TOMMY Tallarico came up with the concept for Video Games Live when he was just 10.

But convincing anyone else it was a good idea was a different matter altogether.

The 46-year-old grew up in Massachusetts and used to record the 8-bit sound effects to arcade games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man before putting on a show for his friends.

Tommy said: “I used to take my dad’s big cassette recorder to the arcade and record all my favourite video game sounds.

“I’d take it home and I would splice it all together and make a tape. I used to invite all my neighbourhood friends over and I’d play the cassette back.

“I’d jump up with my favourite video games on the TV behind me and I’d grab a guitar and play along with the music.

“I charged them 5 cents...so I was putting on video game concerts when I was 10 in the 70s.”

That fascination with game music continued into his adult life and after 25 years as a composer for the likes of Earthworm Jim, Unreal and Prince of Persia, he thought back to the self-styled arcade ‘concerts’ of his youth.

What if he could convince thousands of people to watch video game music live on stage with an orchestra, choir and guitars?

“When I first started it everybody thought I was insane,” added Tommy.

“People who go to a symphony don’t play video games and people who play video games certainly don’t go to symphonies.

“I’d been a video game composer for 25 years and I risked everything I had.”

After three years of preparation, the first show was held at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005.

Tommy tapped into his network of games industry contacts and being on stage was never daunting for him as he grew up watching his world famous cousin, Steve Tyler of Aerosmith.

“I would often be at the side of the stage and I would see him perform in front of 20,000 or 30,000 people,” he said.

“So for me that never felt like an impossible dream. That’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

That was until he was about to walk on stage...and 11,000 were in the crowd.

Tommy, who has more than 25 industry awards for best video game audio, added: “It never really hit me until about five minutes before I got on stage.

“I looked out and saw an ocean of people. I actually started weeping because after all the hard work here it was.”

Since then Tommy has created around 130 music segments for more than 300 Video Games Live shows in 30 countries. It is coming to Manchester for the first time on November 1.

Tommy told Weekend: “There have been video game symphonic concerts in Japan since 1985 for a series called Dragon Quest.

“But we were the first to use video screens and the first to play all this music like Sonic the Hedgehog, Kingdom Hearts, Halo and Warcraft.

“These songs had never been performed live before we did it and we were doing it with synchronised video, rock and roll lighting, special effects and a stage show production.

“My whole goal in creating this show was that I wanted to prove to the world how culturally significant and artistic video games have become.

“Even now the mainstream media will still demonise games once in a while.”

But at the same time, Tommy does not want the show to be exclusive and said anyone would enjoy it even if they do not know their Metroid from their Metal Gear Solid.

He said: “Some of the best letters we get after a show are from the non-gamers and they are the one who are most impressed.

“Gamers know how great the music is to video games but for somebody who doesn’t play games, to hear all this stuff and to see the visuals, characters and art turns them on to a whole new world.

“Video Games Live is also helping to usher in a whole new generation of young people to appreciate an orchestra and the arts.

“We get letters that say things like: ‘I’m writing to let you know that after seeing the show our eight-year-old daughter wants to take violin lessons to learn the music to Kingdom Hearts and Zelda’.

“It’s the kind of stuff you never think about when you’re creating a show but it’s pretty cool.”

- Video Games Live comes to Manchester Apollo on Saturday, November 1. Tickets are from £25. Visit gigsandtours.com or call 0844 811 0051.