How Video Games in Concert made me feel old – Reader’s Feature

metro.co.uk:

A reader offers his review of the recent Video Games in Concert event at the Royal Albert Hall and why he felt he didn’t quite fit in.

Last week saw the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra appear at the Royal Albert Hall, playing orchestrated arrangements of video game music (VGM) in Video Games in Concert. Eímear Noone, best known for her contributions to various Blizzard games, took over conducting duties and was accompanied by both the Crouch End Festival Chorus and guest vocalist Aisling McGlynn (as heard in the recently released Crono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition).

For those who weren’t aware, Classic FM broadcast the High Score show, which is dedicated to VGM and which Noone has presented since 2019; this concert was essentially a live version accompaniment to that series. Whilst I was aware of the programme’s existence, I was not aware of the community that had built around it, with regular feedback and build-up between Noone and the listeners through social media.

I found out about the concert through the venue itself, so attended with the blind expectation of being given a variety of music covering different genres and time periods throughout the history of video gaming, but was instead offered music that leaned heavily towards modern titles. This compares differently to the well-established Video Games Live concert series, which delves equally into both old and new titles. However, in fairness, I do acknowledge that the person responsible for that series (Tommy Tallarico) has been exposed to the music industry over a decade longer than Noone.

That said, I don’t want this to be considered criticism: the music was a joy to listen to and the comments of appreciation from Noone to the audience sounded genuine. It’s