Symphony of the Goddess – Sydney Opera House

The Zelda Symphony in Australia? Yep, lucky for us the symphony likes to travel, and what better place to hold a concert than the Sydney Opera House? It was one of the most unique events I’ve ever experienced and here’s a quick recap with a few pictures.

There was no escape from the rain, just as there was no escape from jokes about the Song of Storms being played. It rained all 3 days I was in Sydney and the Symphony was no exception, not that I minded. It just made the day more epic. Once inside there were shitloads of people and everyone was really excited, it’s quite an awesome place and just as grand inside as it looks outside. There was a stall setup selling Zelda merchandise which wasn’t anything special, just shirts and posters. The shirts weren’t even green!

Sorry buddy, rupees aren’t a valid currency. After looking around a bit I took my seat and waited for the concert to start. EXCITING!

We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I snuck one in anyway between movements. Here you can see how big the screen is, and it was perfectly placed to show gameplay footage of each game as the music played in front. The instruments sounded incredible and the video took it to a whole new level. You could stare at the screen and feel like the instruments were around you and it gave new life to the events in the games. The player on the screen wasn’t perfect and displayed all the kinks and quirks of your average Zelda player, like pushing a statue from the wrong way and cutting all the grass in sight. I got a little annoyed when Link walked by a chest and didn’t open it, my instincts wanted Link to go back!

The conductor and producer were both awesome people and huge Zelda fans, throwing an introduction and a few jokes between each song. They brought out the Wind Waker for the Wind Waker movement which was unbelievable. The entire concert gave me goosebumps and there were a lot of nostalgic moments, I’m not going to say which moments in case some of you still get the chance to go and be surprised. The symphony knew when to ramp things up and the melody changed flawlessly, capturing all the different cute, funny, dramatic and wondrous moments Zelda is known for. It finished with an epic Majora’s Mask movement which really captured the intensity and helpless aura of Termina. I’ve never seen people clap longer than at the end of this show, it truly was amazing and the energy and acoustics of the room were perfect.

Cosplayers brought some fun and colour into the Opera House and I thought these guys were the best. There weren’t as many cosplayers as I expected, but potentially more showed up at the night session. Overall it was an awesome event and half a week later I’ve still got the songs in my head. It was a rare concert held up by the strength of not just the musical quality, but the nostalgia and history involved. I thought back to when I first played each game and the performances created an interesting headspace you wouldn’t explore in a normal symphony. It turned out to be the perfect formula and I’d love to see more videogame concerts like this, but Zelda really is the pinnacle. KOOLAH-LIMPAH!