh. Well, first, before I answer that, I just want to give a shout out to the people of Detroit, because Detroit and Grand Rapids, every year, you guys are the best crowds we play for. And I just get so excited, I can feel the energy of the city before I even walk into the arena. I'm not even joking. I get so pumped up for Michigan. So you guys help a lot. It is exciting to be in the birthplace of rock and roll and to be a part of a show as huge as this one year after year. It's just been a dream come true. And so we're going to bring back the favorites, but we're also going to add some new songs this year and switch it up like we try to do. So I cannot wait. And the day before Christmas Eve, Detroit, what a treat. I'm excited. I hope you guys are too. I'm excited. I have my tickets already, spoiler alert. So I'll be in there. I'm ready.

[4:40] Robert Bannon: Which show are you coming to now?

[4:44] Kayla: I'm coming, 7 o'clock, right there at the Caesars. I'm a teacher. It's the last day of school. I'm going to lead my way to me and the husband. He is a Christmas freak. He listens to you all in June, July, and not your other music because they have music that's not Christmas. He listens to the Christmas albums, 365. Tell him we said thank you. We're coming ready. So you don't do the same show. So people have come 10 years, 11 years, 30 years. They come every year. It's a new production. There's new elements every single year, Al.

[5:13] Al: Yeah. And this is something that we started doing because that's what Paul O'Neill wanted. Like I said, from the first show with one box truck and one fog machine to last year, 2021, 22 tractor trailers, 85 people on the crew, 12 buses, a lot more fog machines. You know, we owe it to ourselves. We owe it to your community in particular to put on a bigger, better, different show because why come out every year? Yeah, we want the nostalgia part of it. We want the tradition. We want everybody to celebrate the ghost of Christmas Eve. But from the front of the show and the second half of the show, dude, it's on. Musically, visually, everything you can imagine. We want to just take you on a different journey every year. And I think we've accomplished that over the decades and we're going to continue to do so.

[5:56] Robert Bannon: This is what I learned that I never knew until I spoke last year and found out about it. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is not just a superstar rock group that puts on music all year and Christmas music and other non-Christmas music that has been around for decades. But you guys have given a lot of money away. So how did that start? Talk about how it founded and how much money was given away from you all.

[6:15] Al: Right. Well, it started with Paul O'Neill from the very beginning. I mean, he was the type of person that really wanted to make a positive change in the world and always believed that goodness was out there. And so from the beginning, one dollar from every ticket sold has gone back to every community, to local charities in every community that we tour through. And so I think last year we just sold 22 million tickets. A dollar doesn't seem like a lot, but if you do the math, I mean, Paul was able to make a huge impact in these communities. And that's something that we're extremely proud of and we're honored and we're going to carry out that legacy. And it's just something I mean, I know that we're both incredibly proud of.

[7:04] Robert Bannon: So when we come see the show and we're there, Al, what do you play? What do you do up there?

[7:12] Al: I just sit back and listen to her sing and go, oh my God, she's awesome. You know, I have the best seat in the house, so I watch the expressions on people's faces change. There's nothing better, my friend, than like a first timer, like a 14, 15-year-old kid is there for the first time in the front row, like texting their friends, oh my God, I can't believe I'm at some Russian concert my parents dragged me to, this is going to be the worst night of my life. And 30 seconds into the show, it's on and they're like, oh my God, this is the greatest night ever. You know, I get to watch people's expressions change. I get to watch granddaddies holding their granddaughters on their lap. I get to watch them both kind of like twitch when the pyro goes off and they're, you know, they're fist bumping.

I'm watching families celebrate the holidays for two hours and 15 minutes with something that Paul created over 30 years ago. I'm having the time of my life. What a visionary he was and what a joy it is to carry this legacy that has become a legacy and a tradition for families all over the world.

[8:08] Robert Bannon: How many shows do you all do a year?

[8:12] Al: Oh my goodness, a lot. A lot. Hundreds?

[8:12] Al: Yeah. Well, listen, if you think about, we had nine shows on the first tour years ago and every year it just became more and more and more and more. So we learned how to do this by doing it. It seems like a lot and it is a lot, but I know we both love having two shows a day because, you know, like single show days are the worst.

[8:30] Kayla: Oh, they just drag.

[8:35] Al: Yeah, because like what do you do all day besides wait to do a show? We would do this three times a day if we could.

[8:38] Robert Bannon: Well, I'm excited for people to get their tickets. You can go to the link. The link is below. You can go right to 313 Presents. Ticketmaster's selling tickets right now. Two shows. Like I said, usher in the holidays. There's nothing better. It's the perfect gift. It's the perfect experience if you have family coming in and visiting and across the country. If you're in Detroit but you're not going to be here because you're going somewhere else or throughout the season you're visiting people, TSO is everywhere. They're going to cross the country. So if wherever you are across this country, if you're listening to us in New York, if you're in Jersey, go see them. Go see them anywhere that they are. I love him. Awesome. You don't need us, dude. You just keep talking. We're good. I promise you. I guarantee it. I'll put my money where my mouth is. You're never going to have a better fun experience. It's the perfect holiday rock extravaganza. It truly is. Thank you.

[9:27] Robert Bannon: So I'll be there. I look forward to seeing you. I'll be rocking out. We'll be there ready for the whole. And Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. We'll be there too. So we'll get together at seven o'clock, okay?

[9:41] Al: Seven o'clock. And then when this is over, when New Year's Eve comes, do you all take a nap? Do you hibernate like a bear? What happens?

[9:45] Al: One week off and then we're back to putting a new show together. That's how long it takes to do this. Ten months. I'm exhausted.

[9:54] Robert Bannon: Thank you for being here. Merry Christmas. We'll see you here. We'll see you at Little Caesars. Can't wait. Thanks for everything. That was fun.