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.
Even in an area with a tight gaming culture, it’s not just the crowds that set VGL apart from your average night at the symphony. There’s a few events surrounding the concert that make it more of an event. In the case of the Edmonton show, Future Shop held a couple giveaways, and the folks behind VGL also had a costume contest and some other fun contests. The costume contest had an assortment of gaming characters, as well as some pop culture icons. There were a couple Team Fortress 2 characters, but unfortunately in this contest Engineer wasn’t credit to team.
There are still many other audience participation events and contests, including the one pictured above. I think I’ll let the VGL Wikipedia Article describe exactly was is going on here for me.
Space Invaders: A random person is picked out of the audience to come up on stage to become the video game. The person is tracked on stage and moves left and right to control the spaceship from the game. They are given a button to fire with. The orchestra, once again, improvises the game music in real-time with the competitor’s actions. The player has 2 minutes to finish the first level of the game. As an added challenge, each time a bonus ship comes across the top of the screen, the player earns their score amount in cash. However, the player can only win this money if they complete the level within two minutes.
Unfortunately the guy who was called upon for this contest didn’t manage to complete the level. He didn’t win the grand prize but he did receive a couple consolation prizes. This package included a home version of Space Invaders so, in Tommy Tallarico’s words, "he can practice."
Inbetween each of these events, we were treated to pieces from titles like Mass Effect, Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger, Beyond Good & Evil, Halo, The Legend of Zelda, and a full rendition of One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII which included a full choir. I’ve managed to get some videos below.
Videos
Now if you’re asking why I didn’t take any videos of the popular pieces, like Mario or Zelda, I have one answer for you. You’ll have to go to the show yourself to experience those. Video Games Live is indeed an experience, and it’s one that should be had by any and all who would call themselves a gamer. It’s a community event that brings together local gamers, local musicians, and local singers. It places eveyone on equal footing, and gives the world of game music the credit it deserves. Check out my gallery below for the few photographs I did manage to take. I hope to see you next year.
Gallery
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- Constume Contest Sign-up
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- Future Shop Booth
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- Costume Contest Participants
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- It Begins
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- The Orchestra Is Ready
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- The Crowd is Coaxed
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- Tommy Greets the Crowd
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- The Next Performance
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- He’s Not The Box
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- Who’s In The Box?
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- Martin Plays
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- Space Invaders! Live!
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- A History Lesson
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- Forty Years Later
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- Kingdom Hearts
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- Many Famous Faces
[...] he’s heading to Los Angeles for E3 Expo early next month. In preparation, he went to watch Video Games Live. At the concert, a full symphony recreates many classic and contemporary video game soundtracks, [...]