Steamroller

Started: 2025-12-27 22:43:49

Submitted: 2025-12-27 22:07:20

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Seeing Mannheim Steamroller, because I happened to be in SoDo at the right time

When we booked our thanksgiving travel we made the trade-off to book a flight returning from Seattle departing at 07:05 on Sunday morning. This was much too early to drive down from Mount Vernon the morning of the flight, so we got a hotel at the airport and left Mount Vernon on Saturday afternoon. This meant that I was in the right place to see Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas concert in Seattle on Saturday night. (This was a culturally-significant holiday event for me, but I couldn't convince anyone else in my family to join me.)

We ate an early supper of ramen in Southcenter then checked into our hotel across the street from the airport, next to the pedestrian bridge connecting to the Link light-rail station and onward to the airport terminal. My family stayed in our adjoining hotel rooms while I dropped off our rental car and caught the shuttle to the airport. (This meant I got to ride the shuttle without any luggage, not even a laptop bag, which was a curious experience since I'm usually carrying at least my laptop and a suitcase, or multiple suitcases, when riding the rental car shuttle.) I entered the airport terminal just long enough to turn around and head out to the Link station to catch a train to SoDo.

Since the last time I rode Link the system has expanded northwards, with a big expansion to the Eastside still under construction operating with limited service on a disjoint section between Bellevue and Redmond. The announcements on the PA were preparing for the eventual opening of the connecting section across Lake Washington, saying "This is the one line to Lynnwood City Center". In the announcement "one line" was supposed to distinguish it from the under-construction line two but it sounded to me like they're announcing like it's the one and only line. (In print the style was more obvious, because they printed "(1) line" in a green circle and "(2) line" in a blue circle.)

(I also took the opportunity to wonder about the trade-offs that led to the construction of a rail line built on a series of elevated viaducts leading to the airport and running along the interstate highway at great expense, and then outfit the viaduct with a light-rail system only capable of traveling 45 miles per hour.)

I got off Link at the Stadium station and found the walking route to WAMU Theater (nestled between the baseball park and the football stadium), which included a helical ramp taking me up and over the heavy-rail train tracks to the stadiums. This gave me the chance to look at the structure of the retractable roof over the baseball park, which extended on a giant truss built over the heavy-rail tracks.

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas title card

The current incarnation of Mannheim Steamroller is a pair of touring bands that play Christmas concerts every year, under the blessing (and license) of founding member Chip Davis. The touring bands flesh out the original studio arrangements of the Christmas covers with a small orchestra (strings, woodwinds, and brass) backing up two keyboard players (a harpsichord/synth player on the left side of the stage, and a piano/synth player on the right side) plus violin/electric violin, supplemental percussion, bass guitar, and drums. (The harpsichord player had a synth keyboard stacked on top of the harpsichord, and in some songs he played both instruments with different hands.)

Mannheim Steamroller at WAMU Theater

The concert opened with "Hallelujah" (from the Messiah); and as I sat listening to the song I realized that this arrangement (and the rest of Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums) were the primary soundtrack of Christmas in my twenties. Listening to the music reminded me of a time in my life best defined as scrappy potential. I have no actual interest in returning to those years (I like the experience and resources I have today) but it's an interesting experience to let music take me back in time.

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas at WAMU Theater

The touring band played mostly Christmas covers, plus a few classical covers and some original music. (Unlike most of the shows I attend, this was pitched like a classical concert, with a printed program that included the set list. The band did play an encore, though, that was not printed in the program.)

After the show, and the encore, I headed back to Link and returned to the airport hotel for my early-morning flight. I had seen one more band (at least, the current touring incarnation thereof) of music that's been important to me throughout my life, and that was worth the price of admission. And it didn't hurt that I got to kick off the Christmas season at exactly the right time because I happened to be in the right place at the right time.