Video Games Live

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the first-ever Video Games Live show in Alabama.

The Alabama Symphony Orchestra and UAB Choir performed over two hours of video game scores, ranging from the classics (seriously, Pong) to a certain Blizzard game that hasn't even come out yet.

A mostly-complete setlist of what they played:
- Classic game medley: Donkey Kong, Robotron, Frogger, etc.
- Dragon's Lair / Space Ace
- Metal Gear Solid
- God of War
- Civilization 4
- The Legend of Zelda
- Metroid
- Kingdom Hearts
- Warcraft 3 / World of Warcraft
- Starcraft 2
- Super Mario Brothers
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Halo / Halo 3
- Final Fantasy 7
- Castlevania

The performance was amazing; it was often easy to forget that I was listening to a live orchestra, because it sounded too perfect to be anything but a professionally-recorded soundtrack. The songs that were originally orchestral were spot-on, and the older game scores that had to be translated from bleeps and bloops to a symphonic piece were very well-composed and instantly recognizable.

The UAB choir was particularly awesome, especially considering that virtually everything they sang (other than the "SEGA" logo, which had us rolling on the floor) was in Latin, Swahili, or... well... Elvish. The swelling chorus during the World of Warcraft theme was nothing less than breathtaking.

Toward the end, host Tommy Tallarico -- yeah, that guy from the horrible "Judgment Day" show on G4TV -- came out and performed some guitar wankery during the Halo, FF7, and Castlevania themes. It was appropriate for Halo, but he quickly wore out his stage welcome with all of the grandstanding and prancing around in front of the orchestra.

Overall, it was an incredible show. My inner geek has shown through once again, but damned if VGL wasn't the perfect way to get me to spend a night at the symphony.