Ramin Djawadi discusses his work as the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience kicks off

GoT composer Ramin Djawadi is taking his work on the road for the second installment of the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, which kicks off today in Madrid. In addition to full orchestral renditions of classic Game of Thrones tunes, the concert features video from the series and a lot of pyrotechnics. Just look at the climax of “Light of the Seven” from last year:

Djawadi spoke to the Observer about what fans can expect from the multi-continent tour.

"We’re very excited about it. We’ve worked on it for a long time, several years, and we did a U.S. tour last year that was very well received, and now we’re very excited to take it to Europe and then again another U.S. tour later this year as well. It’s very exciting and I was actually able to change up the show a little bit now that the first tour was only season one through six available to us."

Djawadi says the new material will leave fans “excited” about what’s coming. “And really after you’ve watched the live show, it will leave you with the same cliffhanger that season seven did and just get you pumped for season 8.” Djawadi has previously called the Live Concert Experience a “two hour trailer” for season 8, so consider us sold on it.

Game of Thrones isn’t Djawadi’s only gig. He’s also the composer behind Westworld, another HBO genre hit, although Westworld is sci-fi rather than fantasy. Djwadi discussed the differences between writing music for the two shows:

"In Game of Thrones, piano is non-existent except that one piece in season six, whereas in Westworld, the player piano is a key element of the show. So right there, the basis of it all, is already very different and of course synthesizers, there’s very few in Game of Thrones even though I do use some of them. They’re not as prominent as in Westworld so the basis of it all is just being able to go into completely different directions."

Djawadi writes the music for Westworld in close cooperation with showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy — occasionally, he even takes the unusual step of composing without having seen the episodes first. As for the music itself, Djawadi is always mindful about the duality at the heart of the show, the one between the actual human beings and the synthetic hosts who are slowly becoming self-aware:

"[W]hen we’re within the control rooms of it all, there it gets very electronic…[with] and almost no organic instruments. But then…when we’re outside in the theme park of it all, then it goes the opposite direction. Now, in season two that kind of has to develop further as the story, now I’m told…I guess this crossover is happening where the robots become more conscious of things, and now there is the interesting development that I’ll also have to follow with the music, of course."

The complete list of dates for the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience can be found below. Tickets can be purchased here. 

Europe

• May 8 — Madrid, WiZink Center
• May 10 — Barcelona, Palau Sant Jordi
• May 12 — Paris, AccorHotel Arena
• May 14 — Berlin, Mercedes-Benz Arena
• May 15 — Lodz, Atlas Arena
• May 16 — Prague, O2 Arena Prague
• May 18 — Budapest, Budapest Arena
• May 19 — Vienna, Wiener Stadthalle
• May 21 — Amsterdam, Ziggo Dome
• May 22 — Antwerp, Antwerps Sportpaleis
• May 24 — Dublin, 3Arena
• May 25 — Belfast, The SSE Arena
• May 27 — London, Wembley Arena
• May 29 — Harburg, Barclaycard Arena
• May 31 — Stockholm, Ericsson Globe
• June 1 — Copenhagen, Royal Arena
• June 4 — Munich, Olympiahalle
• June 5 — Zurich, HallenStadion
• June 7 — Frankfurt, Festhalle Frankfurt
• June 8 — Cologne, Lanxess Arena

North America

• September 5 — Vancouver, Pepsi Live at Rodgers Arena
• September 6 — Seattle, KeyArena
• September 8 — San Jose, SAP Center
• September 9 — Los Angeles, The Forum
• September 11 — San Diego, Viejas Arena
• September 12 — Phoenix, Gile River Arena
• September 14 — Denver, Pepsi Center
• September 16 — Dallas, American Airlines Center
• September 17 — Houston, Toyota Center
• September 18 — Austin, Frank Erwin Center
• September 21 — Tampa, Amalie Arena
• September 22 — Ft. Lauderdale, BB&T Center
• September 25 — Washington DC, Capital One Arena
• September 26 — Newark, Prudential Center
• September 28 — Uncasville, Mohegan Sun Arena
• September 28 — Boston, DCU Center
• September 30 — University Park, Bryce Jordan Center
• October 2 — Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center
• October 3 — New York City, Madison Square Garden
• October 5 — St. Louis, Scottrade Center
• October 6 — Chicago, AllState Arena
• October 9 — Detroit, Little Caesars Arena
• October 10 — Columbus, Schottenstein Center
• October 12 — Montreal, Bell Centre
• October 14 — Toronto, Air Canada Centre

Next: Hafthor Julius Bjornsson (the Mountain) is officially the World’s Strongest Man

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