Saturday night my wife and I finally got to experience something that I've been following from afar for years: Video Games Live! For those who don't know, VGL is "an immersive event created by the game industry featuring the best game music performed by top orchestras and choirs combined with synchronized lighting, video, live action and audience interactivity." We got to see it at a performing arts center at Wolf Trap National Park in northern Virginia. Basically, it was a state-of-the-art concert hall without walls. Pretty cool. And the featured orchestra was the National Symphony Orchestra, which is easily one of the best in the world!
Video Games Live was co-created (with composer Jack Wall) and is still hosted, more than ten years after its first show, by legendary game composer Tommy Tallarico. His credits include Earthworm Jim and Advent Rising and he currently holds the Guinness Book world record for working on more game soundtracks than any other person. Quite a few of the songs featured electric guitar, like the opening Castlevania medley, and Tommy plays them all himself. And he's good. Some of the songs are what you'd expect, like a Mario medley and Liberi Fatali from FFVIII, but there was also music from Shadow of the Colossus, Skyrim, and Donkey Kong Country, to name a few, and it was all top notch. It really was quite a varied set list. Street Fighter II, Pokemon (I think my wife might have squealed when they started that one), Earthworm Jim, Tetris (with Russian choir and soloists), the list goes on.
This is not the performance we went to but it gives you an idea of what it's like
The visual part was cool too. The second song they played was the opening cinematic to World of WarCraft: Cataclysm. The orchestra played the music as the cinematic played on the big screen. Really cool. Most pieces were accompanied by footage of gameplay or sometimes static images, like the Zelda medley which featured only fan art (there is some awesome fan art out there, let me tell you). It was always fitting and well done. Really made me want to play Journey after seeing the game in motion as the orchestra was conducted by the game's composer, Austin Wintory (that's the second time I've seen him in person; first time was at the Gamer Symphony Orchestra concert in DC last year).
The coolest moments of the night came from the audience participation though. Tommy picked four volunteers from the audience to play Super Smash Bros. Melee on the big screen while the orchestra played the Opening Theme from Brawl. That was cool, especially because two of the fighters found themselves in sudden death at the end! But the Guitar Hero bit was awesome. They had a competition before the show started with whoever wanted to walk up and play GH2. They called the player with the highest score up on stage and had him play "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters with the orchestra and Tommy (he sang too). If the guy (an Asian chap named Henry) could get to 450,000 points on Hard, he'd win a prize. But Henry 1upped them by saying real men played on Expert...so they changed it to Expert for him! It was so intense, oh my word. The notes were flying thick and fast and by the end we were all on our feet cheering. And he did it! Over 450,000 points. It was crazy. He hit 98% of all the notes!
That's Tommy Tallarico there in midair. He's basically a rockstar.
After the final piece (Street Fighter II) we all just kept clapping and cheering till they came back out for an encore and played a medley from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Tommy said those two games get requested more than any other. It was beautiful. After that we had a group sing-along with "Still Alive" from Portal. Awesome way to end the night 
My wife and I really wanted to stay for the meet and greet afterwards but the line was super long and didn't budge in the 20 min we stood there, so we left because we had a two hour drive ahead of us to get home (and overnight construction actually made that longer). All in all I had a blast. I've only been able to scratch the surface of what the experience is like for you. You really have to be there yourself. My wife and I are already planning to go again, next year hopefully.
And this time we'll meet Tommy Tallarico.
(My wife's blog has a couple pics and video she took on her phone of the song from Journey, in case you're interested.)
whoah man I've never heard of this. That sounds awesome! Must have been a great night.
Really? It was a great night. I'm not sure how likely they are to come to Arizona or how close you are to any big cities (maybe they'll go to Phoenix?) but you should definitely keep an eye on their schedule. It's an experience worth having.
I was just checking their schedule and they are coming to Phoenix in March of next year! Sure, that's a little ways off right now, but it's not too early to start planning lol
that's true. I might consider it. I usually avoid crowds these days though.
It would be a lot of people, I'm sure, and you should do whatever's best for your health, but if you can manage it I'd definitely encourage you to go. There is nothing quite like a live orchestra. No recording can do it justice.
I know.. back in my better days I used to go to the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. I miss it a lot.
Cool! I've been in that building but not to an opera there, though I've seen a few in my time. The most impressive was when I went to Carmen in Prague while on a trip in college. We were way up in one of the top levels lol but I'm glad I went.
That sounds awesome. If they ever find their way back to my neck of the woods, I may try to check them out.
Definitely go if you can. It's totally worth it.
I might actually be able to convince my wife, which is the coolest part. She studied some music in school, and loves music period. I love videogames. I think that it could be a perfect match. The only problem is the current schedule does not have them swinging by over here in a while.
That's a bummer 
But hey, I was looking through past shows just now and it looks like they've gone to Milwaukee a couple times before, so there's hope, if not in the immediate future lol. And I'm sure your wife would like it. You appreciate it the most if you're a gamer, of course, but anybody could enjoy it simply as good music.
Wow, lucky you! I always wanted to go to one of these, but there are never ones in the New Jersey area!
How close are you to New York City? I'm sure they've been there multiple times. Otherwise just keep an eye on their schedule. They do make it to a lot of smaller places too.
I've been twice, and missed out on the past couple times it's been to town, which is a bummer. Tommy is totally cool. The second time I met him I asked him to sign the EGM that has the ad for his video game music album. He got a big kick out of that, and showed it to all of his people.
That's awesome, Julian! Yeah, Tommy seems like a really neat guy. We wanted to stay but couldn't justify the wait. We still had to pick up our 11-month-old son from my sister-in-law's house, plus the long drive. But next year (hopefully) we'll plan things out better and be able to stay and meet him and the other folks
Totally awesome! I've got a VGL album on my computer, and it's top-notch stuff! I would love to go to a concert some day!
Yeah, I've got their first one and it's really good. They're going do a kickstarter sometime soon to make a CD of this current tour they're doing. That'll be awesome 
I was looking through past shows and they've been to Colorado several times--I noticed Loveland, Colorado Springs, and Ft Collins--but not to Denver. Very strange. But keep tabs on them as they add more stops. It's definitely worth driving an hour or two to see it.
That's awesome! It sounds like you had a great time. I wouldn't mind going to a concert like this. I've never heard of VGL, but I will definitely look them up.
Yeah, check their schedule. You should definitely go if you ever get the chance. It's an experience you won't soon forget
I went to Video Games Live a few years ago. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet Tommy Tallarico there. One of the games he did the music for was Pac-Man World, and he did a great job with it. When I discussed it with him, he said it was really fun to play the opening theme with Dweezil Zappa!
Cool! Yeah, I wish I could have met him but we just didn't have time. But we want to go again, so I'll meet him next time
By the way, Cary, did you hear about Pac-Man runner coming out on the App Store tonight? I think it's called Pac-Man Dash or something. I don't know if it will play at all like Pac-Man, but I'm sure you'd get a kick out of it regardless.
Hmm...looks like Pac-Man Dash is based on the new Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures cartoon. Have you seen that? I'll be reviewing the cartoon sometime in August.
No, I haven't seen it, though I think you mentioned it before. What channel/network is it running on? Even though Pac-Man is mostly a mouth, it seems weird that he would talk, but I guess they've been doing that (and giving him appendeges!) in various games for years now.
It's on Disney XD at some really awful times (1:30 in the morning?). They must not have a lot of confidence in it. Anyway, I'll be talking more about it when I write my review of it sometime in August.
Things like that made me jealous that I don't live in the US.... okay not really, but that's another issue.
That simply looks like a great experience. If they ever give me a chance to go to those kinds of concerts, I would accept inmideately.
You should keep an eye on the tour dates page on their website. They do go to a lot of other countries, including many Central and South American ones, though I don't know about Colombia. Looks like later this year they will be in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. So there's hope at least.
This looks like it would be a great time!
Were there any songs played in which you didn't recognize?
I wasn't familiar with the music from WoW or Skyrim. Well, or Earthworm Jim, I guess, which was actually a really cool song. And of course all the arrangements were new to me, so that made them exciting
That. Sounds. Fucking. Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pretty much
Love Video Games live! I went about 3 years ago when they were in Boston, MA and my 2 buddies and I went cause it was pretty close to our college. We had a blast and I was so excited I was able to nerd out. I still have my autographed playbook thing that I bought.
Yeah, it was awesome! Hopefully we can go again next year. We didn't have any friends to go with though. I bet that just makes it even better
Always wondered if you have to dress up for those events?
was it pretty packed. I heard that the one in Arizona a few years back wasn't that full.
also forgive me but it came around my area last year and I didn't go. I hang my head in shame, along with the Final Fantasy concert last fall....
There were a bunch of people in costumes but most people were in normal casual dress. I didn't see anybody who was actually dressed up lol. And there were a LOT of people at this one, several thousand, I'd guess. Hard to say.
Man, sounds like you missed out. Don't let it slip by again!
