The five best moments from the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience
By Dan Selcke
The “Battle of the Bastards” section
Generally speaking, the Live Concert Experience switches between character retrospectives (e.g. playing “Needle” while footage from Arya’s six-season journey plays on the massive video monitors) and scene-specific tunes (e.g. playing the music from the Red Wedding while those terrifying events play out in full). For me, the most memorable instance of the latter came during the second half of the show. The orchestra played “Let’s Play a Game,” “Bastard,” and “Trust Each Other,” all songs that feature during the Battle of the Bastards (the bit where Rickon runs from Ramsay, the battle itself, and the sequence where Sansa arrives with the Knights of the Vale, respectively).
Large chunks of the Battle of the Bastards, including Rickon’s doomed run across the field of war, play onscreen with the dialogue intact. The only difference is that the orchestra is providing the score. These scenes are awe-inspiring on a small TV, but on the kinds of massive screens used in this concert, they’re close to astounding. I was tensed up like I was seeing the scene for the first time.
Sections like these drive home what a perfect match Djawadi is for this material. It’s impossible to imagine the Battle of the Bastards without his propulsive score pushing it forward.