Play! A Video Game Symphony: In Vancouver

The other lesser known video game concert. After finally experiencing it firsthand, I think I can see why.

I arrived downtown about an hour before the start of the show and wandered about the stores on Granville while waiting for the rest of the people. On our way into the Orpheum, we were (illegally) handed flyers advertising VGL's return next year (again??). I must say, it's a pretty dirty but smart strategy though...

It started not too long after we got warmed up to our seats. 8pm rolled around and the conductor, Andy Brick, came out to play the first piece prior to his intro shpeel. PLAY! Fanfare was a piece specially composed by Uematsu for their concert, which sadly wasn't that amazing... but if anything, it definitely does make their event the more special and different from the others.

Of course, a video game concert isn't complete without a Mario medley which was the first video game to start. Good momentum yes? Bam! Came the WTF: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Really? REALLY? Award for best video game musical score or not, I don't think it's quite the right series to bring with you. I can understand that you want to dedicate a track to the composer in the audience, but really, how many of us have played the DS game? Even as HP fans, I'm not here to listen to HP thank you very much. Besides, there's plenty of other better known games to choose from his resume? Rant aside, I won't deny that it is a good piece by itself.

Back on track was Silent Hill, Theme of Laura was awesome with an orchestra and the old man ripping it on the guitar. Followed was Civ 5! I haven't even played it yet but it sounded good. The piece was a mashup of a variety of tracks and one part was clearly the theme for East Asia as the CG lady on the screen was some sort of Japanese/Chinese. The composers were also in the audience.

Hello, Kingdom Hearts! Interestingly enough, they actually had Kingdom Hearts CG playing on the screen (versus VGL only had Disney clips). I personally loved their rendition with both Hikari and Passion. Following with the awesome was an excellent arrange of Legend of Zelda.

The build up was interrupted by an intermission and the 2nd half started with, what... Sim City 4?! Really? REALLY? I don't mind Sim City at all but choose something just a tad more popular. Just saying you'd probably get more reaction from the audience that way.

The concert continues with Guild Wars. Seriously, enough music for the attending composers and more for the audience you're supposed to be catering to. I won't deny that it was still enjoyable for what it was.

The highlight of the concert was supposed to be the Chrono Cross/Trigger arrange BUT being the picky fangirl that I am, they didn't perform up to my expectations. The solo flute player and the solo first violinist failed to be on beat and not loud enough, respectively (for Time's Scar). Rantrantrantrant, but hey, I loved the Chrono Trigger ending theme!

And then we had Halo. This version didn't sound as epic as VGLs. The choir definitely wasn't loud enough. The next nice surprise was Sonic the Hedgehog. I remember the Green Hill Zone and it was played wonderfully!

Play!'s version of Castlevania was pretty mellow and definitely gave off the orchestrated symphony feel compared to VGL's all-out rock (which yeah, isn't very orchestraded now is it?).

Finally, to finish off, there was World of Warcraft. I'd probably be all over this piece if I were a WoWer. But I'm not so I wasn't.

Surprise, surprise there was an encore. And guess what it was? Fucking One Winged Angel. Been to three video game concerts ever, all with the same encore.

So in retrospect, I had a lot of complaints. Overall it was decent but the flaws were obvious. I hate to have to compare it with VGL since Play! clearly presents music completely differently than VGL does but I would definitely still question the choice of some tracks (mainly HP and Sim City really). Perhaps because VGL was able to squeeze that many more songs into their program (medleys featuring multiple series etc), it felt a lot more satisfying.

Seeing that this was a more traditional orchestrated concert, it was hard to cheer and make noises like Andy Brick said we could've; it was all the more awkward, really.

The videos that played on the screen wasn't as synced to the music as one would've wanted them to be. The visuals that were shown also got duplicated quite a bit in the same score and it didn't seem as well edited. It also didn't help that I sat beside a fangirl who was very vocal with her experience with the games featured. I've played this, I've played that. I remember this, I remember that. Good for you girl. It was also a bit funny that she wore a VGL t-shirt. It's like going to a True Blood meetup with a Twilight fan shirt on. Yeah.

I definitely give props for providing a thorough tribute to each game as multiple tracks were incorporated into one piece instead of just the theme songs. Seeing their score collection though, I would've wanted to hear Lost Odyssey, Actraiser, Shadow of the Colossus, Shenmue or Stella Deus... just the games that were a bit out of the norm. I did have high hopes on the selection, mainly something aside from the mainstream market but alas, I was disappointed. Although they did try with uhh... Harry Potter? I guess. :| I would've definitely liked to see them differentiate themselves from VGL, perhaps, with the niche market or lesser known but just as popular games route.

My friend brought up a good suggestion - Katamari Damacy. Imagine that with choir and orchestra. Just imagine... wow.

All 'n all, good try but they definitely need to differentiate themselves better from VGL rather than being the other "not so good as VGL" concert. They clearly want to offer a different experience but they don't seem to be doing it right somehow. They have potential and they should totally try and find some sort of exploit they can use to their advantage. If not, they'll always be seen as the second rate concert second to VGL forever.