When Game of Thrones and HBO announced they would be bringing a live concert tour around the United States, I’ll be honest, I was quite skeptical. How could the HBO hit TV show bring the same energy and intensity in the form of a concert?
The event, which stopped by Nationwide Arena on Thursday, served as an opportunity for fans of the show, to come check out the spectacle.
Through the use of TV clips, visuals, props, choreography and vocals, they managed to mirror the fan experience of the show. It was simply incredible. At times, it was mystifying to the point where I would lose myself in the concert because it felt like I was watching the show for the first time.
The show, which started about 30 minutes or so late because of some traveling issues addressed by composer Ramin Djawadi, started slow. The first visual on the big screen was of a white bird flying from left to right. It then pivoted to an explosion filled with vibrant red and orange colors and white smoke before it went dark. Djawadi entered the stage, and the show began.
When theme music sifted away; footage of characters from show started playing on the screen. Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Cersei Lannister, they were all there. As the characters went along, it was almost like a trip down memory lane.
The orchestra then played a somber tune that was not only beautiful but it elicited the feeling of misanthropy followed by a sense of deep emotional attachment. It drew the audience in an almost cerebral way before paying tribute to the fallen characters in the show such as Jon Snow (the first death) and Ned Stark. If that wasn’t enough, the vocals that accompanied the song towards the end were magnificent and gave the audience a real first look at the lead vocalist Stephanie Alexander.
I could go on and on about the show but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the two performances that stuck out to me. The first being portrayal of “The Wall” and second the individual performance by the lead vocalist singing “The Rains of Castamere.”
If you aren’t familiar with the show, “The Wall” is essentially a battle between the night’s watch and the White walkers (zombie like creatures) at Castle Black. As the clip from the battle scene was playing, all of a sudden I saw this man. This man was holding a rather peculiar looking horn. He began to play a solo, which sounded almost like that of a didgeridoo. It was perplexing to say the least. But as he went on to to play it, the sound it made was just so elegant and enjoyable that it complemented the scene at Castle Black very nicely. By the end I didn’t want him to stop playing.
“The Rains of Castamere” is a monumental song. For fans, the tune reminds them of the “Red Wedding” episode. It is somber and very slow but when Alexander sang the song, I was simply blown away. It was absolutely incredible. She built up her voice subtly and gradually and by the end of the song, you could hear how loud and amazing her voice was. It was simply stunning.
I could highlight every part of the show because it was that good, but it would be quite boring and redundant to do so. What stuck with me after the show was that the concert brought life into each act of Game of Thrones. Not just the notable scenes, every scene.
And for that reason, is why the concert was everything and more than I anticipated it would be. Season seven can’t come soon enough.
Only three more months to go.
