Video Games Live: A Guest Blog by Jason Kallelis (Twitter - @silellak)

As a long-time video game fan, I am no stranger to hype. Ask any avid-devourer of media, in any form - be it books, movies, television, music, you name it - hype is both your greatest friend, and your mortal enemy. The day always comes, however, when that hype must end - the day you play, watch, read, or listen to the creation in question, after months or even years of being told how life-changing the experience would be. More often that not, you will leave at least somewhat disappointed. There's a lot to be said for going into something with lowered expectations.

Having said all that, Video Games Live was about as hyped for me as something could get. I've owned their CD for over a year and a half, and while I greatly enjoyed it, it did suffer from the hype-effect I mention earlier. Not that I don't absolutely adore it - I do - but as many hardcore gamers know, orchestral arrangements of video games music aren't a new idea. Fans have been doing it for years, to varying degrees of success, and perhaps only half of the tracks on the CD really stood out to me as something special. Looking back, it's clear now that my favorite tracks on the CD are the ones where you can hear the audience respond to the music. After last night, I finally understood why. It's called Video Games Live for a very, very good reason.

What is Video Games Live? If you want the clinical definition, I'll give you a very-brief summary as provided by Wikipedia: "Video Games Live (VGL) is a concert series created and produced by industry veterans and video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized lighting and effects, as well as several interactive segments with the audience. The segments are conducted by Wall." Now, if you want to really know what Video Games Live is... well, read on.

My group - an interesting mix of four hardcore video game fans, two girlfriends, and a good friend of mine who just really enjoys the Tucson Symphony Orchestra - arrived about an hour before the show began, and it was immediately clear that even in just my slacks and button-down shirt, I was overdressed. The atmosphere was something between Comic Con - the people in costume adding special emphasis to that - and a, well, symphony concert. There were a few low-key pre-show festivities - a Guitar Hero competition off to the side chief among them. We noticed from our people-watching second-floor viewpoint that the costumed folks were being filed into the theater, and decided to make our way in as well.

As we had suspected, the costume-wearers were being filed in as preparation for a costume contest, which was decided based on audience applause. There were some fantastic costumes - my personal favorite being Manuel "Manny" Calavera from the classic adventure game Grim Fandango - but in the end, it came down to a lady dressed as Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII, and a fellow dressed as Ghost from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It was too close for me to call, but in the end, Ghost was the audience favorite - surprising, since usually "hot girl dressed as anything nerdy" trumps any male cos-players in the vicinity. After the winner was announced, the two revealed they were husband and wife - a sweet ending to the contest. The rest of the pre-show consisted of a touching and hilarious tribute to Michael Jackson in video game form (available on YouTube, if you're curious) and a just-as-hilarious live-action video of Ms. Pacman being chased through a city by Inky, Clyde, and Sue.

Now that the audience was warmed up, the show began, with the awe-inspiring Tucson Symphony Orchestra playing the musical tracks to a video montage of classic games from the 80's. Around the time the TSO started playing the theme to Contra, of all things, I knew I was in for something special.

At this point, writing the review becomes difficult for me, as I'm no longer describing a chronological series of events, but an overall experience. I realize by saying this I am undoubtedly contributing to the very hype machine I denounced earlier, but as a lifelong gamer who has been playing since the Atari 2600, I'm not sure there's any other way for me to fairly and honestly describe it. Hopefully, it will suffice to list-off some of the moments that have stuck with me the most:

* Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, the co-creators of Video Games Live. Wall spent most of his time silently conducting, not quite all-business but definitely the more-laid back counterpart to Tommy Tallarico, who was the hyper-active conduit between the stage and the audience. They both played their parts perfectly, with Tallarico on guitar joining in with (and arguably at times overpowering) the Orchestra during the second act of the show. That isn't to say Wall didn't join in as well - one of the highlights for me was when he took a short vacation from his conducting duties to join Tallarico on a guitar duet for the end of the Chrono Cross segment. You know the conductor of a show really digs the source material when he turns his back to the orchestra and enthusiastically joins in.

* A Space Invaders contest where a contestant (who happened to have been dressed as a Final Fantasy Moogle during the costume contest) had to clear the first level of Space Invaders in two minutes. The catch? All she had was a fire button, and a T-Shirt that "tracked" her position on the stage with which to move her ship. She came close, but couldn't quite pull it off, and so received a bag of consolation prizes instead of the grand prize - an arcade table-top cabinet with a built-in MAME emulator. Our group had the opportunity to speak with her with briefly during the intermission, and she seemed to have enjoyed the experience, though she complained her movements on stage were quite-a-bit delayed in-game - a fair complaint, as I'd noticed the same.

* The Chorus of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra who did a simply remarkable job, most notably during the Civilization 4 and World of Warcraft segments. The soloist of Civilization 4, the spectacular Chris Hutchinson, deserves a special mention.

* The appearance and performance of Martin Leung - perhaps better known as the "Video Game Pianist" - who created the famous internet video of himself playing various Mario Bros. themes blindfolded. His performances of Mario Bros. (of course) as well as a montage of Final Fantasy music - made all the more impressive by the camera focused on his hands - both received standing ovations, and came close to stealing the show. He mentioned his old piano teacher was in the audience, a touching moment that briefly pulled back the curtain and revealed just how much class this incredible performer possessed. I had the privilege of shaking his hand after the show, but I don't think his talents rubbed off on me, sadly.

* The Legend of Zelda segment. Need I say more?

* The intermission. While of course it's always disappointing to take a break during the middle of the show, the "loading screen" animation that played while we were waiting was a nice, amusing touch, as was the nerd-centric music they played. From the Katamari Damacy to Dragostea Din Tei by O-Zone (perhaps better known as the "Numa Numa" song), it was quite clear they very much understood their audience. Rounding out the intermission was a conversation one of our group had with a lady in front of us (a friend of the Space Invaders Moogle, actually) about an Ace Wright game she had started playing on her Nintendo DS. Not part of the show proper, obviously, but it's the small things that truly define the experience.

* The audience in general had a spectacular reaction to the entire show. As with any live performance, the performers clearly fed off the fantastic energy in crowd, and in turn the crowd got that-much-more fired up. As a gamer in particular, it is hard to contain your joy, especially when the orchestra plays that one particular song, or the screen shows that one part from that one game - you know the part I mean.

* A Guitar Hero contest, where the winner of the pre-show Guitar Hero competition had to play Van Halen's "Jump!" alongside Tallarico on his real guitar and the rest of the orchestra. The challenge was to score 200,000 points on "Hard", which the contestant scoffed at, asking the difficulty be raised to Expert. Crowd reaction grew to a fervor as his score approached the magic number - hampered a bit by the absolutely insane solo towards the end of the song - and in the end, he came incredibly close, ending the song with a score of around 175,000. It was enough for him to win the prizes, at least.

* The video game montages that played during all of the segments. They were generally well-edited, fit the music, and really helped complete the atmosphere - especially if you'd played the games in question. After the show, I overheard disappointed fans mention that none of the Square-Enix games had any video segments, but I imagine it's due to legal constraints - I recall being told once that they used to be forbidden from even saying the name of those games when playing them. Obviously, if true, this had changed at some point prior to this show. Also, I sort of thought all of us in the game community had come together and agreed that the 3D Sonic the Hedgehog and 3D Castlevania games never existed, but I'm not going to complain too much, especially since I get the feeling those were added by the game companies in question, rather than the VGL staff.

* The encore. Cliche, I suppose, but I'm never going to complain about hearing One-Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII (complete with Tallarico headbanging along with the principle cellist) or the suite from Castlevania. A perfect way to end the experience.

If I had any complaints about the entire experience, it would just be that I wish they'd had time to incorporate some of the more obscure tracks - at least relative to what they did play. But, as Tallarico himself pointed out in the VGL forums; "Whenever we play a city for the very first time we make sure to do all of the most popular 'standards' such as Mario, Zelda, FF7, Halo, Warcraft, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear, Castlevania, etc." I can certainly see the logic there, and thought that was likely the reason for the track selection, even before I discovered his post.

The performance of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra itself truly deserves a special mention. From my understanding - I'm not a follower of the TSO, though now I may very well be - they rarely get more than one or two rehearsals of a concert before their first performance, but they nailed each and every track. I've already mentioned the incredible chorus before, but to only do so once would be to downplay just how remarkable they were. I don't know how many gamers were in the TSO, but if they weren't all gamers, you'd never know it. Even the non-gamers who accompanied our group were able to enjoy both the music and the atmosphere, and I imagine the TSO's flawless performance was largely responsible.

I guess it's obvious by now, but for me, it was more than a concert with video game music - it was a one-of-a-kind celebration, not just of video game music, but video games, their fans, and the entire art form. I forked out for a fifth-row ticket, thinking this would be a one-time experience, and thus wanting it to make sure I got the most out of it. However, if they return to Tucson next year, or the year after, I know for a fact I will be there again - right up in the front, hoping for perhaps some God of War or Mass Effect tracks - but mostly relishing in the unique embracing of a culture and, yes, art form that is still often-times viewed as something that's "a waste of time" and "just for kids".

Would I recommend Video Games Live to a gamer? Without question - it's something every gamer should experience at least once. For a non-gamer, they certainly won't get as much out of it, but fortunately, music is a universal language - it speaks across culture-lines, be they defined by geography, or by something as simple what types of media you enjoy. One of those I attended the show with started the evening with the mindset that video games were a "waste of time". By the end of the evening, she not only began to consider games to be an art form, but even felt she finally caught a glimpse of why her boyfriend held such them in such high esteem - understanding them, and perhaps even him, just a little better. So even if you're lost by the inside jokes, don't get the costumes, and have never touched a video game controller - I still think it's worth going just for the music. Who knows - it might even help you discover a love for something you never knew you had.