On April 10th, 2010, I was able to enjoy the ambiance of some orchestral music that was put on by the Minnesota Orchestra. But this was no ordinary night consisting of Bach or Beethoven. This night consisted of video game music. And it was 100% SOLD OUT, which isn't uncommon for Video Games Live. We were able to get row 5, so we were ridiculously close. I paid $50 per ticket, so it's not horribly priced, along with the fact that it lasted 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

Me and my friend made it to the Orchestra Hall at 6pm to sign up for the Costume Contest and the Guitar Hero Contest. Neither of us had a costume on, so we just signed up for the Guitar Hero Contest.





Costume Contest Pics





I got my picture with Megan VanBurkleo from GameInformer

So as of 7:30, we made our way in to the orchestra hall and boy was everyone excited. All the videos are below followed by my actual review of the night.

They first started off with a few videos to get everyone pumped up.

Yuri The Only One For Me - LeetStreet Boys


Michael Quest III


Before the night fully started as the seats were still filling up


Classic Games Medley


Legend of Zelda


Tommy Tallarico's Introduction/Metal Gear Solid Music (music starts at 4:52)


Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross


Space Invader Competition


Martin Leung Playing Music From Final Fantasy (sadly, my batteries died right at the end...)


Super Mario Bros.


Martin Leung Playing Super Mario Bros. Blindfolded



Guitar Hero Competition


Kingdom Hearts


Halo


The "Candles" in the crowd for Video Games Live


Everyone's favorite...ONE WINGED ANGEL!!!


Castlevania




Review

Ok, this entire night was one of the best times that I've had in a while. Tommy was able to get the crowd involved enough to where EVERYONE had a great time (regardless of age or gender). The music was done, if not perfectly, almost perfectly. You could easily put these tracks behind their respective games and not be able to tell a difference. Tommy said that they have around 80 scores that they can play, but are obviously unable to play them all. As you can hear in the videos, both me and my friend had a blast. I would definitely recommend floor seats, if you can grab them. It feels like you're a little more involved with the orchestra. While writing this review, I've been listening to each of the videos that I posted to YouTube, and I STILL get chills from listening to them. Talking to Tommy and Jack after the show was great too. They were both funny and willing to talk to us about whatever we were talking about. Tommy signed my friends Zelda belt buckle "Yo Tommy Tallarico was here (with an arrow pointing down)." You never once felt uncomfortable there. There were fellow gamers that ha the same appreciation for the music as the next person.



The one thing that I didn't like is that Square Enix didn't give Video Games Live the rights to use gameplay footage from Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. But that's not even that big of a deal.

I'm already looking forward to the next time they come into town, and I'll be one of the first to buy tickets. I recommend that you go if you like video games, or even just appreciate different genres of music. Like I said before, it was one of the best nights that I've had in a while.

Rating: SUPER Shadow

To see if they're coming anywhere near you, check out their site