With much fervor and anticipation, the three of us fought through the crowded hallway to the door that read “Rows A-F”. Already, the room was full. Most of the seats were already occupied.

Did we even have our tickets? Were we going the right way? A quick flash of our all-access passes reassured us as we made our way down a full row to our seats. Of course they were the obnoxious movie theater-styled seats that you had to hold down with one hand and try to maneuver your butt onto.

That was fine, though. Because it was Friday night, 8-o’clock sharp, and we were getting ready to witness one of the finest displays of orchestrated music in the gaming world: Video Games Live in Louisville, Kentucky.

“Video Games Live™ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!”

–via Video Games Live’s website

Upon my friends and I’s 5:30 PM arrival, we were eager and excited beyond belief. We were working the contest tables this year, and it would be their first visit ever. I had gone the previous year, so I already knew what to expect–something amazing, that’s for sure; an event I have been looking forward to for months. After getting set up at our posts, the pre-show festival had begun. As we sat at our tables taking registrations for an autographed poster and program giveaway, multitudes of fellow gamers flooded the lobby. There were many the interesting character, including a NiGHTS and Reala duo in full costume signing up for the cosplay contest. I witnessed many a magnificent gaming tee, and often my mind was focused on locating them online as soon as I got home.

The hours we were scheduled to work passed by rather quickly, and we met a cavalcade of interesting fellow gamers. Nothing could compare to the excitement we all shared when it was getting close to 8 PM. Hastily we packed up our materials and made our way to our seats, all-access passes in hand.

The Louisville Orchestra sat poised in their chairs, patiently awaiting the arrival of the thousands of guests in attendance. My friends and I were pratically bouncing in our seats, ready for some awesome orchestral gaming music. We weren’t waiting long, as five minutes into our waiting session the lights began to dim and a video began playing.

On a large screen behind the orchestra, a music video featuring a person in a Ms. Pac-Man costume was being chased by a crowd of ghosts. Having remembered the video from last year, I expertly advised my friends that it was actually a music video from The Go! Team. A great intro for the concert, it really built up excitement. First-time attendees were still in shock that this concert was actually going to be all about video games.

As the video ended and faded to the Video Games Live logo, we were treated to composer Jack Wall giving us a brief overview of the concert series and what it was all about. While his speech was riveting, I couldn’t get over the fact that his coat reminded me of human Sparda from Devil May Cry. Of course, that gave the entire concert all the more theatrics.

With the beginning of the concert underway, the lights were fully dimmed and a familiar image flashed onscreen: Pong. With each blip onscreen, the orchestra matched each movement with intense precision. I couldn’t help but focus on how much concentration it must have took to match the onscreen images so precisely when I have trouble eating and walking. From Pong, the orchestra delved into Space Invaders and a myriad of classic arcade titles such as Dragon’s Lair, Frogger, and Space Ace. While some were not immediately recognizable, all were definite classics and it was indeed a treat to watch the video clips accompanied by such a beautiful orchestra. After this brilliant introduction, Tommy Tallarico made his way to the stage to announce what would be the first full video game presentation: Metal Gear Solid. Of course, this provoked quite the reaction from fans, including squees.

While our eyes were plastered on the screen that displayed various scenes from the Metal Gear series ranging from the PS1 iteration and the newest Guns of the Patriots, a man dressed as a guard crept out onto the stage, complete with a lit exclamation point that popped up over his head when someone in a cardboard box trotted out on stage.

We came to find out that it was indeed Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist, underneath. Upon his big reveal, he set out to play renditions (blindfolded, at that!) of some of my favorite Final Fantasy pieces, such as “Aerith’s Theme”, “One-Winged Angel”, “To Zanarkand”, and “Eyes on Me”. The man was incredibly talented. I’m just not sure yet how you can possibly learn to do such a thing. After his stunning display, we were treated to a Legend of Zelda medley, a piece from Bioshock, some preview music from StarCraft 2, and selections from World of Warcraft.

About halfway through, a contest was underway which brought a hefty man onstage to put on a black t-shirt with a Space Invaders ship on the back to run back and forth controllig a ship on the enormous screen. I found this a cute little contest, but apparently the man had never really played Space Invaders before, because he failed promptly.

After that, it was time for some more awesome music. This half was the best half of the day, as Halo was featured (my personal favorite, as “Never Forget” was performed), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (I honestly have no idea why), then a Mario medley done by the amazing Martin Leung. I’ll tell you guys that he is some kind of keysmasher. I was amazed. That’s partially because I have no musical inclination and he was one of the first individuals I’ve ever seen playing a piano blindfolded with such ease. The concert continued on, featuring Tetris, Kingdom Hearts, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (”Sweet Emotion”, played with a guy onstage on the actual game), God of War, some more Mario, and for the big finale, “One-Winged Angel” on electric guitar complete with the orchestra.

…Or so we had thought. That’s how it was last year. This year, however, ended with a smashing performance of the Castlevania theme. In a word, it was breathtaking. I have never felt so much energy radiating from a crowd as I had this year. I laughed, I got excited, and I screamed my lungs out for my favorite titles.

I’m definitely going back next year.

Thanks to Mike Tallarico for his generosity to me and my friends, and of course Tommy Tallarico and Mike Wall, as well as the rest of the VGL crew for making it all happen. Everyone should experience this amazing show once in their lifetime.

So what are you waiting for? Get ordering those tickets!!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Video Games, Gamer Culture, Video Game Soundtracks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.