Fans who have been in withdrawal since “Games of Thrones” wrapped its final season on HBO in May have a chance to immerse themselves in the TV show once again.
Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, which features the music of Ramin Djawadi, comes to Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in Tinley Park Sept. 8.
“That’s something that happened in the studio with David and Dan. It started with the idea of doing a single concert,” said Djawadi via phone from his Los Angeles home about conversations with “Game of Thrones” co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
“All of a sudden I had an idea of ‘What if we did a whole tour?’ and ‘What if we designed our whole stage?’ There’s dragons in the show so why don’t we have some pyro? There’s snow in ‘Game of Thrones’ so why don’t we have simulated snow? My creativity just went wild,” Djawadi said.
“We designed this immersive show where fans get sucked into the world of Westeros. It’s been an incredible experience.”
Produced by Live Nation in partnership with HBO Licensing & Retail, Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience features video technology recreating realms found throughout Westeros and Essos and showcasing series footage from all eight seasons as well as new imagery.
“It was a ton of work trying to put a lot of content into a two-hour show,” said Djawadi, the chameleonlike composer behind one of the most recognizable main title themes in television and a Grammy Award nominee for “Game of Thrones” and the film “Iron Man.”
“We want to make sure we still get all the highlights but obviously make sure we create all this material from Season 8. There’s a total of about 60 people on stage. There’s a touring band that travels around to every show and we actually work with local orchestras and local choirs in pretty much every city.”
More Top Picks Best Otoshibuta Drop Lids
“Games of Thrones” was the most nominated series for the 71st Emmy Awards with 32 noms including Djawadi for outstanding music composition for a series (original dramatic score) for his work on “The Long Night,” Season 8’s third episode.
“Now that the show is over it’s nice to one last time be nominated again. It feels really good because it will stay with me forever. I worked on the show for so many years. To be honored again with a nomination this year is nice closure,” Djawadi said.
“The Long Night,” which focused on the final battle between the combined forces of the living and the Army of the Dead, featured his nine-minute composition “The Night King.”
“When we watched the episode and discussed the episode we knew that particular scene at the end was an opportunity for a slightly different score,” said Djawadi (www.ramindjawadi.com).
“We had done something similar in Season 6 with the epic finale with ‘Light of the Seven.’ That was the first time we introduced piano. It was something that was an experiment. We didn’t know how the audience would react to it. It was a big part of the storytelling,” he said.
“Cut to Season 8. It was a long scene with less dialogue. We knew if we used the piano again the audience would be alerted that something important was happening.”
Djawadi, who composed music for the video game “Gears 5,” coming out Sept. 10, won an Emmy in 2018 for outstanding music composition for a series (original dramatic score) for his work in “The Dragon and the Wolf,” the Season 7 finale of “Game of Thrones.”
“It’s nice to be recognized in the industry for a show that we all had worked very hard on. To get that additional recognition was absolutely incredible and a big honor,” he said.
His current projects include Season 2 of Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan” on Amazon and Season 3 of “Westworld” on HBO.
“I miss ‘Games of Thrones’ already. It’s one of those things that you don’t want to let go. When I took on the show I definitely did not expect for it to become so popular. I just really liked the story,” he said.
“Overall, HBO is a great team to work with. That was why I was excited to be a part of this project and the rest happened over the years. Over the seasons it took off. It’s incredible to see and be part of such a phenomenon.”
Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 8
Where: Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 19100 S. Ridgeland Ave., Tinley Park
Details: Tickets are $18 to $386-plus. For information, call 708-614-1616 or go to www.livenation.com
Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer for the Daily Southtown.