Amazing! I don't know what those haters were watching..but this show was sooo impressive. read more

Please listen to all the other honest reviews of how awful this truly was. I purchased tickets for my whole family (in-laws, brother, kids) to see what I thought was a Christmas carol program with rave reviews. All of us sat there horrified. It was an 80s hair band, meets bad back up singer dance moves, meets phantom of the opera, meets Beethoven! They played maybe three recognizable songs, had a poorly woven Christmas story with strange narration that no one could follow, a cool light show and fire but there was nothing notable about it. Hoards of people were leaving the show half way through. My ears were practically bleeding by the end. We were elated when it was over and could listen to the radio. I was actually enjoying listening to my 12 year old complain! Trust me, no one likes to listen to that! Save your money and do something else for the evening. read more

This was billed as "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" and like other yelpers here, I was expecting rock Christmas music. This show had a lot of unknown (to me) songs, songs that were hopelessly stuck in the 80's (and I am an 80's fan). If you like loud, 80's nameless rock that mentions Christmas, a strange story that attempts to tie things together and lots of lasers and pyrotechnics this is for you. We got so bored we almost left and many people actually did. My teen actually said he wished he had spent the time doing AP Chem homework instead. Ouch! read more

The band itself is pretty good and the show is the same every year which for my family is moderately enjoyable. It's definitely lost its Pizzazz over the years. What's most frustrating about this year is the fact that I ordered a shirt and an ornament for my dad as it is his favorite group at Christmas time. I placed this order on November 14th and a month-and-a-half later it's still showing at pre-shipment and I can't get anyone from customer service to get back to me as to why. It's very frustrating to have them charge me for something and then refuse to answer week's worth of emails when I ask them where it is or if I can get a refund at this point. I use the email address but there's no phone number or any other kind of contact. If you want anything from these people in a reasonable manner of time I wouldn't waste my money here read more

We just saw them in Dallas and left 90 minutes into the torture. Somehow, Celine Dion wannabe and a country singer walked into a bar with an angel in Sarajevo - or something like that. I kid you not, I was expecting a really cool light show and great rock music, but instead we got something entirely different. When you are so bored that you start looking around at other people checking their phones, you know there is a problem. Kudos for experimenting, TSO, but you should have tested this well before you fleeced your fans for hundreds of dollars a ticket. Our advice to other fans - save your money and watch old TSO on youtube. It will be a much more enjoyable experience. read more

I took my family as a surprise and they were so excited. We as many only heard the Christmas music you all here. As you can see from some other reviews TSO is so much more. Loud? Yes but not any more then a rock concert you may have gone to back in the 70's/80's. Light show and then some, Absolutely incredible!!! Musically these folks are very very good, Tops! The violinist was my favorite! Storytelling, communicating with the audience, sound system was outstanding and clear. Don't go expecting only Christmas music but go with an open mind and looking for a great show! Bottom line is this is an amazing show. Visually and Musically Terrific and I have seen a lot of shows. read more

Walked out of the Columbus show when dude started congratulating the amazing crew and all the band members. I figured that was a good time to make a break for the exits. The story, the singing as mentioned in other reviews were just awful. More orchestra less nonsense please. Wow. That was awful. read more

We are first timers and a large family with teens. We were so looking forward to this. It was horrible. It went on and on. The narrative made no sense and for 75 dollars a ticket, I think the local dinner theatre would have been a better Christmas option. I agree with all the negative reviews. I could not wait for the show to end and I kept expecting it to get better and it never did. Cacophony is a word to describe this mess. Traveled 2 hours to DC for a horrible show. Ugh. read more

Seeing them is a tradition with my kids. We've seen them for for more than a decade every year.... So my rating isn't based on assuming I was going to see an actual orchestra as some of the negative reviews are, my rating is based on how they were compared to other years. I'm afraid they are slipping. In some of the past shows you got a feeling that they were actually enjoying themselves, but now it seems as if the performers are just going through the motions. The music is fine, no better or worse than it has been in the past, but the underlying emotions are gone and worse still are the overuse of backlighting and smoke. No one in my family could ever look at the show for more than a few seconds without being blinded by a backing spotlight hitting us square in the face. More ridiculous you couldn't see much of the performers only silhouettes of them because again for whatever reason they went overboard on the lighting from behind the stage rather than much of any from in front or even above the stage. I kind of like to see things at a concert which was difficult to do. Then there was the smoke. Hey it looked really cool for the first couple of minutes, but then it started to get annoying and not once until the end of the concert did the air ever clear enough that you could really see the stage or videos on it clearly. Worse still I was coughing most of the way home from inhaling god knows how much vaporized glycerin fog... I know they shows are designed to keep epiliptics away, but is there a reason it they are now trying to disway people that simple want to breath air? We've seen their shows before, but honestly of the past dozen or more that we've seen this was the worst one ever. If they can't find a way to bring some more life into the show then I'm sorry to say this tradition is going to end. Want an idea of just how lifeless they have become? 10 years ago at the end of a concert they would pick some lucky kid from the audience bring him on stage and present him with a guitar that was autographed by everyone, they actually made little bit of an effort to make the kid feel like he was really special for getting picked... this year the show ends, the members are all leaving the stage and as some roadie brings up a kid the pretty much just hand it too him as they continue walking off the stage... more evidence that the life of the concert is gone and now they are just going through the motions. read more

The first time I went to their Christmas show was December 2017. It was awesome! Loved every bit of it. I could easily follow the storyline and music, lights, singing, etc...were exceptional. We decided to go tonight(12/26/2019) again here at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus. I was soooo disappointed in this show. I went to the 8pm show same as two years ago. Tonight the show was so different than my previous experience. The narrator was difficult to follow with his storyline. Something about a bar, an angel, vodka and from that point I was lost. There were bits and pieces I could pick up on, it was something about Christmas in different countries, like Russia and so on. He mentioned Palestine ( that is NOT a country), and the screen showed flags of different nations, NOWHERE to be seen was the American flag nor the flag of Israel. But lots of Communist, Socialist, and Muslim nation flags. I was disgusted with the show and left when the guy started introducing the singers halfway through the show. Never again. This did it for me. I would rather have bamboo shoved under my nails than to go through that again. read more

We attend TSO's concerts yearly, typically in either Colorado Springs, or Phoenix? We have been attending for the past 10-12 years. This year, there was an issue with tickets for fan club members, and as I read reviews, I can see that this had an affect on some people. We had issues, but were able to get 4th row from stage, and this show was of the best that I have attended. This, in my opinion, was a GREAT show. Some of the metal ramps, and stages were omitted , which quite honestly, I felt was an opportunity to concentrate on the stage, and the music easier, which was fantastic. We start our holiday season with this concert, and again, were not disappointed. If you want to attend a really well done holiday concert with fantastic music, stage, and an incredible cast of musicians, and singers, you owe it too yourself to attend this. A+++++ read more

Fell asleep on the first set . . . .relates to Christmas I'm not sure how . . . The main entertainment is not actually playing their instruments . . Light show was good . . . 2 stars because my wife enjoyed it . . . Total waste of time for me . . .If I want to see fake I'll stay home and watch TV read more

That was so incredibly awful. I laughed to keep from well, laughing. The hair, the dark black hawk down with guns firing and heavy religious lyrics, then one song that said " let it go" and spoke of snow white hair (?Elsa?). Oh wow. We left early, even with a couple of beers we couldn't take it. Well, we won't forget it, ever, even if we try really hard and get hypnosis. It's not going to go away ever. Whoa. read more

So incredibly awful. I can't get over the fact that I wasted over $500 for my family to attend this concert. Why was it sold out in San Antonio??? Who really likes this or calls it music? It was a bad joke. If you like long, dyed, straight hair that flipping around is the primary dance move of this group, coupled with extremely bad music then this concert is for you. I am seriously shocked that anyone likes this stuff. I am so sad to have wasted so much money. UGH!!! read more

Just saw the show for the first time.... Well what can I say but we were expecting something, mmm, different? We knew what they were about and saw YouTube stuff, metal Christmas songs, pyrotechnics, center arena guitarist on podiums, yea hardly to none of that. Maybe it was the venue but Tacoma dome hosts monster jam so I doubt that's the case. The laser/light show was well done but not enough laser theatrics to offset no pyro. The only pyro in the entire show was the only song they play on the radio whatever the name is of it. It was like James Earl Jones narrated the odd story of a booze hound followed by some metal then a Celine Dion type of whatever and some crazy christen crap you can raise your hands up and sway around. So if your like us and watched some YouTube your gonna be disappointed as well unless your 60-90 then rock on. read more

Wow! I cannot even believe the negative reviews on here! This TSO concert was AMAZING!!! These must all be boring ass people who didn't like it. So glad I went to see them for myself and didn't pay attention to these other asinine reviews. Go see it for yourself! It was 2 hours of straight awesome music. They sell out for a reason! To all of you who didn't like it, stay home and watch the Hallmark channel under your blankie! read more

Beyond awful. Slow. Boring. Not even great singers? I fell asleep to a guy droning on and on and on about some lame and cheesy "Christmas story". I left early- thank The Lord!!! What a waste of money. So bad it was funny. Seriously, don't bother. read more

Cheesy!!! You have got to be kidding me! Christmas music was the farthest thing from this show. Don't let the advertising fool you, there are only 3 songs that have a Christmas theme and they play in the commercial. Loud, Loud, Loud. It reminded us of a Big Hair Band that was stuck in the 80's. Animated white tigers and dragons were never part of our holiday memories and we're in our 50's. We walked out midway only hoping it would get better. As we walked out many others were way ahead of us. We wish we could get our money back. It felt like we were violated in front of all of those people. Oh! And let's not forget the 6 girls dressed in black swinging their hair like a cage dancer! Santa definitely lost some HO's......ugh read more

Wow, excruciatingly awful. Over-dramatized awful renditions of Christmas songs. Reminded me of the worst hair bands of the 80s. Too loud, and way too corny. We left after the first half, couldn't stand another minute. Hard to believe so many people like them. Then again, people like crappy music. Never again. read more

We attended the 11/24/2017 DCU afternoon show. There was obvious talent and very original and exciting sets and effects, but there were obvious problems: 1. Way too LOUD! 2. Bad mix of the sound - could not here any violins, cellos or anything else but overly heavy guitar riffs over and over. 3. Story teller (narrator) and male vocalists were talented but not mixed right and were too loud to be nuanced in any way. 4. The female vocalists were the highlight but were under used especially the beautiful joy to the world arrangement, cut shot for more pounding guitar with excessive posing and the same riffs over and over. 5. The set was phenomenal and most of the show was beautiful but the laser lights shown at the audience at very high strobe rates added to the pain and discomfort of the show. 6. The hair waving and movements of male guitarists and female vocalists looked like a parody and did not fit the show. We made it through the first half of the show in discomfort, but had to leave after the beginning of the second half. To be fair many around and in front of us seemed to really be enjoying themselves, but I saw a few people like us leaving not long after the second half of the show began. It seems like they could do a lot better with this talent, by getting someone who can actually mix the sound, re-direct the male vocalists to sing instead of rumble, reduce the drastic over-use of guitar noise and posing while having them use some challenging parts requiring musicianship instead of cliché guitar with more posing than effort. Lets also here much more orchestra (violins, cellos and horns). The violins and I think a cello were there but never heard - lose some of the guitar or change the name of the show. No lack of effort or talent by the performers, just poor production, arrangements and awful sound mix. Dave read more

This was our 3rd concert with TSO...and ptobably our last. Started 20 minutes late and then the first number was dark and gloomy. Billed as a Holiday experience, there was a sweet story of love and remembrance, but that was short lived. It was more about darkness and dragons and showcasing dancers flipping their hair and individual talent. Finally the older ladies at the end of the aisle decided to leave and it was like the flood gates opened.. the arena started to clear out as quick as possible. They need to go navk to actually celebrating Christmas..in a much lighter, brighter tone. read more

Went to their Christmas performance here in Las Vegas some years ago. Have always loved hearing their classics such as "Wizards in Winter" on the radio. Wife and I thought "what better way to celebrate the holiday season" than to see them live in concert. Wow. What a mistake we made. First of all, their performance is LONG. The first half, had we made it through, was about 90 minutes, and tells a "Christmas story" complete with characters portraying a seasonal tale about hope and joy. Only it was absolutely HORRIBLE and our only hope and joy was to leave the concert about one hour into it. (Side note: My wife and I are musicians; we know what quality in a live performance is). As others have noted, the performers are reminiscent of a bad 80s hair band, the light effects are painful because the spots often point directly into the audiences' eyes, and volume is WAY too loud, and the performers HORRIBLE singers. We were among literally HUNDREDS of audience members who walked out during the first half; we found out later that they only perform their classics on the second half, after the intermission. Nothing could have made us stay that long. We also learned, at a later date, that TSO has two travelling shows that perform simultaneously in different parts of the country. I concede it's possible that we saw the "B" band, but regardless, this was a learning experience for us; we learned not to see them in a live performance! I do have many friends who love their live show, so they do have an appeal to certain people. We are not among that group. read more

This concert was the worst. The lighting was ridiculous and caused my sister to have a seizure. I had to take Migraine Meds before we left. What a waste of money. It's Like a mega church on meth in 1985. Why not bring out some tigers to go with the laser show? I wish I could get my money back. I can't understand how people rave about it. We had to leave after 45 minutes because my sister started to have auroras before her seizure. read more

A giant ball of cheese! So overproduced and overstaged! I'm pretty sure there was a soundtrack playing, and the singers were just lip syncing. Several times I noticed that the music started before the "musicians" had even touched their instruments. And what is with the rhythmic hair flinging? I've heard a few of their songs on the radio over the years, but I had no idea what to expect from their show. I only went because my husband won the tickets. The seating was extremely uncomfortable, and the show was three painful hours long. The venue was not well ventilated, and with the smoke machines, pyrotechnics, and loud, poor quality music, I truly began to feel like I was in hell! I had to go stand in the lobby for the last hour. NEVER AGAIN! read more

Saw this show last night in Hershey PA. After seeing it last year honestly I was disappointed. The "Christmas story" this year was confusing, I did not care for the narrator at all and the special effects and light show was lacking. Last year in the second half of show half of the musicians were on a mini stage platform in the middle of arena with even bigger pyrotechnics which was phenomenal. This year they did none of that. I still think TSO is great but this years show was lacking. read more

Awful. I guess shame on us for thinking it was a Christmas concert. Couldn't understand the narrator, singing was poor and over dramatic. Family of 5 and none of us could tell you what it was about. Left halfway in. Waste of $600 read more

It was..... unforgettable. But not for anything awesome. Corny, hair-metal, creepy, dark, sorta Christmas-ish, stage show with hair whipping, lasers, flames, tigers and dragons. (Yes. Dragons) Sounds like it should be a giant stocking stuffed with awesome. Yeah...not so much. That said, you'll be talking about this mess for years to come. read more

Our first and last time attending this Christmas week show. My ears were hurting me for two days afterward. Way too loud perhaps to cover-up the lip-syncing and air guitars. Very old school stage graphics leftover from the 70s. Is all the long hair flipping supposed to make up for this phony rock musician performance? read more

Honestly, it started out pretty good, and they did have moments of cool lasers/lights but it just got weird, Dark even at the end, enough where people were leaving, I should have. We wouldn't have been surprised if they sacrificed a goat! The TSO burning in flames held up high for all to worship, felt like Idol worship to me. The last few songs were very opposite of Christmas, if they were trying to make us feel like we had gone to Hell, then they nailed it. read more

If I could give a 0 star I would. First half is cutesy traditional Christmas themed with a narrator. Very loud poorly played music. Formulaic. In the second half TSO played strange ,odd heavy metal while the back up singers chanted in Latin and photos of a church enflamed appeared on the big screen behind the band. Did not stay too long because the music did not improve. Strange "Christmas show". Not only awful but weird. read more

What a complete waste of money and time. My 14 and 20 year old kids couldn't believe how badly they butchered some of their favorite classical pieces. My youngest was thoroughly confused 10 minutes in and said "where is the orchestra"! We thought it would be a fun holiday event for our family, but it was not Christmas related at all! Dragons, fire & helicopters on the screen with so many pyrotechnics that I was sweating by the end. Every time we thought it was ending....it didn't. The concert lasted nearly 3 hours! I think this is a ploy to make you think you get your money's worth! Marking this off our list and thankfully we will never have to go to a TSO concert again. read more

This was the first time actually seeing the group in person. The first part was not all that bad seeing that it was supposed to be a Christmas themed show. But the second part was terrible with a dark, demonic theme. There was a huge amount of fire and the video scenes showed fire breathing demonic monsters and helicopters intermixed with bombs exploding and what seemed like a church burning. There were also flags of the worlds countries scrolling. I got the intense feeling of impending doom and World War3. It was difficult to understand the words but I did hear the devil and evil mentioned. Had I known about this I would never have attended. read more

Disappointing. Stay home and yell into a tin bucket for 2 hours. Too loud. Music way too repetitive and uninteresting. Seems like every song had lead guitars playing extremely high notes, or with distortion so muddy is was nothing but an audio scramble to your ear. Also, every singer was trying to yell over music that was too loud to begin with. In terms of stage presence.... horrible. Everyone dressed like vampires, or moto gang members. The long hair, whipping around in circles gets old quick. No distinction. No character. I was also worn out on the number of times the performers raised their fists to encourage the crown to cheer. Very produced/fake, not natural. Also, the guitarist need some variety in stance. Makes me puke to see all these guys straddling their guitars non-stop. Really guys? Get some original moves. I'm surprised these professional musicians can't see this. They should sit through one of their own shows. Light show by far the best. It was also on the busy side, and they could have simplified to create more impact. Nevertheless, good equip. Video tv effects- childish. Cartoon-ish tigers and dragons. Dated graphic design. Looked a Nintendo video game from 1987. The venue was also extremely echoey, which added too much room reverb and made the music blur together even more. Fine... I guess this is a suppose to be a heavy metal inspired band.., but for goodness sakes, have some definition and spaces in the music. Audio garbage can. read more

I seriously don't get all of the negative reviews! I love this show! There were TONS of Christmas songs (I was nervous that there wouldn't be based on the reviews), some awesome solos, a sweet lazer show and pretty cool special effects (yes, some were a bit corny, but that's part of the fun!). This was my first time ever seeing TSO and I would definitely make it a yearly tradition. The tickets are pricey if you buy them direct but if you keep an eye out for deals, it's definitely worth it! They also give a portion of the sales to charity - and this year they gave to AAWL which is a great animal welfare charity. read more

This is Not a Christmas show. The first half, Tso played many of their well known Christmas songs. However the second half was truly bizarre. Not only was it not Christmas appropriate, it was Christmas antithetical. It was about Satan, literally. By the time the lyrics started chanting, "I am Satan and so are you", we left. This show is inappropriate for children. read more

What would Santa Clause say about this Christmas show... HO HO HORRIBLE!!!!! I attended the Chicago 12/28 show at the Allstate Arena. I can't even put in to words how awful this show was. It was LITERALLY the worst show (concerts/broadway/Vegas Shows) I have ever seen. I was very excited after hearing about it on the Radio and thought it could be very cool. While there was talented musicians and singers the whole thing was a complete flop. Was extremely WEIRD and UNDERWHELMING. I paid over $300 for 4 seats and wouldn't go back if it was FREE. If I was on an aisle seat and not completely in the middle I would have left early. It was actually painful to sit and watch. To each their own but have no idea why so many people are repeat attendees. Embarrassed to have dragged my 16 year old nephew and my mother out in the snow/cold for that. The best part of the evening was the fun and laughter we had making fun of the show on the ride home. read more

My wife and I attended the matinee show in Chicago for the third year in a row. As with last year and the year before, TSO was amazing! This will continue to be a Christmas tradition for us. Uplifting, trans-generational combination of rock opera, metal, choral and orchestra with awesome lights and pyro!!! There isn't anything like it that I know of. For my wife I, it's definitely a can't miss!! read more

This show was incredibly boring!!! We left well before it was over! It felt like they were pretending to a sound track. Omg! What a waste of time and money! The very first male singer was terrible! There was also a female singer who attempted to use way too much range. Every little note she sang she felt the need to add a long run to it. There was a group of women who sang together and it was so loud and piercing I actually had to plug my ears, it was painful! The rest of the singers did ok. If you've ever been on a cruise ship.....you've basically seen these type of singers! read more

This was my second time seeing TSO in concert (Indianapolis) and was less impressed this time. It seemed like there was a lot more singing from what I can remember of the prior concert, of which I had a hard time understanding a lot of because it got a little screechy at times. My daughter and I personally much preferred the pieces that were purely instrumental versus the singing. She would have liked to been able to hear more from the strings also (violins in particular). Still, I was enjoying the show for the most part until at I believe around the 1hr 45m mark, they stopped to tell the audience the names of the various members, and talk about the second half of the show. Surely they were kidding we thought, at least about there being another 'half' as that'd put the concert into 3.5 hr range. The 2nd 'half' really started to break down for us. A dragon on the video screen turning into helicopters executing attacks, a something about a tiger, another dragon theme song. They did throw in a rendition of Nutcracker in, but mostly there was very little that felt Christmas or holiday. At the close to the 2.5hr mark, my daughter was tired and ready to go. Many people had already been heading out the door for some time, and with no end in sight, we decided it was our time too. It took probably 15 minutes to get out of the building and all the way to the top floor of the garage next door and we could STILL hear them playing, although I think it might have been Carol of Bells which I suspect might have been the last song. We didn't wait to find out. Overall, it was okay, but it'll make me think twice before I go another time. I would have been fine just having seen the first half show. Closing in on nearly 3hrs was a long time, especially with so much non-Christmas material in the later part of the show. They mentioned that after 12/20/17, they'd be performing two shows a day. I wonder if they'll be cutting out a lot of that 2nd half for those shows. read more

Terrible! Not even sure what the songs were. Couldn't understand the words because their voices were so bad and raspy. They kept playing the same bad sounds over and over and over. After about an hour and a half we left. Just couldn't take it any more. We've never walked out on a concert before but we've never been to one soooooo bad!!! Don't waste your money!! read more