… The quote above was scribbled on the back of a picture of Tommy Tallarico, standing by his yellow Ferrari, parked in front of his mansion, which accompanied the tickets to his pet project, a Christmas present from Jason. Just felt like passing it along because there’s like seventeen different references and in-jokes, which the guy is the absolute master of, but anyhow…
Yes, Video Games Live finally came to New York this past weekend (actually, New Jersey) and I was there! Along with my good pal Dave Roman. And no, I do not have a picture of me with Tommy Tallarico, as somewhat promised last time, I’m afraid. Sorry Jason. But… the show itself was actually not that bad! Which was actually a shock; to be completely honest, I really expected something far worse.
Some might recall my less than favorable words for the recent Video Games Live concert CD that was released not too long ago. And I still stand by what was said regarding the recording; the selection of pieces were questionable, as were a few of the pieces themselves, primarily Tron’s score, due to the lack of imagination and energy.
Then there was the location, Newark NJ. As much I still miss my last full-time gig, as a cell phone blogger for the massive IDT Corp, I sure as hell did not miss working in that hellhole of a city. So both those things made me wonder if Jason had either read my original review, or were more than familiar with it. Beforehand, I had dinner with both Dave and his wife Raina, and before she went off afterwards to do some shopping, I jokingly said to her “Take one last good look… one of us might not be returning by the end of the night!” The real joke being, most will agree that I’m most likely to be shot for whatever reason, but the thing was, I kind of wasn’t joking. Newark is just that bad.
The performance took place at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, a very nice space in the middle of a wasteland, relatively speaking. The building, along with the recently erected Prudential Center a few blocks down, has always been a source of controversy, since anyone familiar with Newark is well aware of it’s calculated attempt to bring some culture… and revenue… into the city, but appealing mostly to those that are not from the neighborhood, to the point of alienating it’s locals. Still, it was nice to finally go inside the building the I passed by everyday, as I sped walked to and from Newark Penn Station, and again, it’s an elegant space. Even if there were a bunch of arcade machines in the lobby…
Before the show got underway, there was a cosplay contest, and the few attendees that decided to dress up all got on stage for the audience to select the winner. My personal favorite was either the girl who I was convinced was Meryl Silverburg but was actually Laura Croft or the black kid who dressed up as the lead character in Persona 3. But the winner was the duo of Pac Man and Inky (the blue ghost), and deservedly so; their costumes was awesome!
… I know you can’t really tell, but trust me on this one. That btw ends the pictures for this report I’m afraid. I foolishly didn’t charge my camera’s battery before heading out.
Anyhow, it was finally time for the show. The performance was conducted by Jack Wall (who himself is an accomplished American video game music composer, along with Tallarico… in fact, I just stared playing Mass Effect last night, which I believe was the last game he worked on), with Tommy acting as the MC. The music itself was performed by local musicians, the New Jersey Philharmonic, which both myself and Dave found particularly impressive. I don’t know if that’s standard procedure for a traveling orchestral series, but I’d imagine that a lot has to go into getting everyone up to speed with the material, in what I would have to assume is a very brief period of time.
Upon expressing skepticism over the quality of the show, many pointed out, and I myself believed, that any live performance is going to beat a recoding one, which definitely turned out to be the case. But also, via the CD, the total package is completely absent; the show kicked off with a brief look at the history of video games, starting with Pong, and I did get a real kick hearing violin strings being plucked in time with the visuals (in fact, virtually every piece was perfectly timed with its accompanying video). Another thumbs up right out of the gate were some of the choices made during this early highlight reel, which included Rastan of all things. But then again, given the general interest level of both Tallarico and Wall, a fantasy game that tried to go for a contemporary score similar to a Hollywood fantasy flick, no matter how primitive it might have been, was hardly a surprise.
Afterwards was an introduction and explanation of the show’s concept from Tallarico, who also noted that it’s a constant work in progress, which I certainly appreciated. Because that meant not having to sit through the Tron montage or the Advent Rising suite that were such bore fests on the live CD. The first real piece was the theme from Metal Gear Solid 2 (which was not on the CD), with footage from all four games playing alongside. Funniest part here was when Dave asked me, as he watched Old Snake from part 4 in action, “That’s his dad, right?” I unfortunately forgot to explain to him the whole history of the Snake character on the train ride home later that evening. Anyway, there was also some stage theatrics, which I was told to expect: some dude dressed as a foot soldier, patrolling the stage, while “Snake” in a cardboard box followed a few feet behind.
Before each song, Tallarico would introduce each game the music comes from, and I must admit…. despite any personal feeling towards the guy, mostly based upon interviews I’ve read or his antics from various shows of his on G4, which to be honest are not the most positive (though my only interaction with the guy a few years back, when I had to interview him, was totally a positive one)… the guy made a really good host. The dude has personality, and it was pretty clear why he’s been able to go as far as he has in his career (that and the fact that his work is for the most part excellent… though I was more of a fan of his Genesis days, especially his Cool Spot soundtrack). Plus, it’s true how Video Games Live is rather cheesy and perhaps nowhere near as good as how its done in Japan, but at least it’s something, right? I’m almost certain most folks in the audience, which was mostly young kids and teens, had never seen live orchestral music prior to that evening, so that right there is commendable, and who knows if a few of them might be inspired to look more closely at music as a result.
To help introduce certain pieces, such as the themes to MGS and God of War, as well as medleys from Super Mario Bros and Sonic 1, were video intros by the creative forces behind the source material. While Koji Kondo was the only actual composer of the bunch, it was still nice to see Hideo Kojima and David Jaffe get a little face time nonetheless, especially in front of a crowd who mostly did not know who the hell they were.
There was also a special guest for the night; some might recall Martin Leung, aka the Video Game Pianist, whose YouTube video of him playing music from Super Mario blindfolded was quite the sensation on the web a while back, came out to play a few tunes. In addition to some Mario music (and blindfolded, of course), he did a medley of assorted Final Fantasy pieces. I recognized songs from part four, five, six, seven, and ten, though there were certainly more.
Off the top of my head, I’d have to say it was about a 60/40 mix of selections from the west and the east. Speaking of, my favorite piece of the entire evening was from Sonic 1. Remember the medley that plays when you beat the game? It was that, though at a slightly slower pace, plus I believe they spent a little more time on each section. The whole thing reminded me how truly beautiful the soundtrack as a whole was. But anyhow, the differences in approach and philosophy between American and Japanese game music was quite apparent and very much on display; where Japanese game music is more melodic, with catchy hooks, feeling very electronic, even via a full orchestra, while American game music goes for a more grandiose, epic feel, like a big budget movie. I personally prefer the former.
Back to the on-stage antics; at one point an audience member was brought up to play a game of Space Invaders, in which the ship was controlled by the player’s motions, meaning he had to run left and right to avoid fire, and that was pretty cute. Later on, the winner of a Guitar Hero contest from earlier in the evening was brought up to play Sweet Emotion on Guitar Hero Aerosmith with not just the orchestral playing along, but Tommy also on a real guitar. Funny part is, how he had to score a certain number to get a prize, on hard, and the kid insisted on playing at the Expert level. Which was not a dumb move, because the kid was good and easily nabbed the bag of shwag. Though the strange thing here is how his “performance” easily got the loudest, most uproarious reaction of the entire evening. Interesting.
Another piece of note was introduced by Tallario, who explained that his group is constantly looking for feedback and suggestions as to what to perform at the next show, and the following was the most requested game to cover that they had yet to touch. I already knew the name before he had the chance to say it: Metroid.
As some might recall, Tommy was the original composer of Metroid Prime before being removed from the project for reasons that have yet to be completely specified from the source, though word is that Nintendo was simply not happy with that they had heard and was thus replaced, who later became quite incensed, and still claims to this day have worked on it. I believe his take on it is that some of his work did end up in the finished game, but without any credit. And anyone familiar with the reviews he’s done for Electric Playground and Judgment Day/Reviews On The Run, one might gather that he has some sort of axe to grind with Nintendo (when during the history of video games medley, music from the arcade version of Tetris was highlighted and not the far more recognizable Game Boy iteration, I had assumed this to be another example, though it was performed later on by Leung). Anyway, it kicked off with the theme from Metroid 1, which is still as atmospheric and amazing as ever, and immediately went into Metroid Prime. And because I didn’t recognize everything, though I will admit that it’s also been ages since I last played the game, I would have to assume that some of it is from his take on the score. Which was… eh, okay I guess.
The show closed with One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy 7 with Tallarico on guitar once again, and accompanied by a large assortment of FF fan art, no doubt compiled after a good hour long sweep of DeviantArt. Which was…. interesting to say the least. Though very much the crowd-pleaser (just like the montage of assorted classic game footage shown during the intermission, which even Dave marked out for since, as he aptly put it, it’s one thing to watch it on your computer at home or at work, but in a large group environment, it’s hard not to want to cheer), and Tommy more than anything, aims to please. Immediately afterwards was the real ending, a medley of the best guitar driven pieces from Castlevania, which was easily the best song on the entire CD; I had heard that Tommy was awesome on the guitar, and watching him in action, on a Spider Man-themed Fender I believe, was a real treat.
So yeah, it was certainly not the worst thing in the world, much better than I expected. Yes, much of the music chosen from American games all sounded terribly generic (with the exception of the Halo/Halo 3 piece), the theatric was every bit as cheesy as I was warned, and the whole thing was a gigantic ego trip for Tommy. Still, it’s great whenever the art of music for games receives any sort of recognition in such a setting, and here’s hoping that Video Games Lives thrives and continues to evolve.
