“The ‘Super Mario Bros. Theme’ is such a powerful piece of music,” muses Tommy Tallarico.
Tallarico has stood on stages around the world, from Brazil to Japan, Canada to the U.K., and witnessed massive crowds cheering as the orchestra swells into the melody encoded onto every summer and weekend of our childhoods. For a certain generation, the “Super Mario Bros. Theme” music has become our song, something we didn’t realize until our first ringtone. Video game music has matured beyond that. As the Halo theme becomes the 3 a.m. soundtrack for a new generation, video games have long since escaped their nostalgic trappings.
“The music in Final Fantasy is just as relevant and emotional as any classical or film score piece,” says Tallarico. “That’s the thing that stuns the non-gamer out there. A lot of people didn’t grow up on video games or didn’t get into them, and they assume video game music is just a bunch of bleeps and bloops. We’re changing people’s assumptions one show at a time.”
Tallarico created Video Games Live as an immersive, symphonic tribute to the power of video game music. A world-class orchestra and choir, backed by synchronized game video and a light show, play music from not just Mario and Zelda, but from contemporary games like Halo, Kingdom Hearts and World of Warcraft, and more obscure games like Earthworm Jim and Beyond Good and Evil. The show covers the gamut of video game music, and it’s a history Tallarico knows well.
As an 18-year veteran of the video game industry, he’s composed music for over 300 games. For him, video games are a way of life. As Guitar Hero and Nintendo’s Wii erode your mother’s resistance to video games, Tallarico believes mainstream acceptance of the music is in reach. Video Games Live not only celebrates the history of video game music, it serves as an entry point for those unfamiliar with games. It seems to be working, with 35 shows planned for this year. Next year, that expands to 60 shows around the world, with the goal of a 100-show tour in 2009.
“Our most difficult hurdle has been getting the non-gamers and the mainstream to come see the show,” Tallarico says. “Video Games Live is only succeeding by word of mouth. It took Cirque Du Soleil seven years to finally become this huge thing everybody knew about. The very first time you heard about it, you probably were like me, ‘What the hell is this?’ It was only when you saw it with your eyes or somebody told you in detail that you started to understand it. Half of our audience has never played a game in their life. The people who enjoy the show the most are the 80-year-old grandmothers. They freak out. Swear to God.”
Before the show, you and your grandmother can try out game demos, enter competitions and a costume contest, as well as meet some of the top game composers and engineers in the industry. Video games are no longer the domain of shut-ins and adolescents. And unlike your typical classical music concert, you’re not expected to sit politely and stifle the sound of applause. Video Games Live is an interactive show, including a segment where audience members get onstage and play classic arcade games, as the orchestra reflects how well you play. Tallarico promises a show you won’t soon forget.
“No matter if you’ve been to the symphony a hundred times or never been, nobody knows what to do at our concert,” he says. “Holler and cheer all you want, because the orchestra is going to feed off that energy. A violin player is just as significant as a rock ’n’ roll guitarist. I’ve always said more classical concerts should be this way. Come to the show and tell me the last time you saw 5,000 people screaming for Stravinsky.”
