Last night we were at the Alerus Center in Fargo for the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert. What an incredible show, and of course the pictures just can’t do it justice. The lights, lasers, fireworks, flames and kicking sound system were incredible.
We misses a bit of the start because we cut the time too close in getting over to the Alerus. We were only 3.5km away at 7:30 and at 8pm, when the show was starting, we were within sight of the doors but stuck behind hundreds of other cars in a major traffic jam. Our estimate was that it could take an hour at the rate cars were moveing. The center was charging for parking and that slowed cars entering down to a snails pace. After a couple of phone calls to check things out, Shirley and I let the kids drive the van in and we hiked back up the road and cut across a snow filled ditch. We found out later that they stopped collecting the parking fee and the traffic moved much more quickly and the kids were only a few minutes behind us getting into our seats.
Wow, what a show! The sound was intense and so was the lighting. Each bass note resonated in your chest. The immense and movable lighting system was an entertainment piece in it’s own right as lighting frames moved up and down and angled throughout the performance creating some very unique effects. I was cautioned by site staff not to take any pictures after I had a few, but manages to sneak another couple closer to the end of the show, but it was impossible to frame up a good shot while shooting from the hip and keeping the camera under your coat.
After almost a solid 2 hour performance, it was all over and the roadies were quickly breaking down the set and loading the multiple semi-trailers to head off to Minneapolis to get set up for a 3pm show the next afternoon. We heard there were 75 on the crew that move the huge amount of gear from site to site.
We left for Winnipeg after the show and got back home at about 2am. What a great trip. A fun birthday with the family and a great show to top off the day.
I think birthday road trips could become a tradition!