Webbready

Once again, I have something to write about. This past Saturday, July 11, 2009, I attended an incredible concert at Heinz Hall, Video Games Live. A more thorough synopsis of the Video Games Live concert can found at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette review of the event.

I arrived at Heinz Hall shortly before 7 p.m.. I worried that I may have been underdressed in a causal shirt and pants, but my anxieties were quickly dispersed by the attire of those surrounding and inside Heinz Hall. I foolishly went to the “will call” line, even though I already had my tickets. After some preliminary confusion, I spoke with an usher, who informed me that the auditorium would be open in a half-an hour, which gave me time to look around. I went upstairs and heard the beautiful sound of a young man playing arrangements of various video game tunes. The keyboard player, Dominic Cerquetti, as well as others in the area such as Adam, Dac, and several others were of a contingent representing MagFest.

In this section of the lobby, there was a young man playing Chrono Trigger for the Nintendo DS, going down the long staircase in the Ocean Palace. Part of me wanted to stop him and ask him to battle monsters, but I knew better, as he was clearly engrossed in the game, switching through menus in a flurry of button presses. There was also a multi-player station set up with various arcade beat-em up classics such as X-Men. I even got to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles In Time, a game I had never played before.

Before I knew it it was time to take my seat, and the concert began. An animated video of “Yuri The Only One” by LeetStreet Boys preceded the performance. A second, live-action video set to Junior Kickstart’s “The Go! Team” featured a person in a Ms. Pacman costume was being chased around New York City by three of the ghosts. Finally, we were treated Michael Jackson tribute where sprites from the Moonwalker game inserted into various gaming scenes. It was both humorous and touching.

After this, the concert began in earnest, with Tommy Tallarico as the host. He encouraged the audience to make noise and respond during the performance, and as a rejoined one audience member shouted, “Leeroy Jenkins!”

He introduced the first selection, music from the Metal Gear Solid franchise. During the orchestra’s performance, a person covered in a cardboard box similar tiptoed across the stage (a convention from the Metal Gear Solid games), avoiding an enemy soldier. As in the games, the soldier noticed the movement (causing a exclamation point to “appear” above his head). However, the person in the crate was not apprehended, and later Tallarico stepped out of the box.

Interspersed in this half was music from Civilization IV and God of War, as well as moments of more direct audience participation. Tallarico asked for the participation of an audience member, with a prize being offered.  I thought about raising my hand to be chosen, but I thought better of it and remained motionless.  Instead, a young fifteen-year old lady was chosen for the challenge, to beat the first level of Space Invaders in two minutes.  She certainly did better than I would have done.  However, her efforts were not good enough as she lost all of her lives with approximately 30 seconds to go. As a consolation prize, she got a copy of Space invaders to practice.

There also an intermission in which the participants of the costume contest lined up on stage. There were quite a few entrants, including two Link and Zelda pairs, a Mario and Princess Peach pair, and a boy dressed as the Joker. The winner was a young man dressed as Kratos from God of War.

Martin Leung also entered the stage in this half. Going to the piano, he played a beautiful medley of Final Fantasy music, incorporating Aerith’s theme from Final Fantasy VII, Eyes on Me from Final Fantasy VIII, and several other iconic Final Fantasy theme songs.

There was an intermission and I returned to the MAGFest section to listen to more impromptu remixes and rearrangements. It was soon time to return to the our seats for the second half of the concert, which opened up with the immensely moving orchestral version of Kingdom Heart’s central theme, “Hikari.”

The next section was the second competition, where the winner of the Guitar Hero competition went up on stage to perform, with the objective of getting 200,000 points Contrary to what what the Tribune Review would have you to believe, though, the second contestant did not complete the song and win the challenge (although he did get 86% of the way through and excellent score), but he did get the prize.

After this we were treated to music from WoW. Leung was then brought out again to recreate his famous blindfolded performance of Super Mario Bros. on the piano. Tallarico tied a terrible towel around Leung’s eyes, which elicited a “Here we go, Steelers!” chant from the crowd. Leung played the piece excellently.

Next were selections from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. Chrono Trigger was represented by to themes, the Middle Ages overworld theme from and Frog’s theme, both benefited tremendously from the enhancement of a live orchestra. The theme set to the introduction of Chrono Cross, a difficult piece in which I noticed one orchestra member losing his place in the performance. (It made the performance more enjoyable than it would have been, not less, as it’s a testament to how video game music has evolved and of course, the various mistakes gamers make when actually playing video games.) During this segment, both Tallarico and Jack Wall both performed an electric guitar duet, enhancing the already superb arrangement to the pinnacle of music.

Tallarico then suggested that if the audience wanted an encore, that as a group hold up our cell phones and handheld gaming systems.  I held up my DSi, which was still on as I had Chrono Trigger on pause. There was a surprise. Music from the Castlevania series greeted the audience’s ears, so many familiar themes performed in such a sublime fashion that I wished the concert would not end.

Finally, after polling the audience, a rendition of Final Fantasy VII’s “One Winged Angel” closed the show. After the, there was a prerecorded selection of Street Fighter II remixes played, although I am unaware of the source of the remixes.

After the concert, I went back up to the MAGFest crew and asked for music from Mega Man 2. In a breach of good manners, I sadly did not give Cerquetti a tip for exceeding my request. A few minutes passed and it was time to go home.

Overall, I had a tremendous amount of fun last week, so much so that the days that followed were absolutely depressing in comparison. At least for that night I enjoyed myself. I can only hope I have more events about which I can rave with equal enthusiasm.