Video Games Live
2005.10.31 - Monday
Last night was the Video Games Live show here in Vancouver. Just last week I read on the website that they've had to cancel almost all of the tour dates because of slow ticket sales, which is a great shame but also understandable. Game music is certainly something that appeals to a niche market. Gaming itself is becoming more and more mainstream, but even among gamers, the people who enjoy the music on its own are a minority. Luckily for us, however, the Vancouver show avoided the chopping block and we got to see the first video game concert ever held in Canada.
I enjoyed the show. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for when I first heard about the tour, but I enjoyed it. I knew what the show was going to be from the fairly detailed descriptions on the website. The producers took the approach of showing as many samples of game music as possible, which isn't what I would have done but it still worked. The downside of this program was the episodic feel of the show; relatively short pieces of music played to footage from the game itself and sometimes carrying an introduction by producer and host Tommy Tallarico. It left me feeling a little like I was watching trailers for games, and it only gives you a chance to hear the main theme from a certain game, as opposed to more of each score.
Here's what I would do for next time:
1 - More classic games. I'm sure the music for "Headhunter" is good, and I did like it, but it's a small time, mediocre game that most people aren't going to recognize. You could tell by the reaction of the audience which games they were familiar with, and it was always the classics. The show needed more Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Myst and Medal of Honor. We could have easily done without Headhunter, Tron, God of War and certainly Kingdom Hearts.
2 - Get those lights out of my face! I know they were trying to create a visual experience as well, but I really didn't like the coloured spot lights shinning into the audience. Maybe it was just where I was sitting, but the light felt like it was shinning directly into my eye, burning a horrible path to my brain and completely ruining the experience. Some of the mood lighting on the orchestra was good, but keep those lights away from the audience.
3 - Fewer games, more music. I mentioned before that the show felt very episodic. I think the show would have been even better had it taken four or five games and played more of those games' scores. There are over a dozen Final Fantasy titles, and any one of them has amazing music throughout. As much as everyone likes the main themes from some of these games, the other music is just as good and deserves to be heard. A long, 30 minute Final Fantasy piece is not unreasonable. Do the same with Zelda, Myst, and Warcraft and you've almost got your entire show right there.
4 - There were some strange transitions, sort of like a party CD that jumps from dance music to rap, to rock. It's jarring and uncomfortable. The use of actual World War 2 footage during the Medal of Honor performance was great, and quite emotional, but it's instantly shattered when the orchestra starts into a completely different style of music and "Headhunter" appears on the screen. "How to create a playlist 101" should have been a required course for the Video Games Live crew.
If I think of anything else I'll let you know, but those were my main beefs with the show. I still enjoyed it though, and what Video Games Live really did for me was show that a game music concert does work and could be even better. Well, at least artistically. I don't know what the economics are, and as usual, that's probably the biggest problem.
