A live orchestral performance with video game footage playing above the musician's heads and concert goers dressed as their favorite Nintendo characters, it's Video Games Live.
"Video Games Live is all the greatest video game music of all time played by a symphony and choir," explained Video Games Live co-creator Tommy Tallarico. "But what makes it really unique is everything is completely synchronized to video screens and rock and roll lighting and special effects and a stage show production. We wanted to create something that kind of proved to the world how culturally significant and artistic video games have become. We also wanted to usher in a whole new generation of people to come out and appreciate an orchestra."
The show does not travel with its own orchestra, but instead, over the last few years, as it's traveled to some of the biggest cities throughout the world, asks local musicians used to playing classical music if they wouldn't mind playing some classical video games.
A live orchestral performance with video game footage playing above the musician's heads and concert goers dressed as their favorite Nintendo characters, it's Video Games Live. Adam Balkin has more.
"You would think that classical musicians might look down on video game music," said Jack Wall, orchestra conductor and Video Games Live co-creator. "I think most of them see it as a real opportunity to bring a younger audience to the symphony and what they play. And many young gamers, older gamers, even gamers' parents feel a show like this helps give them better appreciation for what usually amounts to a few seconds of background music."
"We know some of the music associated with games and we wanted to hear it played in a traditional sense," said one concert-goer. "When you're playing a video game, you don't hear the music that much. You hear part of it, a clip of it not the whole thing, so if you see this, you hear the full music. You get a real feel for it."
For more information on the concert, including future tour locations and dates, check out www.VideoGamesLive.com The site even has a spot where you can suggest to organizers game scores you think should be included in the show.