Video Games Live 2016

My first adventure
Written by Kamaru Kou

Stadium Negara: What’s a Car Park?
Saved myself trouble by parking at Sri Rampai instead, which cost me a flat rate of RM2 for the whole day. From there, I took the LRT over and got off at the Hang Tuah LRT station. Pretty thankful that I had decided this route of action, especially after listening to the horror stories that others had to face like getting summons, con jobs, and there was even a case of a car getting rammed by a truck…YIKES! D:

Pre-Concert: Decent Food
There was an impressive amount of food trucks available, though the set up was a little weird as some were stationed RIGHT in front of the entrance hall while the majority of food and drinks vendors were sent to set up their wares at the back of the stadium. Walk back and forth took extra effort, especially since the Malaysian weather is… SWELTERING! Nevertheless, there were tables and chairs provided and it was a pleasant experience having our meals under the tents surrounded by trees when we got there. Variety was good and the prices were pretty decent.

Video Games Live: The Concert Hall
I felt that the hall itself was a wee bit too big which had affected the overall ‘feel’ of some of the songs performed. Some really did hit the right notes, though others fell a little flat. Personally, I strongly feel that the acoustics would have been better suited for a smaller hall instead. This was exceptionally obvious to me during the performance for Metal Gear Solid. I’m a huge fan of this game (and its soundtrack) but the song performed did not give me the goose bumps that I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it. But it did not move me as much as the Zelda and Chrono Cross segments of the performance. For the songs involving the choir in the back, I could hardly hear them and couldn’t tell if they were a part of the score…or on standby until the theme for World of Warcraft was played. But again, I don’t blame the performers; it’s mostly to do with the venue itself.

Seating was alright, although there were some problems for a couple of my friends. I heard that when it had started raining, it quickly became a huge downpour! Some concert-goers had gotten slightly drenched by the rain that blew in from some leaky parts of the stadium. I admit the stadium itself is structurally old, but surely some measures could have been taken to avoid that considering the weather did look gloomy when we still had daylight.

A Performance Worth Watching
Going off-tangent for a bit; I cried buckets during the Legend of Zelda music performance. I admit I’m an emotional person and there are moments where I would feel overwhelmed and weep when things get out of hand. But when it comes to music, there has been very few occasions I’ve been introduced to music that have had moved me to tears. Eímear Noone and the rest of the performers had moved me to that point. The music just flowed through me, along with the visuals that was playing behind them on-screen. With those two combined, they were enough to trigger a lot of memories, emotions, feelings from past experiences. Reminding me of the times when I would boot up Legend of Zelda games on my Gameboy. It had all spiralled up until suddenly, I couldn’t take it anymore. I cried. It was so beautiful. I simply can’t put into words how good it felt. The closest that I can describe it is that it felt like I was meeting an old friend I haven’t seen in a long while and bringing them really close for a hug. A pleasant and warm sensation indeed. Just being there for that ONE song on its own was worth any setback or problem faced for the day. TOTALLY WORTH IT!

All in all, it was a good first experience. I will definitely give VGL another go when they come back the next time. Hopefully, the concert will get a better venue or at least, iron out the troublesome kinks that concert goers had to face this time around.