In-person events aren’t able to happen this holiday season for obvious pandemic-related reasons, but that doesn’t mean the annual tradition of seeing Trans-Siberian Orchestra needs to be skipped.

On the contrary, the symphonic rockers who rewrote the rule book when it comes to Yuletide tunes are mounting a super-sized livestream on its website, comprised of the most prominent players from the eastern and western editions of the typically touring troupe.

Together, the band that logged over 2,000 live dates in front of 17 million fans with over 12 million albums and DVDs sold will perform the complete “Christmas Eve And Other Stories” collection in a virtual concert on Friday, December 18 at 7pm Central.

Original lead guitarist/longtime musical director Al Pitrelli explained to Chicago Concert Reviews how the show is transforming for this unique undertaking, plans for his first December off the road in more than 20 years, plus the ways being a pivotal member of Alice Cooper’s inner circle, Asia, Savatage and Megadeth all tied back to TSO.

Are there any exclusives in the livestream that wouldn’t normally be part of touring show?

Al Pitrelli: Well, I think the audience is going to have the biggest difference. For the first time ever, they are all going to have a front row seat and have the ability to tell me when to start the show. We’re in our pajamas, we’re on our couch, we’ve got the fireplace going or whatever you’ve got going on. Hit the remote control, press “start,” and you will literally have a front row seat. I don’t know how many cameras there are, a dozen or so, and they’re going to be as close to us as they can get, so everybody watching will not only have the full TSO bells and whistles show of their favorite tradition, Paul O’Neill’s classic tale “Christmas Eve And Other Stories,” but they’re gonna be able to sit down and look right into the eyes and soul of every singer and musician up there. If you look at the glass half-full, that’s my hall-full broad stroke overview.

What made you decide on the “Christmas Eve And Other Stories” theme?

Pitrelli: We returned back to that show a couple years ago. We hadn’t played it in the longest time and the reaction to it was so great from the audience, and also, from everybody in the band and the organization. That’s the one that put us on the map, the first record we ever did back in 1996. It was interesting because I hadn’t played that material in so long that I related to the story differently as I get older. The folks in the audience love that story. It has familiarity and it was just a no brainer to continue on. I think it’s an important story, especially in the times that we’re in right now. Everybody misses somebody around the holidays normally. There’s always an empty chair at the dining room table, but this year in particular, we miss everybody. We can’t get together as what used to be our normal.

What will you miss most about coming to Chicago this season?

Pitrelli: Dude, playing the Allstate has been my tradition. I know when I get to Chicago, I’ve got a day off and I immediately get deep dish pizza. That’s my good cheat day and then you’re rolling into the Allstate Arena. When I get to Chicago, it’s like my 50th or 60th show and I have to make sure that’s a perfect first show for the audience cause that’s their first show. Then at the end of that, I bring the crew out on stage every year and just thank them in particular for the incredible job they’ve done for the past two months. They get to stand on stage and look out to that incredible audience, in that beautiful building from my vantage point, and the audience always gives them a standing ovation. It always has been and always will be a very important show for me. I just love it.

Will there be a chance to see this in-person next year or are you not thinking that far ahead?

Pitrelli: The tour is booked next year. The venues are on hold. Tours are always booked about 12 or 13 months before we get rolling. Listen, we had this year’s tour booked. We had to wait till the very last second, I think mid-August, before we had to pull the plug on this one. It’s our 25th anniversary next year and I’m planning on coming out and doing what we do. It’s gonna be the biggest tour we’ve ever done. People are gonna want to come out to see their favorite bands all year long. Not just for me selfishly do I want to get back, but all of my friends, every musician, crew person, pyro company, laser company, the people who work at the venues, security guards and everybody across the board. It’s all been affected. I’m planning on next year. I’m gonna trust in science and medicine. Everybody seems to be scrambling to put an end to this and eradicate this from the planet for a million reasons, you know?

At the end of the day, my problems are small compared to what a lot families are suffering and the hardships that they’re having, albeit financially, a lot of people are dying from this. My biggest problem is if I go back to work next year. Okay, I’ll deal with that as it gets here. I just want to make sure that you, your family, my family, everybody involved that I know stays as safe as possible. Not that we’re gonna laugh about this next year, but let’s at least look at each other and go “damn, I’m glad that’s behind us.”

How are you personally planning on spending the holidays, especially given that you actually have a year off?

Pitrelli: This will literally be the first time in 21 years that I will be home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That I’m very grateful for because I get to spend it with all five of my children. We’re going to try to get everybody under the same roof. My older boys are all grown up. My young daughters are nine and four. This will be their first Christmas with me home, the first time ever I can have all five children under the roof. That’s really exciting, but to be honest with you, my wife is about ready to kill me!

I haven’t been in the best mood. From March until September or so, I haven’t been all that pleasant to be around [because of] the anxiousness, the apprehensions and the fear of what’s going on [throughout] the planet, never mind at work. But then she sat me down and said “listen, we’re at home. This is what it is. Let’s focus on the moments with the kids. Let’s focus on family time. You’re not going to Omaha this year. You can’t do anything about it.” She was really instrumental and helpful in getting me to re-focus.

These are the lessons that I’m going to take with me after this pandemic is eradicated and I’ll live this way for the rest of my life. Breathe a little bit, enjoy the moment, not stress over the little things and not take tomorrow for granted ever again. It’s been a really huge learning lesson for me in so many ways, not that I’m grateful for the pandemic, but at least I’ll try to take out as much good from it as I can.

The group has always been one to adapt, especially after the passing of your founder Paul O’Neill in 2017. Did he leave behind any wisdom that helped know how to navigate this extremely unusual situation?

Pitrelli: Paul and I spent almost 25 years together, 12 hours a day in the studio or touring. He was my best friend, he was my big brother, he was my boss, he was my teacher and he was like everything. One of the things he would say over and over again, no matter what, “you adapt, you overcome and you improvise.” If you think about it, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has done just that. Nobody ever recorded a rock and roll Christmas record before we did. “How are we gonna do this?” “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.” Then in ‘99, we did our first tour. “Dude, how we gonna tour for this?” We had a children’s choir, we had a bunch of Broadway singers, we had a bunch of rock singers and we had an orchestra. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.” “Adapt, overcome and improvise” was his mantra forever.

And it’s like that for life in general. Listen man, life is not fair all the time. Everybody is in a good mood when life is going nice and easy, but as soon as there’s a couple speed bumps, or storms, or disaster, or whatever, you’ve gotta figure it out. You don’t lay down to anything. That’s how we think…Here we are for the first time ever putting a livestream together of an entire show. It’s gonna be an incredible show and certainly the most important show we’ve ever done.

Outside of TSO, can you trace what it was like going from being a member of Asia to Savatage and Megadeth? How did that all lead to where you are today?

Pitrelli: Here’s an interesting timeline you probably aren’t aware of, but in ‘85, I got my first real job with a national act. I was playing guitar for Michael Bolton and that’s when he just had the “Everybody’s Crazy” record out. He was still kind of being a head banger and just good, old-fashioned rock and roll. He’s an incredible singer, great dude and great songwriter. I got to know him and some of the people from the management company…One of the guys that worked there was Paul O’Neill. Paul and I got to meet, become friendly and he goes “dude, one of these days we’ve got to work together.” That was the first tap on the shoulder that something with Paul and I was gonna occur. I didn’t know in ten years it was going to be Savatage and then it was going to be the birth of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Everything from point A to point O’Neill was an education and me honing my craft a little bit more.

I went from Michael to a couple semi-national bands on the bar and theater circuit. I got a big job with Alice Cooper as his musical director in ‘89. I got some work with my heroes in Asia: Steve Howe [Yes], Carl Palmer [Emerson, Lake & Palmer] and Geoff Downes [The Buggles, Yes]. I did two Asia records with them. Talk about an incredible experience! I learned so much from all these artists. Playing for Alice gave me a great education in theatrical presentations of a hard rock band. Asia was much more lush and orchestral. Working with Megadeth was almost two years of the hardest job I ever had cause learning all these other great guitar players’ solos was a daunting task. Try to play like Marty Friedman. That’s not an easy thing to do. He’s so awesome. And working for [leader] Dave [Mustaine], you learn that you do your job or have to deal with his wrath afterwards, so I learned to step up my game and work really hard.

It was like going to boot camp or being a Navy Seal, but [because of] that work ethic when I got back together with Paul O’Neill, everything just came together that much stronger and that much clearer. TSO had done the ‘99 tour, and by 2000, we cut it into two touring bands. It started to become kind of grueling, especially when they introduced two shows a day. Everything leading up to that was basically getting me prepared for what I didn’t know at the time was going to be the rest of my life. Nobody says “oh, we’re gonna do this forever.” And here we are 20-something years later talking about it, and it’s gotten bigger and better every year, just like my children have grown up. From infancy to young adulthood, they’ve exceeded every one of my expectations and they still amaze me every day. That’s what the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is. For 35 years, it’s been a lot of fun, a lot of work, a lot of triumph, a couple heartbreaks, but you know what, that’s life.

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For additional information on Trans-Siberian Orchestra, visit Trans-Siberian.com.