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Concert review: Symphony help breathe life into video games

I was there and it was great, also great narrating on it you covered just about everything that it showed.

Well, certain segments had great music to be sure, but the show as a whole seemed very amateur. Notably good parts were Civilization IV, Halo, and Advent Rising. The Utah Symphony played beautifully every time they had the chance(not enough in my opinion) and the vocals were fantastic.
All of the music segments were interspersed with a guy running around on stage trying to get applause (successfully). During the Halo section he was dancing around on the stage with an electric guitar.
If you were looking for the the best video game music played beautifully by an orchastra, look elswhere. Most songs are the same old Zelda, Mario, and Final Fantasy that everyone has remixed a thousand times on the internet.
I thought the show was rather disappointing and I haved played alot of the games they were showcasing. It was nice to hear a song from a game you play, but it wasn't worth the hour wasted by the guy talking and the contests they held on stage in the middle. If you don't love video games already, this show will probably bore you or give you seizures from the overdone flashing lights.

Just a couple of errors.

Martin Leung, who is renowned for performing "Super Mario" music blindfolded, got his fingers running up the piano keys with a "Final Fantasy" medley.

In response to Dan, it's very difficult to find the line where people new to video games and gamers can both enjoy the concert. While I do agree that the interactive segments took far to long I'd be very outspoken to anyone that said they weren't fun to watch and were critical to the show for non-gamers.

I'm tired of VGL getting criticized because One Winged Angel gets played over and over again. I can see some validity to the Mario and Zelda comment because they really could put some effort into making a new medley up. But when you find a better balance between non-gamer and gamer you put together a concert like this. Yes, I'm disappointed that Sonic, Metroid and others were not played. Some VGL concerts are 3 hours long, many concerts before have not got Castlevania. It's a big give and take. I took a non-gamer on a date to this, and it was a big success. Overall, amazing.

To Dan,

I suppose you're entitled to your own comments and opions, but it's just sad how elitist you come across in your remarks.

It's a bit pathetic that you can't see past your own fanboy-isms and truly understand what a huge impact VGL is having on the world.

Amateur production? What show did you go to? Clearly it wasn't Video Games Live. It was one of the most breathtaking and beautiful productions I've ever seen.

And although you may want the same old boring symphony stuff, you certainly don't speak for the rest of us or the thousands of fans who were applauding on the two nights I saw the performance.

One of the best parts of the show were the hosts and how they interacted with the audience. And the guitar stuff was amazing. An "hour wasted on talking"?? Aside from being completely untrue, it helped bridge the gap for others not as elitist and stuck-up as you. You're the type of person who gives gamers a bad name.

So contrary to what hater Dan said, this show is for everyone and is absolutely stunning in every way. I can't wait to see them again!

I am not a gamer, and have not even heard of half of the games of which the music was played, and I enjoyed myself whole heartedly.

In this day and age it is difficult to get young people to go to listen to the symphony, or any music in a "classical" setting. I think that this sort of production is essential to keeping music alive for this texting, gaming, facebooking, multi-tasking, and often short attention spanned genereation.

Dan,
Do me a favor and don't comment on stuff like this again. This production was amazing and I too hope that it is an annual event in Utah. Whether you know these games or not, this was a truly fascinating performance and one I will be recommending to all I know when they come again! My hats off to Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. And also that amazing pianist Martin Leung! WOW!

The compositions of Mario and Zelda have been floating around the internet for a while, but that's because they were not written by some Joe Schmoe that managed to get a professional Symphony to play his composition. It was fun to see the composers themselves introduce the Metal Gear, Mario, and Zelda songs however taped. They are great renditions of the Music and creating new compositions would require the composers to work with the original composers to do so, and that's not really the point of the show.

Fantastic Concert, enjoyed it with my friends and hope that it returns soon! I loved attending and hearing some of my favorite music performed live. I would go and see it again and again, hands down! I hope that next time they come I can get into the cosplay contest at the festival before hand as well as bring more of my family and friends. Thank you Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall for bringing your show here, Utah Loves Video Games Live!

Excellent show. I was very impressed by the variety of games and the quality of the music. I did feel that Tommy was trying a little too hard to be a rock star during the Halo 3 portion.

It was definitely a professional, high quality show. Sure I have heard the Mario/Zelda melodies a thousands of times but there is a difference when you hear it in front of a live orchestra.

This was the best concert I've ever been to, it's classical music with direction and purpose, and a bit of rock-n-roll. :)I think it surprised everyone with the orchestra only making one mistake the entire show. I will be coming back next year and I hope they take more time and do Metroid as well--they normally do it, but didn't because of time constraints--.

It was everything I could never imagin! I nearly lost it on Zelda. It was so well done! Please come back next year!

ok so, the title of this is "Symphony help breathe life into video games" THIS IS NOT TRUE! video games is a multi billion dollar indistry with a fan base bigger then movies, i think it has enough life in it. but anyway they did great and i hope to see them again soon!!