Game of Thrones fans bid farewell to the hit fantasy television series back in May, but winter was very much still here at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Friday night (Oct. 4).
Emmy award-winning composer Ramin Djawadi kept the spirit of Westeros alive with his Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience tour. The Iron Throne was ominously displayed center stage all night while an orchestra delivered the iconic, moving soundtrack live. Scenes from the show played chronologically in the background, reminding the crowd of all the emotional moments throughout the epic’s eight seasons.
And, boy, were the fans invested. From the devastating silence in the venue during heartbreaking moments such as Ned Stark’s beheading and the Red Wedding, to cheers of triumph and “House Stark!” proclamations as Arya Stark slays the Night King and Jon Snow’s eyes shoot open after his lifeless body was revived from Melisandre’s magic, each moment that made the show so captivating in the first place was given an extra layer of passion thanks to the live musical element.
The performance of “Dracarys” was fiery—literally, as pyrotechnics shot from the stage along with a powerful violin accompaniment to intensify and solidify Daenerys Targaryen’s reign as the Mother of Dragons.
An easy standout moment from the night was when Djawadi himself sat down on piano to perform the nine-minute “The Night King,” as the audience of 17,000 relived the rollercoaster emotions of the terrifying, nail-biting battle between the living and the dead in the final season’s climactic third episode, “The Long Night.” Even though fans know how it all ends, there was still a heart-stopping feeling in the theater.
Djawadi won an Emmy on Sept. 15 for outstanding music composition for a series, and based on the performance last night, it was incredibly well-deserved.
