JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Video game composer and the man behind “Video Games Live,” Tommy Tallarico is bringing his show to the Bold City with the Jacksonville Symphony on September 19. The show features Tallarico and the Jacksonville Symphony playing iconic music from popular video game franchises. Tallarico sat down with WOKV’s Chase Bunker ahead of the show to talk all things “Video Games Live,” reviewing video games, and playing older video games today.

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“It’s all of the greatest video game music, played by a full symphony and choir, but synchronized with video... and big video screen, rock and roll lighting, stage show productions. So I kind of describe it as having all of the power and emotion of a symphony orchestra, but combined with the energy and excitement of a rock concert. So it’s a real kind of full celebration of the video game industry and the art and the music behind it,” says Tallarico on describing “Video Games Live” to those who are unfamiliar with it.

Tallarico says the show started 23 years ago with fellow video game composer Jack Wall. “We put it together initially, and everyone thought we were nuts. ‘Who would go to see a video game concert?’” says Tallarico, reminiscing on the concert’s origins. “’People who go to the symphony don’t play video games, and people who play video games don’t go to the symphony, so no one’s going to show to your dumb thing.’ But you know, we believed in it so much. We put everything we had into it. All of our time, energy, resources, money, whatever. We did our very first show ever at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Philharmonic, [...] and they’re like ‘you’re lucky if you sell over 500 tickets,’ and over 11,000 people showed up to that first show, and all of a sudden we’re not that crazy.”

Tickets for “Video Games Live” are on sale now. Check out the full interview to see if Tallarico regrets giving a game a certain score when he was a critic and hear Tommy and Chase talk about their love for the 2003 game “Beyond Good & Evil.”

You can find more of Chase’s interviews in the Chase Chats section of WOKV.com