PixyJunket

The Video Games Live show last night was great. It was very mainstream stuff, probably to maintain a level of familiarity, but there was a much wider variety in tone and themes than the Final Fantasy concert I went to last year. Out of all the games they listed on their website, the one I was most excited to hear (Beyond Good & Evil) was not played.. oh well. I'm trying not to think about how awesome that opening battle music would have been with a full orchestra and choir.. trying, but failing. They had a guest (?) there called the "Video Game Pianist" who was effing INSANE. The dude had like thirty fingers and they were all working at once at light speed. Other than that, there weren't any musical guests (that sounds like something Play! has cornered) though they did have prerecorded segments of Hideo Kojima, David Jaffe, Koji Kondo and Yuji Naka to precede their segments.

So, they started off with a classic arcade medley, playing music and sound effects from 70's-80's coin-ops.. that was highly amusing. Then they went into a Metal Gear Solid suite, with a guard coming out on stage (complete with a light up exclamation point) and a cardboard box (which later revealed Tommy Tallarico). Next up was God of War followed by Legend of Zelda and then Medal of Honor (the music for that was great, no interest in the games though). Then there was Myst, with a ten year old vocalist (daughter of the maestro) and Sonic the Hedgehog (blah). Intermission was next which had a funny "Now Loading.." screen for the duration. The second half is when they pulled out the big guns, starting with Kingdom Hearts (the opening) which they could not show video of the game, but could show video of all the Disney movies. Then Tommy did an Advent Rising suite, which was very good. Then the Video Game Pianist did a Final Fantasy medley (insane). Then there was Tron and Super Mario (followed by the Video Game Pianist doing Mario and Tetris), finishing with Halo (including a recreation of the Halo 3 trailer). Then Tommy said we had to hold up our cell phones, DSes and PSPs for an encore which I thought was funny, but then after a few moments he turned to the orchestra and told them to hold on as the PSPs are still loading. Then of course.. they played the most overrated video game song that ever was and ever will be: One Winged Angel. Though, Tommy did come on stage and added some electric guitar to it, which added some flair to a tired song.

Overall, I'd say it was a bit better than the Final Fantasy concert.. more variety, more energy and they didn't play the same song twice as a double encore (that was retarded). I will say that from what I've heard of it, Play! sounds like it's going to be a HUGE show compared to both of these.. and that one is coming to my area in half a year, so I'm hyped for that already. I would definitely recommend VGL to anyone that enjoy video game music and symphonies, it's a VERY fun show, so check out their site and see if they're coming by you.

Okay, I think I mentioned this about the Final Fantasy concert.. but something like this really shames me to be a video game fan. Again, it seemed like only half the people there had the class to dress decently while the other half came in tattered blue jeans and anime t-shirts. My girlfriend and I had been to the Myerson Symphony Hall a couple of times this year for other stuff (Holst's The Planets, WOO!) and she was really pissed about it; she didn't go to the Final Fantasy concert and I guess she thought I was overplaying the low-class aspect of it. Not to mention that when they played a Warcraft suite, people started shouting their clan names (or something) over the orchestra. On top of that, I got a swift reminder why I like this forum so much even if I'm in an EXTREME minority with some of my gaming tastes. I opened up a PictoChat once they started letting people in before the show started. Once the first person joined in I just drew a Dragon Quest slime saying "Hi!".. and this is (no exaggeration) what followed: LOL, WTF, ROFL, ZOMG, FTW.

Draven

Sounds like a fun show. I always wonder how much of the music I would recognize though - aside from some of the classic Nintendo themes, I rarely pay attention to the music in a game. I wouldn't know Metal Gear from a hole in the wall (and I played through Solid 1 and 2, not to mention about halfway through the NES game).

Still, I enjoy music concerts like this (and yes, people treat concerts/theater like the movies now and dress accordingly. That's been my experience for a while now.) I cannot believe it's not coming to my area. Dammit.

PixyJunket

I wasn't familiar with a portion of the games or at least their music, but it was still a good show. I was actually a bit disappointed with the Halo suite though.. I remember really enjoying the music during what little I've played of it, but it just didn't play as strongly as some of the other stuff they had played prior in the might. I also forgot to mention above that they played World of Warcraft and Civilization IV. They also had two interactive gaming segments, one having a guy control a space invaders game via running across the stage and another that pitted two gals against each other at Frogger for a $2500 laptop.

Hmm.. the last couple of concerts I've been to have been very well-dressed. The last couple of productions I went to were at my girlfriend's college, so the more casual dress there was more expected.

Draven

Glad I'm not the only one fuzzy on the music I would have wanted Halo to be badass - that is such an memorable theme to me, I probably would have been disappointed in the performance too.

Honestly, it depends on the show (and doesn't surprise me here - some of those kids probably think their best anime shirt counts as dress clothes) but my experience has been that "getting dressed up to go to the theater" is not nearly as common as it used to be.

Spicollidriver1

I'm all for anything that gives Tommy Work I totally miss judgement day 100 times better then x-play.

PixyJunket

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Why didn't I get to see this live? WHY? WHY?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8a8o7oGa0

That's the exact song I wanted, nay, NEEDED to hear.

fumanstan

I've had chances to watch them through work but really didn't care enough. They'll be at BlizzCon, so i'll probably hear a bit there.

D_N_G

Thanks for posting this Pixy, didnt realize this was here, gonna get some tickets for tonight

They cancelled the show last time around here in Dallas, was really looking forward to it then

PixyJunket

Cool, let us know what you thought about it. I know some people going tonight as well. If you get there early, they've got Guitar hero competitions running and some other games strewn about the front of the hall (Wii kiosks, etc.).

RichC2

I tend to agree, I remember the old school tunes better than any off the orchestrated stuff, except Halo, that one was oddly memorable. MGS did, however, have a memorable hook to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_6LG8dyE0U

pinata242

You may get a chance... DVD & CD coming out Fall 2007 from the Rio shows recorded November 2006. Would this show be worth having on DVD?

Ghym

They played Beyond Good and Evil when I saw the show last year, in Houston. Wonder why they took it out?

Sorry about your bad crowd experience. When I went, I don't remember anyone yelling anything. Just applause when a popular song started. It was a fun time. I might go again sometime if they continue to tour. Especially if they add some new pieces each year.