The Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience returns September 22 to the BB&T Center in Sunrise. Djawadi and company will perform songs from all seven seasons of Game of Thrones while scenes from the series play on a massive screen behind them. And like HBO's crown jewel, the ambitious concert has a go-big-or-go-home feel: picture-moving stages, a flying violinist, simulated snow when the story moves to the North, and flames meant to look like they came from a dragon.
Now in its second year, the arena world tour is the brainchild of Djawadi, a German-Iranian composer who has been with GOT from the get-go and also scores fellow HBO show Westworld and Amazon’s
“I always have had this vision to do this special type of concert with a special stage design and pyro and all of that,” Djawadi says by phone. “It’s not an instrumental orchestra concert, and it’s not a rock concert either. I’ve always said I want to do something that hasn’t been done before.”
It’s safe to say Djawadi has succeeded. Where else can you see an orchestra while booing and cheering? That’s what some audience members do at the concert depending upon which of the show’s way-too-many-characters are onscreen. And if you want to yell your favorite quotes like the fans who shout, “King of the North!” when Jon Snow appears, feel free — not that South Florida audiences need permission to talk during shows.
Djawadi expects to begin working on GOT’s eighth and, sadly, final season after his 20-plus-city North American tour wraps. Don’t bother asking him for spoilers because he says he doesn’t have any. And even if he did, he wouldn’t spill the beans. This is the same guy who insists he doesn’t even tell his wife what’s set to happen, no matter how often she asks. He prefers to avoid spoilers as long as he can, because he, like millions of other viewers, is a big fan of the show.
And to think, Djawadi, who won his first Emmy Award this month for his work on GOT, nearly turned the gig down when it was offered to him all those years ago.
“I was pretty busy at the time and hesitated at first,” he says. “I told them I wasn’t really available. But then I saw the first two episodes and loved the show and clicked immediately with David and Dan [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss]. I’m so happy to have gotten that call.”
The Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience. With Ramin Djawadi. 8 p.m. Saturday, September 22, at BB&T Center, 1 Panther Pkwy., Sunrise; 954-835-8000; thebbtcenter.com. Tickets cost $28 to $95 via ticketmaster.com.
