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Video Games Live is a concert tour featuring music from a variety of video games, combined with video, light, lasers, and special effects. Debuting in the summer of 2005, Video Games Live was one of the first major video game music concerts to be performed in the United States. Video Games Live is also the first video game music concert to perform in Canada, Brazil and the UK.

Contents 1 Description 2 Tour Dates and Locations 2.1 2005 Tour 2.2 2006 World Tour 3 Represented Games 4 Special Events 5 History 6 See also 7 External links

Created by video game music composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall in association with Clear Channel Communications, Video Games Live is a tribute to video game music. The concerts feature music from such video games as Final Fantasy, Halo, Warcraft, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear Solid, as well as retro arcade sounds such as Tetris and Asteroids. The concept was to bring families to marvel at the advancement of not only video game music, but the video game industry as a whole. During musical sequences, video screens show clips from the game itself, some of which are accompanied by light shows, lasers, and/or special effects, such as smoke, or live action. Such live action includes professional actors acting out certain characters from games, including Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid. In addition, the creators of the concert added in audience participation for further engagement.

Another attribute of this concert includes the large audience participation opportunities. Such activities include an arcade exhibit before the concert, hosted by Videotopia, costume contest, the meeting and greeting of video game music composers and developers, and live competition on stage.

• July 6, 2005 — Los Angeles, CA at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
• October 29, 2005 — Seattle, WA at the Paramount Theatre
• October 30, 2005 — Vancouver, BC at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
  • Additional concerts were cancelled on October 25, 2005

• March 24, 2006 — 8PM — San Jose, CA at the Civic Auditorium for the Game Developers Conference
• June 3, 2006 — 8PM — Philadelphia, PA at the Merriam Theater for the Wizard World
• July 14, 2006 — 7:30PM — Houston, TX at Jones Hall with the Houston Symphony
• August 5, 2006 — 8PM — Chicago, IL at the Rosemont Theater for the Wizard World
• August 11, 2006 — 8PM — Indianapolis, IN at the Hilbert Circle Theatre for the Gen Con
• August 12, 2006 — 8PM — Indianapolis, IN at the Hilbert Circle Theatre for the Gen Con
• September 1, 2006 — 7PM — Toronto, Canada at the Massey Hall for the Fan Expo
• September 21, 2006 — 8PM — Los Angeles, CA at the Hollywood Bowl
• November 12, 2006 — 7:30PM — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Claro Hall
• November 19, 2006 — 7:30PM — São Paulo, Brazil at the Via Funchal
• November 25, 2006 — 7:30PM — London, England at the Hammersmith Apollo
• January 12, 2007 — 8PM — Phoenix/Mesa, AZ
• January 13, 2007 — 8PM — Phoenix/Mesa, AZ
• January 22, 2007 — 7:30PM — Edmonton, Canada at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
• January 23, 2007 — 7:30PM — Edmonton, Canada at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
• February 24, 2007 — 7.30PM — Wellington, New Zealand at the TSB Bank Arena
• March 31, 2007 — 8PM — New Haven, CT at Woolsey Hall with the Yale Symphony Orchestra
• April 26, 2007 - 7:30PM - Columbus, OH at Mershon Auditorium with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra
• TBA — Seattle, WA
• TBA — Las Vegas, NV
• TBA — Montreal, Canada
• TBA — Sydney, Australia
• TBA — Tokyo, Japan
• TBA — Dallas, TX
• TBA — Orlando, FL
• March 09,2007 8PM— Sanfranisco, CA
• TBA — Boston, MA
• TBA — New York, NY
  • Additional dates and locations to be announced

• Mario
• The Legend of Zelda series
• Halo
• Metal Gear Solid
• Warcraft
• Myst
• Final Fantasy
• Castlevania
• Medal of Honor
• Kingdom Hearts
• Sonic the Hedgehog series
• Tron
• Tomb Raider
• Advent Rising
• Headhunter
• Beyond Good & Evil
• Splinter Cell
• Ghost Recon
• Rainbow Six
• EverQuest II
• Civilization IV
• A classic arcade medley, including PONG, Donkey Kong, Dragon's Lair, Tetris, Frogger, Gauntlet, Space Invaders and Out Run.

• Video Game Arcade hosted by Videotopia
• Costume Contest
• Meet and Greet VGM Composers and Developers
• Special effects, including lights, lasers, and fogs
• Live action, such as actors playing a certain character
• Interactive Audience Segment, where audience members play a video game live onstage as the orchestra plays the music

After kicking off with a successful July 2005 concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, organizers spent months preparing the show for a 25-city tour of indoor venues, beginning with dates in Seattle and Vancouver. However, ticket sales for the tour weren't meeting expectations, and organizers canceled most of the shows on October 25, 2005. With the exception of Seattle and Vancouver concerts, Video Games Live called it quits for the rest of 2005, [1] stating on their website: Due to circumstances beyond our control, Video Games Live will not be playing any of the previously scheduled shows, with the exception of Seattle and Vancouver on October 29 and October 30. Furthermore, plans are being made for additional shows in specific markets across North America for 2006.[2]

Tallarico wrote: "If we are guilty of anything it is that we hoped that more people would have been supportive of the concept and idea. Sure people have interest (like everyone here today) but if that excitement doesn't translate into support through ticket sales... how can anyone put on a show?"

Further, cocreator Wall wrote: "We are resolved to reinvent how we do this and do it in a more controlled way so this never happens again. It is not lost on us that for various business reasons we had to pull the plug twice. The bottom line is that the goals we established for this tour were simply too ambitious. We clearly overestimated the demand for a concert that relatively few people understand at this time. That said we still firmly believe our audience is out there."

After success realized from the Seattle and Vancouver concerts, on February 17, 2006, the creators wrote that they are working on planning shows in 2006. They also indicated that they were now acting independently and planning a new strategy for partnering with various organizations. [3]

On March 13, 2006, the promoters announced a world tour for Video Games Live, beginning in San Jose, California. This 2006 leg of the tour also marks the return to the Hollywood Bowl, the first venue for the concert in 2005, with "a new and updated show."[4]

• Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy
• Eminence Symphony Orchestra
• Orchestral Game Concert
• Symphonic Game Music Concert
• Video Game Pianist: Performer at VGL
• Video Game Symphony PLAY! A Video Game Symphony

• Video Games Live Official Website
• Advanced Media Network's coverage index
• UK Coverage of Video Games Live concert
• 1up.com coverage of the event
• Brazilian website for the show in Rio de Janeiro