Video games can very easily be argued as a convergence of artistic expressions that are open to everyone and can grow communities as a result. They establish a common language of appreciation. Character design, worldbuilding, gameplay, and key story beats all combine to create a set of interest points that fans can latch on to. A video game’s musical score, though, is perhaps one of the most potent elements in that communal space. Specific songs or themes become anthems of sorts that bring video game aficionados together to relive special moments from the stories they love. Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy VII, are all great examples of this.
New York City’s The Town Hall, a one-hundred-year-old performance space located in Times Square, is building an impressive lineup of video game, anime, and pop culture concerts that honor the unique qualities of each source by treating them with the respect they deserve. This past Saturday, February 22nd, they added the world premiere of the first official Shovel Knight concert, subtitled “Steel Thy Concert,” to their resumé. Shovel Knight is a retro-styled indie platformer that took the gaming world by storm with its tough-but-fair difficulty and 8-bit styled soundtrack, which fans have been raving about since it released back in 2014. Whenever fans spoke of the game, they made sure the music was given the praise it deserved. Based on the audience’s energy and the loud show of admiration that accompanied each song throughout the concert, to say the event was a massive success is underselling it.
The concert, a combination of orchestral music and rock, was led by Charlie Rosen, the bandleader and arranger of The 8-Bit Gang (a Grammy-winning 33-65piece jazz orchestra). Rosen and original Shovel Knight composer Jake Kaufman made the arrangements for the performance, which included music from the base game along with all its DLC expansions. Lead designer for Yacht Club Games Sean Velasco was a featured guest and made an appearance to talk a bit about the legacy of the game and how integral the score was in the process of making it.
The concert was a dual experience. The music was the obvious star, but there was also an HD projection of the game being played in the background. It worked to showcase the unbreakable bond between game and music. In a sense, the gameplay video acted as a reminder that games should never be played with the sound muted. Doing so robs them of their spirit. And Shovel Knight has a particularly powerful spirit thanks to its score.
Rosen and company did an admirable job of translating the original retro soundtrack into rock orchestra, making the metal and classical influences Kaufman tapped into for the game come through in a more pronounced manner. It pulled off an intricate balance between interpretation and fidelity that made the concert version feel like it could step in as the official soundtrack without betraying Kaufman’s work at any moment. This is perhaps the best compliment one can pay Rosen and his band. They produced something that feels right at home within the game’s universe, that belongs there.
The Town Hall’s acoustics are incredible, and it really made the concert sound as epic as the adventure that inspired it. Every instrument got the chance to shine throughout, helping elevate the artistry behind the music. A saxophone solo at one point felt like a call to pick up shovels and rush to battle. The electric guitar, an instrument that is often accused of hogging all the attention, went from taking the lead to complementing the band as a whole. And the drums controlled the intensity, going from grandiosity to soft thunder when needed. It made you appreciate the work that’s put into these scores in surprising ways. Nothing about the show felt like it was tailored for fans exclusively, or that it was but an indulgence meant to satisfy a few gamers. The composition of the audience confirmed this. Fans made a huge chunk of those in attendance, but people from all walks were there and they were either revisiting the game through music or being introduced to it.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Rosen treated us to a surprise piece from Yacht Club Games’ upcoming project Mina: The Hollower, an old-school Zelda-inspired adventure that looks to use nostalgia to its advantage the same way Shovel Knight did. It came across as a celebration of the developer and a promise that the same love for music present in previous games was going to carry over.
The minute I returned home from the concert, I went straight to my Nintendo Switch and redownloaded Shovel Knight. This time, though, I did something I didn’t do the first time I played it. I took out my headphones, plugged them in, and cranked up the volume. It turned the game into a whole new experience, and it taught me a valuable lesson in the process: never take video game music for granted. Acknowledge the nuances, try to identify the influences, and pick favorite tracks. All this to say that if you haven’t done so yet, keep an eye out and go enjoy one of these concerts live in a place like The Town Hall. It’ll change the way you listen to video games.
Just made me grab tickets to the LA show in March.
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