While at E3 I had the opportunity to go see the long running Video Games Live show. I had heard about it for years and simply thought of it as orchestral renditions of video game music. But it was so much more.
The show started out with Tommy Tallarico joining the orchestra on electric guitar and they played a medley of Castlevania songs. I instantly knew that this show was going to be amazing and it totally was.
I’m not huge into video game music but that really didn’t matter. If you’ve even heard some of these songs before, the show will resonate with you.
Not only is there live music playing but there are several monitors showing off scenes from the games that the songs are from. If you don’t get chills at some point during this show, you probably don’t like video games.
I was surprised to learn that there is much more to Video Games Live than just orchestral reditions of your favorite songs. They gave away free stuff. There were special guests like Nolan Bushnell and Tim Schafer. The Pokémon section had giant pokéball colored beach balls thrown out into the crowd. The Journey songs were conducted by the actual conductor of the music and he wore a red scarf to further celebrate the game. They even picked someone out of the crowd to play Space Invaders with his body.
Games that they played songs from also included Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Mario, Halo, and more.
You really can’t help but be inspired by this show. It proves that video game soundtracks are just as good if not better than ‘normal’ music.
Here’s a trailer if you’ve never seen it and make sure to check out http://www.videogameslive.com to see when Video Games Live could be coming to your town.
I was hesitant to go but ended up loving it. If you get a chance, made sure you see Video Games Live.
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