Video Games! Live!
This past holiday Monday I attended an event many may be familiar with, while some may have only heard about. That event is called Video Games Live, and it’s pretty well the most fun any gamer could have at the symphony. Yes…the symphony. Video Games Live tours the world, and uses local orchestras and choirs to perform music from some of the greatest video game titles both past and present. In my case it was the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the performance was held at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.
Now when I describe this concept to those who are unfamiliar with the event and don’t bother to read the internet (pssst…they have a web site. I linked to it above), the usual tropes for going out to the symphony come up. Things like "Oh well I don’t have anything nice to wear," and "It’ll be boring having to be so quiet when the music from <insert awesome game here> is playing," are often uttered as talking points. You can dress up in your Sunday best if you want to. It’s a free country after all. But you don’t have to. You can come dressed in your day to day wear, or even come as a video game character. As for being quiet, I doubt the orchestras who perform at these events will ever receive more boisterous praise from a crowd then what they receive here. The picture above pretty much says it all. The team of Jack Wall, as conductor, and Tommy Tallarico, as MC and host, work hard to encourage the crowd to express their gratitude through the age old method of yelling and cheering as loud as possible. As the pictures and videos after the jump will show, they don’t have to work hard. In Edmonton the audience comes prepared. This city is the home of BioWare after all, as well as Fragapalooza. We have a very decent gaming culture around here.