Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions @ Adelaide Festival Centre Review

A while ago, I had a proposition for my housemate. “How would you like to accompany me to a concert about Pokémon? Never mind the fact that you know nothing about it. By the way, the show is specifically an orchestral arrangement of the themes from the video games and anime series.”

We had been to orchestral performances before, and so I had to stress the orchestral part. I also promised (as per the pamphlet) that there would be a highly enthusiastic crowd of all ages, impressive audiovisuals, perfectly matched music and more than a few Pikachu onesies. And so there we were – outside the Adelaide Festival Centre on a hot Tuesday night ready for the Australian debut of 'Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions'.

As if to assuage my companion’s doubts, two gents walked pass discussing a matter of great importance, from which we caught, “No, I thought it had resistance to frost damage!” With this in mind, we entered and we were met with a sea of people including children, parents and all ages in between. There were indeed Pikachu onesies, and many other items of Pokémon clothing, even a tuxedo sporting a Pokémon plush doll.

When we reached our seats the audience was treated to a game I found strongly nostalgic – ‘Who’s that Pokémon?’ There was often a chorus response from the younger members of the audience.

On stage to perform for us was the Adelaide Art Orchestra. Despite the concert being a travelling show, it was great to see local artists and not an imported ensemble. There were many familiar faces from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Susie Seiter was treated as a true celebrity when she strode onto stage, and she certainly knew how to work her audience. Although a lot of her dialogue was scripted (“Adelaide, I choose you!”) she gave a highly energetic performance and was central to the evening’s success. The anticipation in the air was palpable as she lifted her baton. Opening the symphony was an epic arrangement of the opening theme from Pokémon Red and Blue which perfectly coincided with the appearance of the concert’s title. The overall effect was spine tingling to say the least.

Next up was the theme from where it all began – Pallet Town. At first it was difficult to recognise the tune until the main melody broke through on a flute solo that hit right in the childhood memories. From there the pieces proceeded through the generations from the very first monochrome Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, to reaching Diamond and Pearl just before intermission.

While the orchestral arrangement transformed the video game scores, the inherently repetitive nature of the originals was inescapable. They were, after all, pieces designed to be looped over and over again.

However, the main reason the original music was enjoyed is because of its association with different areas in the games. The concert recreated this connection by accompanying the orchestra with in-game footage, making the music much more enjoyable than it would have been on its own. Visuals were clearly chosen by a real Pokémon aficionado – there were plenty of nods to the Pokémon fan community, like meeting a young trainer who was particularly enthusiastic about comfortable shorts.

© Henry Rodriguez

My companion of the night also found that it was possible to glean an understanding of the game mechanics from the visuals. His summary was pretty apt: “so there are different types of species like fire and water and they… cancel out?” The synchronization between the visuals and music was perfectly timed. This was pretty clever considering the pieces were not technically easy for the musicians at times. We were wondering if it had something to do with the Matrix-esque earpieces worn by both the conductor and orchestra members.

After intermission – having never upgraded to the Nintendo DS – Pokémon Black/White and X/Y were completely new experiences. This was probably the time younger members of the audience were waiting for, seeing as the music was more from their generation. But by this point it was later in the night and there were quite a few drooping heads. Although it would have interfered with the chronology it may have been better to have the newer pieces towards the start; from newest to oldest, and go full retro.

The denouement of the night was a cover of 'Gotta Catch Em’ All', complete with accompanying Anime footage. A chorus of “I wanna be the very best” by almost a thousand people – with full orchestra – is not an experience to be forgotten. As an encore we were also led, karaoke style, through the piece 'Kiseki' ('Miracles') from the end credits of Pokémon X/Y. Despite most not knowing the song, and even those who did not knowing that it even had lyrics, there were many valiant attempts. Jigglypuff would be proud.

Throughout the night there were teary faces and sniffles in the crowd as people were transported back to their childhood. For many the journey through the game generations coincided closely with the stages of our lives. It was also interesting to see the evolution of hand-held console technology through how the games changed over the years. It was apparent to me that the love of Pokémon still runs deep in many different people and that music was an ideal medium to share that passion. Even my non-Trainer companion found the concert was overall, from the audience to the audiovisuals, enthralling and eye-opening – “I had no idea Pokémon was this big!”

'Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions' is a must for Pokémon fans and is a surprisingly deep experience even for those unfamiliar with the franchise.