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Battle of the Videogame Concerts
Wired has a look at the two leading videogame music concerts touring the U.S. right now, comparing and contrasting their musical selections and performer talent. 'Play!' and 'Videogames Live' are competing for the musical soul of a nation, with different takes on the genre. From the article: "It may seem like there would be little room for two such shows in the same music season -- but the producers behind these acts are taking very different tacks. Play! A Video Game Symphony is being billed as a highbrow event, putting musicianship front and center and even featuring composer cameos. The competition, Video Games Live, which debuted last week in San Jose on the final day of the Game Developers Conference, is staging an equally elaborate show, but here the games remain the star attraction."
...the winner will be whoever plays Bon Jovi's "Runaway".
It was fairly cool, but the horn section was a bit crummy. I think it seemed either a little rushed, or since its the premier, they still have kinks to work out (the video projector control guy messed up a few times and let the DVD screen saver show up). It also seemed a bit like an ad for some of the newer games. But well-performed for the most part.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Video game concerts (that is, symphonic arrangements) have been held in Japan since the late 80's.
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There used to be an annual "Orchestral Game Concert" in Japan also.. I've heard bits and pieces of these (basically nintendo-themed) concerts, and it is obvious that with each year they had more money, and a larger orchestra.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestral_Game_Conc
Sometimes they are interesting, but lets face it, for anyone who has been listening to symphonies all their lives, it probably won't do anything for them because they've heard it all before. It really goes for the nostalgia factor, with video displays of favorite video game characters during the orchestral renditions.
After hearing quite a few orchestral mixes of video game tracks, I have to admit, in most cases I'd rather hear the originals. In my opinion the originals just have more character, and typically more humor/personality than some typical hollywood-esque rendition. Blowing up most of the older console-themed music to a full orchestra is just taking it way to seriously (with exceptions).
'Play!' and 'Videogames Live' are competing for the musical soul of a nation, with different takes on the genre.
Thanks, Slashdot. I just shot Pepsi out my nose after reading that one. That'll teach me to drink and surf...
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I saw video somewhere of an "A Capella" group that sang the songs of old Nintendo games, also acting out scenes from them live on stage. Anyone know who they were?
I would be careful buying tickets for Video Games Live. They have a habbit of canceling shows and then giving BS excuses why the shows were canceled. Its happened to me twice. You get most of your money back but Ticketbastard will not give back their "convienence" fee. At any rate, VGL is very unreliable.
I spoke with a couple of people that attended the More Friends concert (with both an orhcestra and The Black Mages) and the finale, the Advent Children version of One Winged Angel, was stopped and restarted several times. I was even told it sounded like that there was a click track being played on the speakers and so they stopped and tried to fix this issue. After a few restarts, they said that Nobuo Uematsu walked off the stage angrily. There was a little bit of time before he came back on and they performed the song (so it could be recorded for a live album.) Uematsu seemed pretty pissed, but some of the people that were there said that he was just being a showman hyping up the crowd for what they really wanted.
Could this be why JMP is no longer doing a Final Fantasy themed concert tour? Were they fired backstage after the show or something? I listened to that fanfare that Uematsu provided, and to be honest it sounds like a song that didn't make the cut to be in an RPG, not really a big fanfare that I would expect to hear opening a symphony show. It's like he reached into the directory of rejected tunes and gave it to them just to get them to go away.
I attended one of the Dear Friends concerts, and I did enjoy the music a lot, but they kinda messed up some of the video. They would show huge action scenes during a slow song. They would even show footage from a different game than the game they were playing music from...Sometimes twice or three times during the song. I hope that either they scrap the video all together or do it right and not have conflicting images (such as stuff from the wrong game, or video that doesn't match the mood of the piece playing - it doesn't have to be in sync with the music, but if it's a slow love theme, don't show a big sprawling battle!)
I talked to a friend who works for a local concert promoter about this stuff and he said that Dear Friends was a financial bomb in my area (Atlanta) and nobody wants to touch a video game concert for several years here. I think that's a shame because I'd love to see Play, but I do admit, had I not been a part of the video game community, I would not have known about it. There was next to no local advertising except for an article in the paper the day of the first of two nights.
I would have also thought that the video game composers wouldn't charge extra to meet them after the show. I think it's a shame - video game music doesn't get all that much love, and I would think that the composers would WANT to meet their fans no matter how extra those fans paid to see them.
Screw this high-falutin' stuff. Try the Advantage for a different take. I haven't gotten a chance to see them live yet, but the CD kicks ass.
Telltale Games: Bone, Sam and Max
Forgive the shameless plugging, but I just have to chime in when the subject is so relevant! I'm part of a group on the California central coast who'll be putting on a concert featuring music from both Video Games and Anime. We're doing it purely out of love for the music and it's a non-profit event. April 29th, 8pm, at the San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center. Featured will be Final Fantasy, Cowboy Bebop, Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Macross Plus, and more.
:)
Our hope is to give people a good time and expose them to the music of these two wonderful genres. www.tribute-concert.com. May our poor server survive the (hopeful) slashdotting
-- Tom Sciortino, arranger, performer, Tribute 2006
I'm going to an indie rock concert tomorrow (Saturday) night. AFAIK, it's a bunch of local bands that will be playing only video game-style music.
If you're located in the State College / Penn State area, and you read slashdot (presumably that last requirement is not presumptious) you should come. There are flyers for it all over campus.