Okay, we’re fresh back off a London visit (our first in four years) to see Spiritfarer: The Farewell Melodies at Cadogan Hall. This was our first ever live video game music shindig and it happened to be for one of our favourite indie games.
The Lambert Jackson production featured a small group of six musicians to perform the various pieces of composer Max LL’s beautiful score. And this… is our review!
Spiritfarer Music Live in London
There doesn’t seem to have been a recording of the performance, which is a shame, but the above YouTube user did snap a bit of the show on their phone. We decided against recording anything to just, you know, enjoy the performance and all that.
But as you can see, footage of the game was played whilst the musicians did their thing. Lambert Jackson note on their site:
“Composer Max LL’s Original Soundtrack, from the critically-acclaimed video game, is brought to life by a live orchestra in this one-of-a-kind concert experience; an emotional voyage that blends the power of live music with scenes from one of the most moving games of all time.
It’s more than just a concert, this is an experience that captures what makes Spiritfarer so special ; the deep human connections, the quiet empathy, and the emotional and powerful weight of saying goodbye.
Just like in the game, the evening invites you to slow down, reflect, and feel.”
This was a one-off event, one night only, and no other performances are planned.
Despite a brief technical issue with a battery right at the start, which caused a short delay, no one on stage said anything all night! We’ve seen other attendees comment on this on Reddit and how it would’ve been nice to know a few details. But it was more in keeping with a classical music production. It’s about the music, words aren’t necessary.
Oh, but the big screen also failed briefly during the second act. This meant the video game footage no longer ran alongside the music for about 10 minutes.
But! It doesn’t matter, as the rest of the performance was pitch perfect. You can’t complain with hearing that in a setting such as Cadogan Hall (more on the venue further below). This was our view of everything.
And, yes, if you’re not a gamer you’ll be wondering what this is all about.
Well, here’s a note on the brilliant management sim Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition (2020), which is one of our favourite indie games. Not least due to the music, with the main theme opening the show.
The game is by Canadian indie dev Thunder Lotus Games, who are based in Montreal. We’re not sure why the event was held in London over Montreal, but that’s fine by us. We weren’t expecting to get this opportunity and gladly swooped in on a ticket when the event was announced.
Also, we’ve covered Max LL’s Spiritfarer score previously. It’s one of the best we’ve heard from the indie game world, swelling with orchestral pieces and amazing piano/violin flourishes.
However, Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis wasn’t at the venue.
As far as we’re aware, he didn’t have anything to do with this production (other than clearing the production company to go ahead with the project). If you’re intrigued, he has uploaded the whole Spiritfarer soundtrack on his YouTube channel, so if you have a spare hour this is well worth a listen.
It’s irked us in the past that we’ve not attended any video game concerts. There just haven’t been many in the North of England and this required us to take a big old trip down to London.
Totally worth it, though, as you get to experience music like this complemented by your happy memories of playing the game.
For us, this has all been a big privilege to see. The fact there was a live performance, and that it’s happened in England, with Spiritfarer, feels like one in a billion. But huzzah! It happened, we were there, and the performance was marvellous.
And a Few Notes on Cadogan Hall
The beautiful Cadogan Hall is a fantastic setting for this type of event. The 953 seat concert hall is in Sloane Terrace of Chelsea. It’s tucked away down some side streets, but lit up at night with some fancy lights.
And the building is notable for its stained glass windows designed by Danish nobleman Arild Rosenkrantz (1870-1964). Although it often hosts smaller acts with cult followings, last year Monty Python’s Michael Palin had a show there.
The performance kicked off at 19:30.
After the security geezer checked our bags and realised we weren’t stashing any bazookas, into the venue we did go. Happily, we had an aisle all to ourselves on the left of the auditorium with a great view.
It was tempting to rush the stage and do something stupid (i.e. a funky dance), but we put those feelings aside instead to enjoy the venue. Grand, historic, and very well designed architecturally to allow the flow of music across its hall.
