Video Games Live: Hammersmith Apollo, Saturday 25th November
Everyone I have told about this (so far) has laughed, but last Saturday me and Jessica went to a video games concert. Footage from the games was projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage whilst an orchestra and choir played/sung the accompanying soundtrack, live. There were also lots of flashing lights in time with the music.

The concert opened with a quick jog through retro games and their tunes, all arranged into one piece of music. From Pong through Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Joust and many more – this was a fun opening to a very enjoyable concert.

My favourite orchestral tunes were from Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy but the best number of the night was the orchestra’s rendition of a medley of tunes from Sonic the Hedgehog!
They also played a Mario medley, Halo, Zelda, Tomb Raider, Advent Rising, Kingdom Hearts, Head Hunter and some others I can’t remember.

There was a guest performance from “The Internet Pianist” who is apparently world famous. He played some tunes on a keyboard and re-staged the performance that shot him to Internet-stardom (Mario medley played whilst blindfolded).

I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who has owned a games console. If you would like a very low quality impression of what the concert was like try searching youTube for “Video Games Live London”.

Also, there were a few games to look at before the concert and i got a glimpse of the new Nintendo Wii. I didn’t queue up to have a go but those people who got to play (Tennis) seemed to be having a good time. The console itself was just as small as I expected and the players’ movements seemed to be accurately recorded by the Wiimote. I’ll still wait for a PS3 though!