Musically Inclined – PlayStation The Concert Announced

Video game music is something I hold near and dear to my heart, listening to it often. Listening to various tunes from the Sonic series is common on my daily commutes but many game scores stick with me. With great success with SEGA’s Sonic Symphony World Tour and many others, PlayStation is throwing its note in the ring.

PlayStation – The Concert Announced

Senior Director of Sony Interactive Communications, Sid Shuman, revealed this video-game-themed concert experience, stating the following in a lengthy PlayStation Blog post;

And so for the many live music lovers in our community, I’m pleased to share that the teams here at PlayStation have been working together with RoadCo Entertainment, and GEA Live to develop a groundbreaking live music event that brings our most iconic gaming soundtracks to life under the PlayStation banner for the first time. With a state-of-the-art production, this show will merge thrilling music, cutting-edge visuals, and legendary video game titles into an unforgettable experience.  

Franchises revealed thus far for this concert experience include God of War, Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, and Horizon. Other franchises will be featured at the concert, but aren’t revealed as of this writing.

What Franchises Should be Included?

As someone who has been to shows like Sonic Symphony and Distant Worlds, PlayStation has a tough act to follow. Those franchises leveraged an extensive library to pull from and adapt to a new medium.

Sonic benefited from the wide variety of genres the series covered, while Final Fantasy’s amazing scores just added much emotional weight with an orchestra playing them.

However, PlayStation could lean into specific franchises for this experience that could impress, being on the level of a Sonic Symphony.

Uncharted

This franchise is a movie score and I could easily imagine a beautiful montage of the series iconic moments to Nate’s Theme.

This theme is iconic to PlayStation and defines the PlayStation 3 era for the company. Even as a casual Uncharted fan, this tune always makes me tear up a little, imagining my adventure and loving every moment of Uncharted 2 back in 2011.

PaRappa The Rapper

When I think of a franchise that would benefit from a live audience, it has to be PaRappa the Rapper. A few of the first two games’ iconic tracks being performed, with the performers encouraging the audience to join in on the rapping sounds so fun!

It would be similar to the Act 2 of the Sonic Symphony, where the performers encouraged the audience to sing along.

Ratchet & Clank

The series may be known for its creative weapons and charming stories, but one aspect of the series that people sleep on is the soundtrack. During the PS2-era installments, the soundtrack was varied, surprisingly emotional, and got the blood pumping.

Seeing this era of the series being celebrated, alongside music from Rift Apart and A Crack in Time would be amazing as a long-time fan of the series.

Tearaway

A deep cut for sure, and one most recent PlayStation fans likely never experienced. It was a 3D platformer developed for the PlayStation Vita by Media Molecule, the makers of LittleBigPlanet and Dreams, one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with a PlayStation game.

The amount of heart, love, and passion is on par with what Nintendo typically offers with Super Mario and Kirby. This extended into its masterful score from Kenneth C M Young and Brian D’Oliveira, having a soundtrack that made you smile as often as it made you emotional.

They could represent this game through two melodies, one covering the game’s ‘Between the Pages’ or ‘Gibbet Hill’ stages. The former is one of the game’s final challenges, having a heavy emotional weight that still strives to push the player on. While the latter starts somber but quickly becomes almost heroic. Both could make for powerful scores that could make the audience emotional in the best ways.

Closing Thoughts

I know that my choices will likely not be covered, knowing PlayStation will focus only on the franchises set for movie or TV show adaptations. But if you are making a PlayStation concert, I hope some deep cuts or ‘lesser’ franchises get the love they deserve.

And I’m only scratching the surface of PlayStation’s massive library of franchises. I could make this article quite a bit longer. But these are just some of what I would like to see present at the concert.

Will you try to see PlayStation’s biggest franchises in a new way? Let us know in the comments below!