PLAY! A Video Game Symphony.

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony. Here from 15 - 16 Jun 2007, my and my friends got lucky at got 3 ticket for box seats, seating directly above the orchestra - Singapore Festival Orchestra, and the choir - NUS choir, on the 2nd level. For fear of copyright laws I shall not link any pictures, but i will give the webbies. (PLAY! website as linked above) Singapore Arts Festival 2007. (Ignore that, it's all over youtube! Check out the links below for links to youtube, i'll try my best)

I enjoyed the following programme thoroughly, very very nostalgic for a 2nd generation gamer such as I:

Play! A Video Game Symphony! (Prelude)
Super Mario Bros(Suite)
Shenmue and Shenmue II (Sedge Tree)
Lost Odyssey (Main Theme)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Suite)
Metal Gear Solid(Main Theme)
Blue Dragon (Main Theme)
Kingdom Hearts (Suite)
Final Fantasy VI (Dancing Mad)
------------------------------
Daytona USA (Piano, Takenobu Mistuyoshi* Guest Appearance)

Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion (Suite)
Chrono Trigger and Cross (Suite)
World of Warcraft (Suite)
HALO (Suite)
Castlevania (Suite)
The Legend of Zelda (Suite)
Final Fantasy VII (One-Winged Angel)@

*ENCORE
SHINOBI!!!!! (Suite)

*Suite means a combination of pieces, much like a medley.
*ENCORE means...check the dictionary.

A couple of Youtube vid's I'd like to highlight:

This one cause the music simply rocks:


This one cause it's MARIO! Like Amos said, every one MUST have at least tried Mario!


This one cause it's so simply CLASSIC! ZELDA!:


*These links are NOT the ones heard today, but are somewhat representative. Nothing beats being there of course. Do check these out, they ROCK!*


Well to sum it up, WORTH EVERY PENNY! Tickets were snapped up pretty fast in May, we got lucky! Like as mentioned, it is very nostalgic for older generation gamers, while the newer gamers were not left out either. Notwithstanding, non-gamers I'm positive enjoyed the experience thoroughly - it's energetic and dramatic and quite unlike classical symphonies which probably would drive ME to sleep. The big difference? They play CGs and gameplay videos while the orchestra plays, in-tune and matching to the scene. The opening Mario Brothers is sure classic! I saw Mario throwing turtle shells at the enemy and the flower eating fire spitting Mario! As well as 3D N64 new-generation Mario. What a thrill!

And there's SONIC! That was one of my childhood games around 4,5 onwards when I got my SEGA~ HOW VERY NOSTALGIC!! AHHHH PULLS HAIR!! and ZELDA! AHHH!! They screened the OLDEST ZELDA I EVER(actually, never!) seen in my LIFE! Way before "Link from the Past - SNES" The later generation games were equally stunning. MSG was full of suspense, Lost Odyssey was new to me but the music was fabulous, as with the rest. W.O.W was just so reflective of what I have played from 2005-2007, except that I have totally ignored the music. And HALO! Of all things HALO 2! I mean, I just started the game and they were showing animations/CGs about the ending. Thank Goodness I caught on quick and shielded my eyes from the spoilers - but twas great anyway!

Then comes the finale. One-Winged Angel from FF7 by Nobuo Uematsu. I'm certain many of us have heard it before. But guess what? It is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING when you hear a live performance from an orchestra. There's so much energy, so much anticipation and suspense, and so climatic, just from hearing and FEELING the music. YES! FEELING the music! Totally different from hearing from an mp3. And *APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!*APPLAUSE*!!

Alright. ENCORE! WEEE.

And Mr Arnie Roth - Music Director and Conductor, came back stage and mumbled something i yet cannot catch, again. And, they actually played SHINOBI!
Anyone who owns a SEGA around 1990s and has played SHINOBI will tell you it is absolutely classic. A great game. And was another one of my favourite childhood games then got stuck in my memory and got fuzzy until I recently tried it again on PSP. NOSTALGIA TO THE MAX! What a great day. Honest. Worth every penny, and I'm sorry to those who did not manage to get a ticket - so far, Matthew - , and also to everyone else who regretted not going, hope to see them come by again for their World Tour 2008! I'm definitely going again.