Video Games Live is the largest and most successful video game concert in the world, having performed worldwide to over 300,000 people by 2009 [2]. The concert's debut performance took place on July 6th, 2005 at the Hollywood Bowl featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Over 11,000 audience members participated in the largest video game concert at that time. Video Games Live was the first video game concert to ever perform in Canada, The United Kingdom, Brazil and New Zealand. It is also the first U.S. video game concert to perform in Asia at the 12,000 seat Olympic Park Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.
The concert features a broad spectrum of video game music, including Final Fantasy, Halo, World of Warcraft, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear Solid, as well as retro arcade games such as Tetris and Asteroids.
In addition to the music, VGL concerts also include video footage from the games, synchronized to the music and projected on large screens at performances. Due to the environment of the show, all footage is approved for all ages by the ESRB, meaning graphic violence in some of the game music played (ie: Halo, Medal of Honor, God of War) is never shown during a concert. Some VGL concerts may also include exclusive "never-before-seen" video game footage from games that have yet to be released. In contrast to all the other video games featured, SquareSoft has currently opted to retain exclusive performance rights to their Final Fantasy video footage, preventing it from being shown at the Video Games Live event. SquareSoft previously organized a competing series of Final Fantasy music concerts called Dear Friends: Music From Final Fantasy. Footage from the Kingdom Hearts series is also prohibited; instead, footage from Disney films represented in the Kingdom Hearts series are shown.
VGL also boasts energetic lighting (also synchronized with the music), special fx, interactive music segments with the crowd, pre and post show festival activities, and interactive onstage games for selected audience members to participate in. Examples include an onstage Frogger competition, and a "live-action" rendition of Space Invaders.
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