Trans-Siberian Orchestra♥

Thursday night I was lucky enough to get to go with my family to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra live in Charlotte, and let me just tell you... It. Was. Amazing. I really recommend that everyone go see them at least once, especially their Christmas show! The second half of the show was fantastic; they did many different songs and medleys from their new CD's and performances coming up. But my favorite part was the first half of the show. The first part is a Christmas Story about a man who is broken and lonely, his daughter has run away, and he spending his Christmas Eve in an old bar. While he's there, this old man is telling Him a story about an angel who comes down from heaven to check on the world and see what has happened since the birth of God's son, and they weave both stories together beautifully! It is SO good. One of my favorite songs they sang that night was called Old City Bar, and I really want you to read the lyrics. They are so good, I teared up! If you haven't listened to TSO, go do so right this very second, because that is absolutely unacceptable! I hope I get to go see them again super soon!

Old City Bar

In an old city bar
That is never too far
From the places that gather
The dreams that have been
In the safety of night
With its old neon light
It beckons to strangers
And they always come in

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The music was low
And the night
Christmas Eve
And here was the danger
That even with strangers
Inside of this night
It's easier to believe

Then the door opened wide
And a child came inside
That no one in the bar
Had seen there before
And he asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Standing outside our door

Then the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice
To a corner streetlight
Where standing alone
By a broken pay phone
Was a girl the child said
Could no longer get home

And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The bartender turned
And said, not that I care
But how would you know this?
The child said I've noticed
If one could be home
They'd be already there

Then the bartender came out from behind the bar
And in all of his life he was never that far
And he did something else that he thought no one saw
When he took all the cash from the register drawer

Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak
Then he called for a cab and he said J.F.K.
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away
And we saw in his hand
That the cash was all gone
From the light that she had wished upon

If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask

Then he looked for the child
But the child wasn't there
Just the wind and the snow
Waltzing dreams through the air

So he walked back inside
Somehow different I think
For the rest of the night
No one paid for a drink

And the cynics will say
That some neighborhood kid
Wandered in on some bums
In the world where they hid
But they weren't there
So they couldn't see
By an old neon star
On that night, Christmas Eve

When the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
And in case you should wonder
In case you should care
Why we on our own
Never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there
♥

Then all at once inside that night

He saw it all so clear

The answer that He sought so long

Had always been so near

It's every gift that someone gives

Expecting nothing back

It's every kindness that we do

Each simple little act

♥