Wednesday 30th May 2018 – The Royal Albert Hall, London.
This was the date and location of the first ever PlayStation In Concert performance. Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with the City of London Choir with composer and radio presenter Jessica Curry hosting the event, I can honestly say that this was beyond my expectations.
The concert was a celebration of PlayStation soundtracks from the past 20-plus years. Pieces from Crash Bandicoot, Medievil and Resident Evil from the PS1 era; Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and Little Big Planet showcasing the PS2/PSP era; The Last of Us, Journey and Killzone 2 from the PS3; alongside pieces from PS4’s God of War, Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture and The Last Guardian. We even had a couple of PSVR titles having their soundtracks shared with the likes of Moss and yet-to-be-released Blood and Truth being debuted to the audience. This was truly a celebration of the creativity, originality and quality of not just the creative talents at Sony and their worldwide studios and the composers they have worked with but a show that demonstrated that games are so much more than things that are played, but also that video game music is a legitimate genre of classical music that deserves to be taken seriously by the wider music and entertainment community.
I can honestly say from the moment the first bars of the Crash Bandicoot Medley, which started the concert, began to the final notes of the Uncharted Medley, which closed out the show, I had a smile plastered to my face from start to finish. Jessica Curry’s hosting was superb, involving the audience, sharing Tweets and making jokes (Hastings is rough by all accounts) as well as sharing a genuine enthusiasm for the soundtracks that she was introducing, you could tell that she was invested in Video Game Music and this shone through throughout the concert. This was my first time seeing a full orchestra play, am I glad that it was the RPO! Their skill and professionalism were second to none, and you could see that the musicians thoroughly enjoyed playing these pieces. They took beloved tracks and played them flawlessly as well as making original arrangements of well-known pieces – The Last Of Us theme – normally played on a solo guitar – had an amazing arrangement that incorporated the vast majority of the full orchestra without losing the essence of the beloved track. The City Of London Choir joined us for the second half of the concert and man can they belt out a track. The entirely choir only piece (literally just the choir, no backing instruments at all) they performed from Jessica Curry’s Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture was hauntingly beautiful as well as their vocal talents to the Bloodborne and God of War pieces were amazing.
It was great to see such a varied audience in attendance, young and old, individuals, couples and groups as well as some of the composers themselves, which the audience gave justifiably rapturous applause to, I was pleasantly surprised to see the turnout as positive as it was. The distances that some of those in attendance traveled (New Zealand and the USA to name just two) just to see this concert speaks volumes about how much interest there is in Video Game Music. I only hope that more of these concerts start to become available and that those who organise music events see how wonderfully varied game soundtracks are. From the gothic (The Order 1886) to the futuristic (Horizon Zero Dawn), from JRPGs (Arc The Lad) to handheld puzzlers (echochrome), the music on offer was phenomenal and showed just how wonderfully varied video games are.
I am so glad that my first visit to the Royal Albert Hall, my first time seeing a live orchestra and my first time hearing a live choir, was to see this concert in person. I will not forget this event – and if there is to be another one in the future, I will be among the first in line to get a ticket.
Ramblings on games 