I recently went to The PlayStation Concert, a live music event that Sony claims “redefines entertainment”. Featuring a live band and musical medleys from some of the biggest PlayStation franchises, I was keen as ever to hear the company’s storied history played out on stage as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.
To my surprise, PlayStation Concert was more a celebration of the last two generations than anything that came before, and the only thing it was “redefining” was what constitutes a live band.
That might be a bit harsh, because while I had my issues with the concert (which I’ll get into), I did still enjoy my evening of PlayStation musical goodness. Me and my friends laughed at references, cringed at some of the presenter’s patter, and revelled in just how good some of the soundtracks that accompany PlayStation titles really are.
What sets this event apart from other live bands or orchestras that I’ve been to in the past are the visuals. The PlayStation Concert utilises a massive high resolution screen behind its band, and then these five banners that drop down and retract over the front of the stage.
These banners have secondary animations, borders, or videos played over them, but you can still see through them, which allowed me to see the banners, the band, and the big screen all at the same time, creating some really cool overlays.
Each of the main medleys looked phenomenal, telling the stories of the games through images and animations, with the visuals always mixing things up. I was constantly scanning the stage for cool details, and it was easy to get lost in the experience of it all.
However, that level of immersion didn’t always last, because not everything was getting the full AAA treatment. Where some games had custom fully animated visuals, others were essentially an animated PNG.
Games like Uncharted and Bloodborne featured pretty much still images that didn’t really change at all during their five to ten minutes on stage. It was incredibly inconsistent, and whenever one of these lower-effort titles showed up, it was dull by comparison.
However, I’m obviously there for the music first and foremost and this is where The PlayStation Concert let me down the most, even if it wasn’t immediately apparent.
For starters, if you’re hoping for a true representation of PlayStation’s 30 years, you won’t find it here. Final Fantasy, Crash Bandicoot, Killzone, Resistance, inFAMOUS, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet and Clank and more were all completely missing from the show, despite numerous references to some throughout. There's likely a lot of legal tape stopping some of these from being included, but it doesn't stop me feeling like they should be.
Instead, the show focused on four big franchises, with some extras getting a tune or two in there. Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and God of War were the big four, all featuring 20 plus minute medleys. As much as I was disappointed by the lack of variety, these medleys were fantastic.
I’m not really a huge fan of the Horizon soundtrack, but it was especially rousing hearing music from key moments in Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and God of War. I regularly got goosebumps or even teared up a bit during these segments. To me it highlighted just how integral the music is for these projects.
I can’t say I’ve even thought about the music from Ghost of Tsushima since I completed it, but hearing the track that is played over the final confrontation of that game brought me right back, along with all the emotions that were synonymous with that scene.
You could hear a pin drop during the violin solo of The Last of Us, which emotionally covered Sarah's death all those years ago. Even today, it still packs a punch and it was even more powerful hearing it live, along with the accompanying visuals.
The biggest contradiction of this show however came with the big climactic soundtrack of God of War, which frequently uses big bombastic choirs along with its orchestra. The band that stood before on the stage was made up of two violinists (one was off with a stomach bug during my show), a cellist, two French horns, a trombone (who also played some other wind instruments), two drummers, two guitarists, and just two singers.
All of that is to say that The PlayStation Concert is supplemented with pre-recorded tracks. One section of the Ghost of Tsushima medley had a musician playing the Koto up on the big screen, not on stage. The God of War medley frequently featured back-up choir members broadcasted on the screen, while just two singers stood on stage.
The more I listened to the show the more I realised that what I was hearing just simply couldn’t be coming from the people on stage alone. And while from an audio standpoint it all sounded fantastic, knowing that I’d paid money to only see half an orchestra perform live was a bit disappointing, and it took away part of the magic.
I think that’s why The Last of Us worked the best for me. Outside of just being a massive fan, this iconic franchise has a very minimalistic soundtrack, making it playable solely from those on stage. You could see the people actually playing the songs and you knew the sound you were hearing was coming from them. Whereas the lead singer standing dramatically during God of War’s big climax could have been miming for all I know.
I'd rather have a barebones visual experience with an actual full orchestra and choir, because at the end of the day, PlayStation games have some phenomenal soundtracks that are good enough on their own to entertain.
Visual inconsistencies and audio woes aside, I did still enjoy my time at The PlayStation Concert. The music was fantastic, the visuals were incredible most of the time, and there were plenty of fun moments, like being served a cup of liber-tea during a brief Helldivers 2 segment.
If you have an emotional attachment to some of these franchises like I do, then the experience of listening to them in a big stadium surrounded by hundreds of PlayStation fans with a (mostly) live band, will be enough to ensure a good time. And that’s exactly what I had: a good time. I just wished it covered a wider gamut of PlayStation’s history and had done more to remain truly “live”.
Did anyone else manage to get out to the PlayStation Concert? Which PlayStation soundtrack would you love to hear live? Let us know down in the comments below.
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I quess that’s the reason it was cancelled/postponed in so many countries. Mine was cancelled unfortunately but i just have one question—— how long was it overall?!
quite an interesting read here, thanks for sharing the experience!
I won't be bothering with this concert then. A PlayStation classic like Shadow of the Colossus not being there is inexcusable. One of the most iconic soundtracks of all time being brushed aside in favor of the frankly generic by comparison Horizon soundtrack is a cardinal sin.
These sound like complaints that I would also have were I to see the show. My city's local orchestra did an evening of video game music where they played everything from Tetris and Zelda all the way up to Megalovania with the full orchestra. It was incredible. Stripped down versions (maybe with a string quartet) could be cool. But this hybrid approach sounds unsatisfying.
I went last week and had a similar experience. Really really enjoyed it but was lacking in some areas.
That's a shame, I was there last night and loved it. The main God of war theme was my highlight but the female singer was excellent. I was only 3 rows from the front so I got the full brunt of the instruments which maybe enhanced it for me.
I was at the Manchester gig and it was genuinely fully amazing. I didn’t expect that Bloodborne track in the first act so that was a great surprise. I don’t think anybody expected a full orchestra when you think how cheap the tickets were. Great night.
No Ratchet & Clank, the one franchise aside from GoW that has stayed around consistently from PS2-PS5 (FFA even got a Vita version!), is criminal. Anyways, it sounds like they should have picked pieces that fit better with the limited orchestra on hand rather than backing up with recordings, there's certainly options for that through PS history.
@Djice1989 2hrs with a 20min interval. It was good, but also shorter than it should have been
I'm going tomorrow in Amsterdam. Looking forward!
Excellent review of the show. Was properly gutted when I couldn’t afford tickets at the time but after reading this I’m glad. What a letdown.
Would gladly have had reduced medleys for more classic soundtracks.
If anyone is wondering about the merch, £45 for t-shirts (plus a free pin for game specific t-shirts) and £85 for a hoodie. Cheaper merch was available.
I went to see this with my son and we had a great time! It was always billed as primarily showing God of War, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us, so anything else just felt like a bonus for us, especially Helldivers, Bloodborne, and the encore which I won’t spoil.
Some of the visuals were genuinely sensational and I haven’t really seen anything like them before. My favourite was definitely Ghost of Tsushima which was stunning, though I’d agree there were a couple of the smaller pieces where the visuals felt a little phoned in.
I thought the music was really good overall, and excellent in places, particularly The Last of Us. And the singers were both exceptional.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a full orchestra, and I did wonder if they’d had to scale it back a bit due to ticket sales, but it didn’t detract too much from the overall experience. There’s just nowhere else you can experience these games like this.
Your article pretty much reflected my experience and feelings on the show. Featuring Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian in their showreel at the start meant later disappointed. But yes, it was definitely a celebration of the last two gens rather than 30 years of Playstation. Have to say, my favourite part what was Astro.
I Wonder who picks the music for these concerts because chances are who ever is in charge is probably is only familiar with Sony's more recent work rather than their older stuff
I was at the London gig and really enjoyed it. I agree with most of your comments, but just great to hear these soundtracks played out on stage. GOW was the highlight for me.
On a different but slightly similar “note”…
If you have the chance to go to a Hanz Zimmer concert…do it. Absolutely epic.
If the PS concert could strive for that level of production value it will be amazing.
I can't comment on the concet itself, but I am quite disappointed by how Sony handles the cancelling/changing of dates. In my country, ticket sales are 'paused' for some two months, but with three weeks to concert date, there are still no official informations what is going on, no email, no press release.. They just leave everyone who bought tickets in the dark..
Unless PaRappa comes on stage and does the "I need the toilet" rap I ain't going.
Absolutely agree with this review. It was good in parts but very inconsistent throughout. It was fun but I wouldn’t say it delivered on what it promised for sure. Standout was Astro bot.
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