I caught a free Video Games Live show in Toronto last month at Yonge & Dundas Square, and although it was kind of fun, I’m definitely glad I didn’t pay actual money for it. The show consisted of an orchestra performing music from popular video games on stage with some footage projected on a video screen in the background — plus a few appearances from special guest celebrities (I’m not sure who was more exciting, the Blindfolded Video Game Pianist or Master Chief). I was a bit disappointed, mainly because I was only really interested in hearing music from older games. I didn’t come to hear the actual scores from recent games like World of Warcraft or Civilization IV (although a lot of the other people around me obviously did).

It was actually kind of surreal in a way, very much like attending a rock concert, but instead of people wearing t-shirts of obscure indie bands and shouting out names of their favourite songs, they were wearing t-shirts of obscure Japanese games and shouting out names of their favourite levels. During one ballad, Tommy Tallarico asked people to hold up their DS’s and PSPs in place of lighters. I didn’t see too many people comply, but there was the group at the back triumphantly holding up their lightsabers in approval. Nerds!! The highlight was obviously when Tommy Tallarico strapped on his axe to rock out to the Halo theme song. No matter how much you bang your head and throw the horns, there’s still no way to make that seem cool. But I suppose it was cute to see him living out his dream of being a rock star.

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