i spent the weekend of august 4 in chicago, along with the rest of my friends/staff at gonintendo, specifically to attend the video games live concert, an interactive orchestral event devoted to the appreciation of video game music. while we were invited by one of the event founders, it seems the invitation was mostly to lend assistance to the production than to enjoy the show itself. luckily part of it for us included backstage access, vip badges, and also a night of hanging out with some other vgl staffers and game composers.
the premise of video games live is to give the audience an interactive concert, or at least one with more entertainment value than your average symphony. the show includes a large video display which runs footage of the game whose music is being played.. and the staging includes a variety of fancy, whirling lights that dance off the translucent haze no doubt generated by the panting mouths of the enraptured audience below. but the catch is that the orchestra plays in sychrony with the video footage, and the lights reflect both the rhythm and colour-mood of the display. all the elements play together and upon one another in brilliant moments sprinkled throughout the performance.
the show itself ran about two hours, and included music & video ranging from bleeping space invaders to footage of nintendo’s vaunted and as-yet-unreleased legend of zelda: twilight princess. while some of the programmed lighting forced the spotlights framing the giant screen to drown the picture behind, it wasn’t as distracting as you’d think not being able to see the video would be. as for the interactive bits, a few lucky audience members got to take place in on-stage contests of skill in effort to win various prizes. unfortunately, not everyone won, but i’m sure the thrill of being on stage was as valuable a takeaway as any prize package.
i’ve heard mixed reviews over the performance of other local orchestras peforming the VGL repertoire, but chicago’s was top notch all the way; not an off-note the whole night. in fact, some of the pieces were so well done, it rivalled the production values of the original studio-recorded tracks. not to geek out too much, but with jack wall conducting the theme/medley of myst (some of which he also composed), i was delighted to tears; the orchestra and chorale were really that good. if you have a chance to check out a VGL show in your area, i highly recommend it.
for some photos of the VGL-related parts of the trip… visit the gonintendo flickr page.
of other note regarding chicago…the city itself was a sprawling, confusing mess of roads, and not just any roads, but the evil, horned, fire-breathing toll kind. is it any wonder that the word toll and troll are so similar, especially when trolls used to collect for crossing bridges and the like from old stories? it’s for this reason alone that i could never, ever live in illinois. pay exorbitant metro petrol prices, PLUS 5-10 bucks just to get to the grocery mart? rubbish. at least the public transportation/train system was easy to use, if not also a bit slow and over priced. i should also note that the end of the line station at o’hare airport is one of the slickest designs to descend into via escalator; it’s a cross between future terminal elements with the black-light glows of your typical arcade.
i will give the city credit for being much cleaner and scenic in ways i hadn’t expected. the weather was a bit hazy, which may have contributed to either it being seasonably hotter or colder than usual; i have no reference for comparison. but the downtown chicago proper was actually pretty cool. an interesting mix of people and lots of sculpture… the stuff was everywhere. a trip to millennium park was a quick walk from the ‘el train’ depot, and had plenty to keep busy for a couple hours. i wouldn’t mind a return trip sometime, but if given the choice, illinois and chicago specifically is one place to fly into rather than drive, for the sake of expediency, overall cost, and subsequent ease of use with public transportation to get to your final destination.
oh, and don’t forget to stop at a giordano’s pizza place…simply outstanding!
and with that, i’ll close, and leave a link to an hilarious clip from a japanese tv show. the brilliant part is that it’s universal enough that anyone can enjoy just the same!
listening to:
Back in Town
Matt Dusk