Battle of the Videogame Concerts

Wired has a look at the two leading videogame music concerts touring the U.S. right now, comparing and contrasting their musical selections and performer talent. 'Play!' and 'Videogames Live' are competing for the musical soul of a nation, with different takes on the genre. From the article: "It may seem like there would be little room for two such shows in the same music season -- but the producers behind these acts are taking very different tacks. Play! A Video Game Symphony is being billed as a highbrow event, putting musicianship front and center and even featuring composer cameos. The competition, Video Games Live, which debuted last week in San Jose on the final day of the Game Developers Conference, is staging an equally elaborate show, but here the games remain the star attraction."

I was the SJ event

[zephc]

It was fairly cool, but the horn section was a bit crummy. I think it seemed either a little rushed, or since its the premier, they still have kinks to work out (the video projector control guy messed up a few times and let the DVD screen saver show up). It also seemed a bit like an ad for some of the newer games. But well-performed for the most part.

Re:I was the SJ event

[rkanodia]

Agreed about the ad-like nature for some of the newer games - particularly those with music that no one can remember anyway. I was also disappointed that the video montages didn't really line up with the music (except for the Super Mario Bros. one), and tended to feature movies (both in-game and prerendered) over gameplay footage wherever possible - Metal Gear was like that, and especially Warcraft; I don't think Warcraft showed so much as a single frame of gameplay, and all of the movies were from Warcraf

Re:I was the SJ event

[zephc]

The Warcraft footage was basically just the WoW trailer, from what I remember.

re DS: I got there and saw a bunch of people with DSs and said to my friends "I should have brought *my* DS"; I would have liked to get in on some Metroid action myself.

Holy Hyperbole, Batman!

[TopShelf]

'Play!' and 'Videogames Live' are competing for the musical soul of a nation, with different takes on the genre.

Thanks, Slashdot. I just shot Pepsi out my nose after reading that one. That'll teach me to drink and surf...

A Capella Group?

[Otis2222222]

I saw video somewhere of an "A Capella" group that sang the songs of old Nintendo games, also acting out scenes from them live on stage. Anyone know who they were?

Re:A Capella Group?

[zephc]

"Redefined, an a cappella group from the University of Wisconsin - Madison" via http://www.devilducky.com/media/28721/ [devilducky.com]

Video Games Live Unreliable

[Anonymous Coward]

I would be careful buying tickets for Video Games Live. They have a habbit of canceling shows and then giving BS excuses why the shows were canceled. Its happened to me twice. You get most of your money back but Ticketbastard will not give back their "convienence" fee. At any rate, VGL is very unreliable.

Re:Video Games Live Unreliable

[Blackwulf]

From what I understand, Clear Channel fucked over those previous two concerts because they went through a change of their concert promotion unit (even changing the name of it) and they had to cut costs. So they cancelled several concert tours (other excuses were "broken knee") and VGL happened to be one of them.

Since then, VGL has broken ties with Clear Channel and is now doing it themselves.

But also from what I understand is that VGL is gonna continue touring, so if you're really worried, go ahead and sit

Orchestral? Meh.

[DeafByBeheading]

Screw this high-falutin' stuff. Try the Advantage [theadvantageband.com] for a different take. I haven't gotten a chance to see them live yet, but the CD kicks ass.

Re:Orchestral? Meh.

[DoubleRing]

you should check out http://www.ocremix.org/ [ocremix.org]. Great place if you like that kind of stuff. Has everything form techno, rock, to orchestral. There's some really good stuff.

video game rock concert in state college tomorrow

[hytmal]

I'm going to an indie rock concert tomorrow (Saturday) night. AFAIK, it's a bunch of local bands that will be playing only video game-style music.

If you're located in the State College / Penn State area, and you read slashdot (presumably that last requirement is not presumptious) you should come. There are flyers for it all over campus.