Since its inception in 2005, Video Games Live has been entertaining crowds across the globe.  With its epic scores, great energy and audience participation, VGL promotes the gaming industry in an extremely positive way.  Created by famous video game composers Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico, the concert series’ agenda of solidifying game music as an art form and the games industry as a positive force are present and spotlighted but are carefully swaddled by the fun, excitement and showmanship.  The first show, in the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, had over 11,000 people and was instantly a phenomenon.  As the first few years have passed, the show has slowly made its way down to smaller cities and venues.  Last year, I saw it in Louisville, Kentucky, as a brand new experience and wrote up my impressions in a blog.  Almost exactly a year later, Video Games Live took the stage at the PNC Pavilion at Riverbend here in Cincinnati, Ohio.

As always, the festivities began with the Pre-Show Festival.  This is an opportunity for attendees to visit the various booths set up to play a wide array of games across all current generation platforms.  The Cincinnati show was sponsored by Game Crazy and a local Best Buy store.  The Game Crazy booth consisted of three to four stations, with two of the stations being Wii Sports Resort and UFC 2009.  I did not hang around too long as I was hounded by a promo person shoving a coupon in my hand and telling me to play Call of Duty.  The Best Buy tent was set up with a wide array of games, previews and activities.  They actually had a gauntlet of tasks you had to perform to get the swag.  Walking around and seeing Tiger Woods 10 on Wii, Madden 10, Rockband 2 and Little Big Planet, I opted out since I could play most of those at home.  I don’t know if it was because the vendors were few and set apart, or if the setting sun beating on me made me cranky, but I was not as impressed with this pre-show festival as I was with the one in Louisville.  On the positive side, the Video Games Live merchandise has greatly improved in the one year.

We took our seats in the pavilion and we were close.  Before the show began, they had a costume contest on stage where cosplaying attendees were trotted on stage with one winner to be decided by fearsome combat audience applause.  I knew it was over when an adorable little boy came onto the stage in a tiny Link costume, hat and all.  From the moment he timidly said that he was from “The Legend of Zelda,” the crowd went wild for him.  

That energy continued on as Jack Wall took the stage to begin the show.  The show opened with their Video Game Medley, taking us through the “old school” from Pong to Donkey Kong to Tetris.  After the medley, the set list did not deviate much from what they played last year.  Favorites like Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Bros., Halo, Metroid, World of Warcraft and The Legend of Zelda were major highlights with the only new inclusions being Civilization IV, Sonic the Hedgehog and Chrono Trigger. There really is something in the music of video games that evoke an emotionally tied response.  Unfortunately for me, I did not feel the magic and majesty I experienced last year.  It could have been the acoustics in the outdoor venue, the heat and humidity of a July day, the smaller audience or possibly it just being my second time. That said, the Cincinnati Symphony played very well and the chorus performed admirably, although the vocal soloist on the Civ IV piece was lacking.

From his debut at Video Games Live at the show I saw in Louisville last year, the “Video Game Pianist” Martin Leung has been amazing audiences with his quick and dexterous fingers.  In this set list he performed 10 songs from Final Fantasy, his patented blindfolded Mario and participated in the encore playing of Castlevania.  There was even a bit where he played requests from the audience.  Also of note was the Guitar Hero contest.  A regional contest had been held before the show and an 11-year-old boy won and took center stage to play Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion.”  His challenge was to beat 220,000 points on Hard.  With the crowd’s support, he upped it to Expert and proceeded to shred the song to pieces.  His 610 note streak was the impressive icing on his victory cake.

Overall, I enjoyed the music but was underwhelmed by the experience.  I still think Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico have created a great program that is half symphony, half rock concert and all audience participation.  I applaud them for trying to reach out to small markets like Cincinnati, but I’m not sure how profitable it is for them, especially considering the size of the crowd.  

So even though my socks weren’t rocked off quite as hard as they were last time, I still had a great time.  I encourage you to go out and see Video Games Live.  Not only is it a ton of fun, but it’s also a way of supporting the goal of increasing public acceptance and support of video games and video game culture.