Apparently VGL is coming to Edmonton, Alberta for two days in Jan 07.  Now I know how most people on this board here feel about Tommy Tallarico, but is the concert itself still worth going to, or not for anyone else who's been to one here?  What sort of guests usually show up at them (i.e. does anyone come that can say for example sign a Final Fantasy whatever OST, or something similar to that)?

Edmonton?! That's, like, 3 hours from where I live! Are you going to it?

I travelled halfway across the country by train to see Play in Chicago, and it was well worth it. Can't say anything about VGL, but I'd recommend checking out Play if/when it's ever around your neck of the woods. I'm not even sure if the tour is still up and running, but it was a real sweet show.

And the company was good too, right?  Nudge, nudge.

Oh, absolutely. A shot of Jager and good times for everyone, aye?

Play was awesome, but my sis said VGL was missable.  They didn't even have a full orchestra here in Toronto.  Apparently it was half synth which she said was kinda crappy.

i had front row at dear friends and regular seats at play in chicago. but i dont think id go to see another one unless it was a rock/metal version.  and this is considering i live less than 10 miles from the Rosemont theater (less than 5 miles if i cut across runway 09/27)

I've been to 2 VGL concerts, both at the Hollywood Bowl (the debut one more than a year ago, then again a few weeks ago).  Both times were well worth it.  They had a fair amount of glitches and poorly-executed ideas at the first show, but they were ironed out by the second show.

It's a different experience from Play! (which I saw in Chicago).  It's not just the orchestra playing; there are video screens which show clips from the games edited together to match the music, like in a movie trailer (it works really well IMO).  The stage has a fancy colored light show going on, which isn't distracting, but isn't the sort of thing you would see at a fancier concert.  There are also some interactive segments (a contest where someone plays Frogger with the audience playing in tune to his movements), and it's generally more of a fun, family-friendly type of show than Play!, which felt more like a semi-formal night at the symphony.

As for the music, it's more focused on American VGM than Japanese VGM, though they played Metal Gear Solid, Sonic, Mario and Zelda, for example.  Also, don't expect much in the way of Final Fantasy: Square was reluctant to give them the rights to FF music, so they're somewhat limited in what they can play.  At the first show, they did One-Winged Angel by a solo pianist--think about that for a second.  At the last show, they did do One-Winged Angel by the whole orchestra and choir, which was good, but I don't know if that will continue.  Also, Square won't let them show any clips from their games, so both segments were entirely without video clips (not like that ruined the music or anything).  The same applied to Kingdom Hearts, so to compensate, they instead did a montage of clips from Disney movies.  It still worked well IMO.

BTW, how do most people here feel about Tommy Tallarico?  The only thing I've heard is Advent Rising, which I liked, and he seemed like a cool-enough guy at the show.

Tommy Tallarico is like that cocky dude in high school that never really talks about himself that much directly, but at the same time the only thing he actually talks about is how awesome he is. It's pretty interesting, considering that his pinnacle was Earthworm Jim.

Well, in all fairness, I'd be a little cocky myself if I scored the soundtrack to EWJ. It's tight.

Mark Miller scored it. (Oh the irony...)

Get the shit outta here! What about EWJ2? I have been thinking that Tallarico penned these two soundtracks for a long, long time. Gah! Crossed lines! Accidental Tallarico praise!

*washes hands*

http://www.gmronline.com/info.asp?CatNumber=none0277

Make what you want of that...I'm not doubting for a second Mark Miller was the composer, but I really don't see his name there...GMR error or intentionally misleading?

Hrmmm...

This is the clue I guess.

Yeah, I saw that but:

Ambiguous, no?