Play! A Video Game Symphony is a touring concert series that combines live orchestra music with footage from videogames. In essence you listen to videogame “soundtracks” while watching corresponding clips on three large screens.
Play! came to SLC last week for one night, with the cooperation of the Utah Symphony. Jason and I, along with a few of our gamer friends, decided to attend this event. Since I don’t really play videogames I was only familiar with a few of the pieces on the program but the boys in my group, and most of the crowd, seemed to recognize the bulk of them. The audience was very enthusiastic about their favorites.
It was a fun and strange night, a night in which the refined and the not-so-cultural became almost indistinguishable. The social confusion was uncanny enough to make me feel a bit like I had entered a parallel universe, one in which nerdy customs were considered the height of sophistication. Dang it! I just used the term “parallel universe”. Now I have revealed my geeky underbelly and ruined my credibility as a gamer defamer. Oh well, as the old adage goes, if you can’t beat them you better play nonstop until you can!