Video Games Live

[EddieRuckus]

Didn't see anyone post this yet, but starting this Saturday in Seattle the Video Games Live concert is going to commence. It's a 24 city event(Denver cancelled) that showcases a lot of video game music that was written. In a way it's similar to the Final Fantasy concerts that have been going on, but instead of just one video game franchise they will be going over a wide spectrum of video games. Here's the list.

Mario™, Zelda®, Halo®, Metal Gear Solid®, Warcraft®, Myst®, Final Fantasy®, Castlevania®, Medal of Honor™, Sonic™, Tron, Tomb Raider®, Advent Rising, Headhunter, Beyond Good & Evil™, Splinter Cell®, Ghost Recon™, Rainbow Six®, EverQuest® II and a special retro Classic Arcade Medley featuring over 20+ games from Pong® to Donkey Kong® including such classics as Dragon's Lair, Tetris, Frogger, Gauntlet, Space Invaders & Outrun!

[Benji]

To be perfectly honest the only scores from a game I'd be bothered to see in concert are FF7 and FF9, when I go to a concert I go for specific sounds and it sounds far too elaborate for my tastes. Still, it looks like I'll be adding another set of live MP3's to my library if a release comes out.

[lanky316]

I enjoy listening to the music for films and games and the like without the main sound overshadowing it so would be mildly interesting but would'nt pay to see it all in concert.

[EddieRuckus]

Eh, it's only 52 bucks or so and I need to see concerts seeing as how the college I'm going to requires 154 recitals taken in if you're a music major.

And Benji, I'll be looking to see if they sell a CD there (Y)

[Benji]

Eh, it's only 52 bucks or so and I need to see concerts seeing as how the college I'm going to requires 154 recitals taken in if you're a music major.

And Benji, I'll be looking to see if they sell a CD there (Y)

You give me reason to love

How long is that course to fit all those in?

[EddieRuckus]

It's not really a course, just a graduation requirement. My major is Music Education, though all music majors have to do it.

EDIT: Doesn't matter how long it takes you to get them, you just have to get all those credits to graduate.

Edited October 25, 2005 by The Greatest Man Ever Ekin Jones

[Cole]

The concert sounded pretty cool when we were talking about it, if they have a CD I may have to borrow a few tracks from you

[Benji]

Last leg of music tour's scheduled shows canceled, Sunday's Vancouver show to be final performance.

The idea of concerts celebrating game music isn't terribly new, but it is most definitely gaining in popularity. After Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu experienced notable successes in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco concerts for his game music, longtime American gaming composer Tommy Tallarico, in May, announced a full-blown national tour celebrating the music of games, from Super Mario Bros., to Halo and Kingdom Hearts.

After kicking off with a successful July concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, organizers took a step back and spent months preparing the show for a 25-city tour of indoor venues, beginning with dates this weekend in Seattle and Vancouver. However, ticket sales for the tour weren't meeting expectations, and yesterday organizers canceled most of the shows. After performances Saturday in Seattle and Sunday in Vancouver, Video Games Live is calling it quits for the year.

Tallarico and Video Games Live cocreator Jack Wall posted statements about the cancellation on the tour's official site yesterday.

"If we are guilty of anything it is that we hoped that more people would have been supportive of the concept and idea," Tallarico wrote. "Sure people have interest (like everyone here today) but if that excitement doesn't translate into support through ticket sales... how can anyone put on a show?"

All is not lost, however. Tallarico and Wall are planning to resurrect Video Games Live next year, putting on shows one city at a time and focusing promotional efforts on the buildup to each one.

"We are resolved to reinvent how we do this and do it in a more controlled way so this never happens again," Wall wrote. "It is not lost on us that for various business reasons we had to pull the plug twice. The bottom line is that the goals we established for this tour were simply too ambitious. We clearly overestimated the demand for a concert that relatively few people understand at this time. That said we still firmly believe our audience is out there."

The first plug-pulling Wall refers to is an earlier incarnation of Video Games Live that never got out of the planning stages. Wall and Tallarico had hoped that the original roadblocks they faced could be overcome by having broadcasting giant Clear Channel Music Group supporting this tour.

By Brendan Sinclair -- GameSpot

Posted Oct 26, 2005 12:52 pm PT

[zero]

Yeah it was supposed to come here but it got cancelled - thank God. I say that because we were promoting it on the radio station and I just woulda sounded like such a dork talking about going to watch someone play video game music. When we sponsor Halo tournaments and stuff, that's cool, but that woulda been a bit much.

[Cole]

So Ekin didn't go...

Damn, I wanted to atleast hear what they sounded like

Edit - Nevermind, it seems that I didn't noticed 'till looking at the site that Seattle was also left.

*slaps head*

Edited October 26, 2005 by Cole

[EddieRuckus]

Of course I'm going, that is if I ever get my tickets in the mail. If not, I may just spend my travel money on video games>_>

[EddieRuckus]

Just got back, and damn it was awesome. Definately worth the 16 hours of driving this weekend.

Before the show started they made all of us go across the street to line up, and I think we took up at least 3 blocks of sidewalks(half of a sidewalk so others could walk through). Tommy Tallarico actually came out for a little bit and chatted with a couple of people.

The pre-show festival wasn't really anything great(2 booths, one of merchandise and one for the costume thingy), and they didn't have a CD of the songs they were playing. I think they'll release one later though, otherwise I'll have to get a group of you guys to help me take them over.

The concert itself was amazing. They started off with the classic medley, showing off all the first arcade games with Ride of the Valkaries(sp?) in the background. Then they played scores from Ghouls and Ghosts, Outrun, Gauntlet, Dragon's Lair, some that were cartoony(Space Ace or something like that?) and Tetris.

I cannot remember the order they came in, but here are all the games they played from: Metal Gear, Castlevania, Myst, God of War, Warcraft, Tron, Headhunter, Beyond Good and Evil, Zelda, Sonic, Mario, Advent Rising, Medal of Honor, and Halo. They used video game footage for the games, and when they did a series(Zelda, Metal Gear, etc.) they showed all of the games that came with it.

Favorite Songs

Zelda

No need for an explanation here. I've heard the song they used for it before(I have it, don't know how I found it) and it was damn cool.

Beyond Good and Evil

Starts out very soft and beautiful, gets intense and loud, then goes to a very sad melody. Images on the screen didn't help the tears stop either.

God of War

I was going to wait until it went down in price, but hell after listening to the soundtrack I am now determined to get this game when I get my PS2 fixed.

Halo

Again, not much reason to explain why. Listening to the choir and percussion really added a nice touch.

Medal of Honor

This was a tearjerker. Instead of showing game footage they showed actual film from World War II. Deeply emotional.

They had some awesome things during the concert. At the beginning they announced the costume contest winner and it was a dude in a Raiden costume. Click here to see. They also had two people go up to the stage and play Frogger while the orchestra played. The winner got a $2500 laptop and it was a 10-year old kid(he beat a 25 year old guy.)

All in all, it was worth the 14 plus driving hours and nearly 300 dollars spent on it. I shall look at the store to see when they have a CD available for purchase.

[Summers]

Haha, a fat Raiden.