Last nite I went to Videogames Live at the Long Center in Austin. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was sure I'd enjoy it-- and I did, it was a great time. Funny thing was my friend who came with said it was the geekiest thing he'd ever done. Well I don't know about that, but it was definitely a gamer crowd and everyone was there to celebrate music and videogames.

Tommy Tallarico actually hosted the show (I wasn't aware he travelled with it) and even played with the band towards the end. The music itself was all across the board from all the classics to modern day next-genners. I preferred the classics and really would have liked to hear more of them or longer versions, but what was played was really nice. And damned if that Zelda theme-- played by a full symphony-- doesn't give me the warm fuzzies.

Even though it was a treat to hear so many themes by a symphony, probably the highlight of the show for me were the two pieces by Martin Leung, gamer-community-famous for playing the Mario theme on the piano blindfolded. In the first half of the show he came out and did a medley of FInal Fantasy themes that I absolutely loved, which included pieces of "Eyes on Me" from FF8, my favorite. Later in the second half he came back out and did the Mario blindfold thing live, plus an insane speed rendition of Super Mario World. That guy is awesome.

So the crazy thing that happened in the show was quite a spectacle. Earlier beforehand, they supposedly had a Guitar Hero contest in the lobby, and the winner of that was to be brought on stage to play Guitar Hero Aerosmith for the first time-- live with the band! So yes, some dude won earlier and they indeed brought him up on stage and set him up to play. Then Tallarico added that if he played to so-and-so score of like 140K, he'd win a sweet-ass shiney new laptop. As they were about to start, Tallarico tells the dude he can play on Normal or Hard. So the dude replies, "I'll just play it on Expert." Now the crowd is really getting into it and Tallarico keeps saying "Are you sure? For your first time on a new song? You're going to risk that laptop?" But the dude wouldn't budge and indeed started up "Sweet Emotion" on Expert. The song starts off easy enough, and then he just rips. He's getting 50 and 100 note strings, all while the symphony and band and singers are playing along with him. The crowd is going nuts already with all the guitar-heroisms and then goes ape shit as he soars past the target score and goes on well into 200K. The song finished and they presented him the new laptop right then and there. Pretty cool.

I think it was wonderful just to hear some of my favorite game themes in a concert setting. I Would have loved to hear more Metroid, that one was too short. My least favorite was probably Halo, that just really doesn't compare to some of the greats. There was a pretty extensive segment for Warcraft, which I always thought had great music, and the accompanying video had alot of footage from Wrath of the Litch King I'd never seen before. If I picked a favorite for the night, it would have to be the show's encore that was a rocked-out version of Castlevania themes, man I love Castlevania's music. It was a great way to close the show.

I know alot of people here have seen the show around the states. Any other Austiners check it out?