Video Game Music Concertos

Video-game music is now so good, fans are willing to pay to to see it performed live. Robert Colvile reports

In the Hollywood Bowl, 11,000 people are on their feet, clapping, shrieking, cheering. It’s the best – for many, the only – concert they’ve ever been to. It’s called Video Games Live, fusing the energy of a rock concert, the technical wizardry of computer gaming and the classical skills of a professional choir and orchestra. And now it’s coming to London.

The idea is the brainchild of Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico, veteran game composers – Tallarico, for example, has scored more than 250 games over 16 years. Four years ago, they set up a guild for their colleagues, and found that they were constantly being asked about live performances of the kind common in game-crazy Japan since 1991.

The resulting roadshow has toured 13 US cities this year, and tickets for its British debut at the Hammersmith Apollo this month, with the orchestra of English National Ballet, are selling fast.

“It will be the very first game-music concert ever in the UK,” says an excited Tallarico. “The first thing you see is Pong, and hear the bleeps and the bloops, but then the orchestra takes over with an eight-and-a-half minute medley of classic themes… it’s a complete celebration.” And if America is anything to go by, the fans’ reaction will be something to behold.

“They go into the opening bars of Sonic the Hedgehog,” says Tallarico, “and all of a sudden four, five, six thousand people start screaming like it’s the Second Coming of the Beatles. The orchestra is wondering what the hell’s going on: ‘We don’t get cheers like this for Stravinsky.’ “

It could seem gimmicky, but Wall, as conductor, insists that the musicians are quickly won over. “Without fail, at least a couple will come up to you during a break in auditions and say, ‘You know, this music’s actually quite challenging – I’m really enjoying it.’ It helps that it gives the horn section something to do for once.”

The concert is not just a celebration of gaming music, but, the duo insist, a showcase for its variety and maturity.