I’m back from KL! (see my earlier post http://www.ispithotfire.com/2010/03/19/going-to-video-games-live-kuala-lumpur/)
Here’s me at the Video Games Live concert in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday:
And here’s renown composer (and VGL co-founder/emcee/host) Tommy Tallarico with Norihiko Hibino, composer extraordinaire of every modern-gen Metal Gear Solid game except the Playstation original:
There was also Jack Wall (well known for composing the Mass Effect series) and Laura Intravia there, alongside the Malaysia National Symphony.
It was a good show. Jimmy had a blast, and Bobby and Ed said they enjoyed themselves despite not necessarily being big fans of gaming, though Bobby used to be a World of Warcraft whore.
I had more of an interesting view of it all. I felt like I could have enjoyed it more. Not necessarily that the performance could have been better, but maybe I didn’t get the best of it. Yes, despite sitting in the first row.
I’m a whiner.
Here are the notes:
- It was a professional performance, and in that I mean everyone was professional, they knew what they were doing. Tommy had a good vibe with the crowd, very personable. As Jimmy said, it felt like it was a group meeting and we were all just part of the fun.
- The same day of the concert, World Cyber Games and a PC Fair were going on in the same convention center. I am guessing the timing was done with a purpose even if they were run by different companies.
- The audience for the afternoon show was really low, definitely not 50% capacity. I don’t know how well they promoted it, but I felt like it was a bit lackluster. You would think the Games and PC Fair stuff were a natural way to attract new ticket buyers, but you really didn’t see any note of Video Games Live anywhere. It wasn’t even that easy to figure out where to go to get our tickets and then find the right auditorium for our seats. I think there was a big opportunity lost there. Hopefully, the night show did better. I think the low audience really sapped my excitement during the show.
- Jimmy and I were so close – very first row – that I noticed things I have never seen. For example, Tommy played the guitar for much of the show, with the guitar plugged into the amp or speaker (I don’t know much about these things). When he played it though, it seemed like he was playing a plastic guitar, and the speakers were playing music separately, almost like lip-syncing with instruments. I could actually hear Tommy flick the chords of the guitar, and then the music would come out separately from another area. I never knew this is how electronic music worked, and this kind of affected me. This wouldn’t have been an issue if I hadn’t been so close. This audio effect is how I felt about the whole symphony actually, being so close made me feel like the sound was off. We (or I was)were actually too close for our own good. Another negative about being that close is that speakers (I think that’s what those were) partially blocked (you can see it in the pictures below) our view.
- Norihiko Hibino came on to play the Metal Gear Solid 3 theme on a saxophone. That was pretty bad ass. We saw him at our hotel (Concorde, next to Hard Rock Cafe) lobby on Sunday morning, just hanging out by himself.
- Laura Intravia first came on to do the opera voice for Gods of War (Jimmy thought this was hot), and later did Zelda stuff.
- Jimmy and I could have gone on stage for the Space Invaders activity, but we both chickened out- I think I avoided all eye contact. Tommy picked the guy next to to us. I kind of regret this.
- 2.5 hrs, with an intermission in between. Bang for the buck, for sure.
- I recorded the performance. It sounded ok when I first checked it out, but a bit soft in volume. Will have to tune it and hope for the best.
- We decided to skip the meet and greet- it seemed like it was going to be a long wait.
- Would I go again? Yeah, I think so, but maybe to a US venue at full capacity and just sitting in fairly normal seats.
See all the pictures in my Smugmug gallery:
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