The Lord of the Rings Concert

Many months ago I found out about an upcoming concert: the music from Lord of the Rings performed live to film by an orchestra and chorus. I’m a big fan of movie scores and soundtracks – I have quite a collection of them, especially by composers like Hans Zimmer, Mateo Pascual, John Williams and Howard Shore. All three Lord of the Rings movies are in there, so going to see this live was a no-brainer.

I had two tickets – figured I would have someone to accompany me by now – but when that fell through I invited a friend to join me. Some colorful characters were in front of the theatre, including a Gandalf (who had to leave his staff at the coat check ) and some hobbits. I read that even Stephen Colbert was there.

The concert was absolutely great. They played the whole first movie (theatrical edition) with only the voice and fx tracks – the latter wasn’t very loud, so the music and voice was always over it. The solo parts were especially beautiful, as well as the chorus. The only disappointment was that people kept clapping when the credits started – at the names of the actors – while “May It Be” was being played. I understand you like the actors – I do too – but we went there tonight for the music. Clap after that finishes.

Anyway, it was a great experience. I’ll go next year when they’ll do the same thing for the second movie.