Game Of Thrones: Live Concert Experience

Have you ever experienced the overwhelming feeling of excitement, joy, pride, anger, sorrow, vengefulness, relief, laughter, and hope all in 2 hours?  Well, that feeling could be described as simply “watching Game of Thrones”. Before I go any further, it’s no secret that spoilers may lie ahead.

On Sunday night in Denver, Colorado, the Pepsi Center fills up with the biggest nerds to roam the Seven Kingdoms. Fans wait in long lines to take their photos in front of Meereen, The Wall, and even Kings Landing on a fun green screen PhotoBooth provided by HBO. As we head toward our seats, the lights begin to dim and the voice of Cersei Lannister (actress Lena Headey) projects throughout the arena.  "Should you not silence your phones, I will burn cities to the ground and the blood of your children will pay for your crimes for generations to come”. This receives a huge round of laughter and applause from the audience. 

A moment later, the German-Iranian composer, Ramin Djawadi, who has written all of the music for series, starts the show by conducting an 80-piece orchestra and choir on a 360-degree stage. (Most of the choir being a local Denver choir group). Their voices sound like indescribable angelic instruments accompanied by the band of traveling talented musicians. The violinist and all of the percussion members all dressed head to toe in Westeros attire.

The beginning of the musical journey opens up with the extremely iconic “Main Title” theme from the show which immediately gives me goosebumps. During which, the imagery on the screens captures every house one by one. Cheers are heard throughout the entire arena as audience members begin to shout for their favorite characters as they see the Stark family, the Targaryens and finally the Lannisters appear on the gigantic screen above us. The house banners appear at the end of the song, showcasing every family and their Sigil with their iconic words. Then suddenly, there are fire sparks and sword sharpening sounds as the Iron Throne rises from the middle of the stage. This is a mic drop moment. 

Every single piece of music is timed flawlessly to the video montage clips on the screen. Only a very few times were words spoken from the clips, because the music and imagery said enough for the fans. The entire show chronicles the journey of various individual characters as well as family story lines. One of the first being The Starks. A violinist heads to the very front of the stage and plays a lullaby song as the iconic red and white Weirword trees forms around her. The leaves eventually fall off of the tree and into the audience, symbolizing the start of Winter and the major deaths of those in the Stark House.

The rest of the experience portrays all of the major story lines of the fight to the Iron Throne. They begin with Stannis Baratheon, then the Greyjoys, the Lannisters, the Boltons, and of course follows Dany’s epic journey to become Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons.

As Dany’s story is told, the crowd cheers “Mhysa!” in support of her claim to the Throne. When her dragons appear, actual fire shoots out from the stage at the exact moment that they spit fire on the screen. Directly after this, the concert cuts to Jon Snow being brought back to life- and the audience screams together in solidarity. Actual snow (white pieces of paper) begins to fall from the sky as the orchestra plays along to Jon’s battle against the White Walkers. I think everyone had chills. 

The show ends with the beautiful standout piece that plays during the final episode of season 6 (the most recent season) as Cersei Lannister prepares to send the High Septon and the Tyrells to their deaths. No words were spoken during this scene in the show, making it a very memorable composition that the audience immediately recognized with a collaborative sigh insinuating “Oh no… we know what’s coming next”. The piece is beautifully arranged to the images on screen, the editing of these montages to the music is so precise.

If you don’t already know, Cersei lights Wildfire underneath the building holding the religious fanatics who plan to put her on trial for her incestuous  relationship with her brother Jaime. As the fire lights up, hundreds in Kings Landing are blown up, and actual green fire shoots from the stage as the music rises.

We have to say, this show is correctly labeled an “Experience”. It truly pulls you into the world that George R.R. Martin has created. After a standing ovation from the entire arena, the level of appreciation for Ramin Djawadi and his vision greatly increased.  The new season starts July 16th, and although it has been unseasonable warm in Denver lately and definitely will be in July, Winter is Coming! 

Words and Images- Stephanie Mathena

GAME OF THRONES® LIVE CONCERT EXPERIENCE - AN IMMERSIVE MUSIC AND VISUAL EXPERIENCE FEATURING RAMIN DJAWADI

Concept art of Game of Thrones® Live Concert Experience

Enter the world of Westeros with the Game of Thrones® Live Concert Experience -- an immersive music and visual experience that will bring the Seven Kingdoms to life on a scale never seen before.  Using state-of-the-art technology, Game of Thrones® composer Ramin Djawadi, along with a full orchestra and choir, will take fans on a musical journey through the realm - from King's Landing to Winterfell, along the northern stretches of the Kingsroad to The Wall and across the Narrow Sea to Braavos, Meereen and beyond.  Fans of the groundbreaking, critically-acclaimed and Emmy® Award-winning show will finally have an opportunity to immerse themselves in the Game of Thrones® universe through the breathtaking score created by Ramin Djawadi.

As rich as the stories, intrigue and world of Game of Thrones®, Ramin's celebrated music for the show resonated immediately with fans as the meticulously constructed songs underscored the emotional weight of key moments between beloved characters, lent scale to massive battle sequences or brought to life songs referenced in the books.  Ramin's relentlessly popular title track alone has become instantly recognizable as a pop culture phenomenon in its own right.  Fan enthusiasm for the music from Game of Thrones® continues to grow with each season.

The tour, produced and promoted exclusively by Live Nation inpartnership with HBO Global Licensing, will use innovative music tour production and video technology that will recreate the various realms found throughout Westeros and Essos as well as showcase footage from the show in addition to all new imagery created exclusively for the tour.  Beginning its journey on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 in Kansas City, Mo., the highly-anticipated tour will visit 28 cities across North America with shows scheduled at famed live music venues including Madison Square Garden in New York City and the Forum in Los Angeles as well as arenas in Montreal, Boston, Houston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Washington DC and more. 

Tickets go on sale starting Saturday, August 13 at www.livenation.com. American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Wednesday, August 10 at 10:00 a.m. through Friday, August 12 at 10:00 p.m.   

Ramin Djawadi's previous credits include the Grammy® nominated score for Marvel's 2008 blockbuster, Iron Man.  Other film credits include Pacific RimClash Of The Titans and Warcraft.  In addition to Game Of Thrones®, Ramin also garnered Emmy® Award nominations for other television projects including Flash Forward (ABC) and Prison Break (FOX).  Among Ramin's upcoming projects is the highly anticipated HBO® series, Westworld.

Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones® is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal.  The Emmy®- and Golden Globe Award-winning series has captured the imagination of fans globally, making it one of the most popular shows on television.

"For the past six seasons of Game of Thrones, I have been tremendously inspired to compose music to David Benioff's and D.B. Weiss' extraordinary adaption of George R.R. Martin's epic 'A Song of Fire and Ice' series," says Ramin Djawadi.  "Now, by combining the music with state of the art technology, we are going to bring the astonishing world of Westeros to fans in a live and unique concert experience."

"For seven years, Ramin has been blowing our mind with his music's force, subtlety, and endless inventiveness," said Game of Thrones® creators/executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.  "The GoT Concert Experience will be unique in the history of concert tours, an eye-popping, ear-splitting, phantasmagoric blend of the show's visuals and Ramin's powerful compositions.  We are more excited for it than anyone."

"Game of Thrones has one of the most engaged audiences in television," said Josh Goodstadt, Vice President, HBO Global Licensing.  "We can't wait to see fans and newcomers alike immerse themselves in Ramin's incredible music and the world of Westeros through this epic concert experience."

"Live Nation is honored to be partners with HBO and Ramin Djawadi in bringing fans of the hit series a spectacular live experience centered around the music of Game of Thrones and performed using cutting edge technology to create a show unlike anything seen before," says Omar Al-Joulani, SVP, North American Touring at Live Nation. 

The Best of Denver Comic Con 2016

One of the lucky things we get to do around here is let our guard down from time to time, in other words reach into our inner geek sanctum. Let's all face it we all have a bit of nerd inside us all. Our fair city played host (to among what seemed 300 other events) the Denver Comic Con on Father's Day weekend. With record breaking numbers upwards of 110,000+ it was the place to be. Three days full of panels, vendors, cosplay, sci-fi and fantasy and more. In fact Denver's version of comic con although still in it's infancy has become one of the biggest in the country trailing only cons in San Diego and New York.

Record attendance of upward of 110,000+ at this years Denver Comic Con

Denver Comic Con as mentioned has only been around for five years but has already made its mark amongst the youth in our city by promoting Pop Culture Classroom. This initiative aims to provide kids an outlet at con to attend and participate in panels, workshops, and use the abundance of resources provided by some of the industry's most beloved professionals in the field. Everything from storytelling to drawing are part of this event and seeing kids use their creativity is something we loved seeing as we witnessed it for three days.

Toys, Toys, and more Toys!!!

Another part of Denver Comic Con is the massive showroom that takes residency at the convention center. This is full of vendors hawking everything from posters to exclusive toys to one of a kind comic books. In fact if you have never attended a comic con set aside some funds as you will spend money one way or another. We found ourselves geeking out over toys all over the place, and yes we did overspend our budget, but hey that's part of attending an event like this. One of our favorite things is getting to sample the official beer of Comic Con every year by Breckenridge Brewery. This year they unveiled their Snape-ricot Ale which also came with an awesome collectors pint. 

Heeelllooo Harley!

The War Boys were in the building!

On elf the other highlights of every comic con is people dressed in cosplay every year. This isn't your typical Halloween party get up either. We are talking crazy, over the top, insane costumes. Some so good you would think they were straight from the movie studio. As with every year we notice trends of popular characters every year, for example last year you couldn't turn left or right without seeing somebody dressed as Deadpool. This year we managed to see our fair amount of Rey from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a few from Mad Max: Fury Road, but probably the most popular would be Harley Quinn from the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. They were everywhere, we even managed to see a male Harley Quinn (we are still trying to unsee that as we speak). Aside from cosplay one of the other awesome opportunities is getting to see some of tv and movies best in the celebrity area. This year the main attraction was none other than the legendary Stan Lee. He had lines wrapped around the convention all three days with most people waiting hours just to meet and have their photo taken with the main responsible for introducing us to all of our childhood (and adult) superheroes. Other notables were casts from Game of Thrones, Gotham, The Karate Kid, and more. Walking around and seeing Ralph Macchio, it was hard not to think about the importance of "the crane" technique and how it has revolutionized the modern art of kung-fu. Anyways, this was by far the best Denver Comic Con that we have covered and we expect it to keep growing and growing. We will be at San Diego Comic Con in a few weeks and cannot wait to report back from San Diego stay tuned. Check out our slideshow of some of the best images we captured!