Next up was a rather large surprise, I thought...it certainly caught all of us off guard, anyway. The images of Castlevania games faded away and revealed a new video feature of a sprawling landscape with a character riding a horse over hills and through forests. A good amount of games fit this description at some point, but the game in question was in fact Shadow of the Colossus for the PlayStation 2. I definitely didn't expect to hear any music from this masterpiece over the course of the night, but the themes that the musicians performed from this epic creation were so well done and amazingly conducted, it just made me want to tear into the game again so damn badly. The music was accompanied with scenes of the Colossi from the games, with the protagonist climbing on them or firing arrows, as well as simple shots of the overworld, which was absolutely stunning at the time the game was created.
From here on in, my memory gets cloudy as to the exact order of pieces...but I still know what they all were at least, so I can elaborate on them whether they're in the correct order or not.
I'm just here to see Video Games Live! Why are you crawling all over me?Tommy introduced one of the setpieces by describing the process of creating it, and how it was incredibly difficult to include everything from the game or series due to all the separate themes of the characters within it. This was a huge hint...and soon enough, the orchestra and Mr. Tallarico were belting out tunes from Capcom's Street Fighter series. I haven't played enough SF to recognize everything they played...but luckily one of my friends is fucking nuts about it, and pointed out Ryu, Ken, and Guile's themes as the ones that were touched on, along with the main theme from Street Fighter 2. It was really cool to see him so pumped to hear the tunes from one of his favourite series, and although I didn't recognize everything, it was one of those occasions where it was simply great to be around someone who loved the material.
Oddly enough, Super Mario Bros. hasn't really been mentioned yet...did you notice that? Luckily in the second half, they brought out the blindfolded piano player who performed the music from the Final Fantasy series in the first half of the show. As I mentioned (and linked to) before, this was the dude who played a bunch of Mario themes on a piano blindfolded and posted it on YouTube. Well, this was his chance to prove that he could do it in person...something he did very, very successfully. A blindfold was wrapped around his eyes and he sat down in front of a piano, where he proceeded to play music mainly from Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World. By the end, he had sped up his pace extremely quickly to the point where his hands almost looked like a flesh-coloured blur...and on top of that, he was playing the Athletic theme from Super Mario World as if the timer in the game was running short! I personally am still surprised that the piano didn't just implode upon itself right there on the stage, but he finished up and gained a massive round of applause from the audience...a standing ovation actually. He's truly an amazing pianist (DON'T SAY IT).
Apparently, during the intermission, there was a Guitar Hero contest out in the lobby. The winner of this contest got to perform a song in front of everyone, with the game projected onto the screen at the back of the stage for all to see. The winner of the contest was called out, and although it seemed like he got lost on the way out onto the stage or something, he finally made his appearance. His task: to beat 320,000 points on the song "Jump" by Van Halen on Hard mode. This dude upped the ante and asked for expert mode...and then he hit every note in the entire song, 100%. Pretty cool stuff to see, and although it wasn't a particularly tough song, it was definitely admirable to see him keep his composure and ACE the entire track in front of a massive crowd of people! Props to him! He walked off the stage with a brand new PlayStation 3 and his 15 minutes of fame completely intact.
Themes from Warcraft and Halo were in the second half as well. Unfortunately, I know nothing of the music from the games and couldn't even point out which game each portion of the movement was from, but the performances were very well done and quite epic. I've never really been into Warcraft because I'm terrible at micromanaging, and I never got into Halo either. That being said, hearing the tunes from these games made me realize that there are some amazing compositions in there that I've been missing out on, and it ALMOST makes me want to play through them to hear them in their respective games. We'll have to see about that, I suppose!
The final track was another piece from Final Fantasy...Tommy prompted the audience, asking us to guess what entry of FF it was from. Of course, it turned out to be Final Fantasy 7...and of course, the track was One Winged Angel, the musical piece that plays when you hash it out with Sephiroth at the end of the game. It was well-played overall, and I can see how it's a pretty cool piece of music, as it contains a ton of different instruments and a choir. I've just never liked Final Fantasy 7 when it comes down to looking at the entire series, and so it was sort of a "meh" ending for me. I'm sure a ton of other people liked it though, so that's great!
Tommy left the stage...but the orchestra remained in place, so it was pretty obvious that an encore was on the way! We all stood up and cheered for the orchestra, conductor, and Tommy himself until they came back out to perform a couple of extra compositions.
Don't be upset, Samus...maybe Metroid tunes will be in next year!The first part of the encore was a very, very well done arrangement of music from two extremely popular RPGs that came from Square: Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. The melodies from Chrono Trigger were very cool, and that portion of the piece included music such as that found at the Millennial Fair, the Overworld theme, and Frog's theme (because, let's face it...he's a fucking badass.) Although I've personally never played through Chrono Cross, the music from it sounded amazing as well. It's one of those games that I always wanted to play, but never really had the means to...whether it be not having the proper system, or not being able to find the game. Hopefully I'll get the chance to give it a shot someday, as I'm sure it's just as epic as its predecessor despite the massive structural differences it has from C. Trigger.
The FINAL closing song was pumped up by Tommy as one that we could all sing along to. I had no idea exactly what musical piece he was talking about...there aren't many video game songs out there that have lyrics put to them, and particularly ones that would be popular enough for everyone to know the words. Well, it turns out that I should have known what it was all along. Tommy and the vocalist who sang Snake Eater were sitting on stools on the stage, and they began to play Still Alive from Portal. Now, don't get me wrong...Portal was a sweet game and I enjoyed playing through it, but when the credits came around, I pretty much got bored of the song and exited the game. Unfortunately, this was another ending song (much like One Winged Angel) that left me underwhelmed, but where I could see that so many people loved it and could sing along to the lyrics...so that really made the experience something special.
After this final performance, Video Games Live was over...it was an amazing show, and not only did they have simple music, but also instances of audience interaction, as with the Frogger competition and Guitar Hero performance, and humour, such as random skits of video game crossovers between pieces of music or countdowns of the most horrible voice acting ever heard in video games (Dr. Light from Megaman 8, anyone?) The event was more than just an orchestra...it was an experience that really reached out to its fanbase and took advantage of the source material in a grand effort to please a bunch of nerds, when it came down to it. In this respect, it certainly succeeded without any question whatsoever.
However, when Tommy Tallarico first introduced the performance, the conductor, the orchestra and himself, he explained why he wanted to make Video Games Live. He stated that, when it comes down to it, there are a ton of people out there who are uneducated about what video games have become. The sophistication they have achieved has allowed for video game tracks to be "much more than just bleeps and bloops", as he mentioned, and that's something that many people don't realize. His hope was to combine video game music with an orchestra to establish this fact with those people who are unaware of just how far video games have come along since Pong was released. I sincerely hope that non-gaming people will open their eyes and broaden their horizons a little and see VGL at some point, as it's certainly an experience that not only gamers, nerds, and dorks will simply love, but also one that could change people's perspectives on video gaming as a whole. The orchestration of Video Games Live helps to reach out to both of these demographics: gamers get to hear their favourite video game music in a grandeur form, and newcomers simply get to enjoy the amazing work of a talented orchestra while they are somewhat introduced to the source material, along with clips from games as their respective music is performed. It's a very well done and lighthearted show that I won't forget, and I absolutely can't wait to go back again when I get a chance!
But please...Tommy, if you manage to read this somehow...please play some Metroid for me :P I will hump your leg.
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