Hoyoverse has done it again.

Last August, gaming company Hoyoverse, that develops Honkai Impact 3rd, Genshin Impact, and Honkai Star Rail, announced on Twitter that they’d have their Genshin Impact concert tour “Melodies of an Endless Journey” for various cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Seoul, Dusseldorf and more in 2023 and 2024. I went to the New York one this past Saturday and let’s just say I had a time.

It was my first time at the beautiful Carnegie Hall. Everyone was dressed to the nines in suit and ties and many cosplayed various characters such as Furina, Neuvillette, Columbina, Alhaitham and Kaveh (yes, they’re a joint pair), Lumine, Tartaglia, Wriothesley, and Zhongli. I arrived ten minutes before the concert began and they started at a prompt 8:04 p.m. Hoyoverse gave all concert attendees a card with a redemption code for in-game currency and other items as well as a memorabilia ticket to commemorate the concert. 

Minor spoilers ahead for Genshin Impact

The orchestra opened with “Overture of Storms,” playing the opening scene of the game where siblings Aether and Lumine are separated from each other. The rest of the first act had music from the first region Mondstadt, including both daytime and nighttime themes for Dawn Winery, a sub region where one of the nobles, Diluc who’s also a playable character in the game, has his wine business. I was surprised at the inclusion of Dragonspine’s music, a snowy mountain region in the game in between Mondstadt and Liyue, which has an underrated soundtrack in my opinion. 

 Even if you don’t play Genshin, the music is as timeless as the theme of its tour.

They played a variety of themes paired with their character demo on screen, such as Tartaglia’s, “Letter from Ajax,” Ganyu’s “Qilin’s Prance,” Raiden Shogun’s “Termination of Desires,” Kamisato Ayaka’s “Shirasagi Princess,” Venti’s “Bard’s Adventure,” and the anticipated Zhongli’s theme “Rex Incognito.”

I found the battle themes the most engaging out of all the soundtracks played. The orchestra did an amazing job with “Wrath of Monoceros Caeli” and Inazuma’s music. Two women played the traditional musical instruments the koto and shakuhachi, a plucked string instrument, and bamboo flute. Liyue’s “Rapid as Wildfires” was by far my favorite out of all the battle soundtracks.

My only complaint was how the scores were divided. There were three acts and two fifteen-minute intermissions through the show, which was the perfect time to take photos. The first act was music from Mondstadt while the second was from Liyue. It felt slightly rushed since they crammed Inazuma’s and Sumeru’s music into one act despite these regions having some of the longer soundtracks in the game with Sumeru being the longest. There were many other beautiful pieces that could have been performed, but with the two-hour time constraint, you win some and lose some.

Hoyoverse, what do you have against me and two of my favorite OST’s that weren’t performed. That is what I wanted to see!

They concluded with an encore of music from their newly released region Fontaine which was my favorite part. My favorite soundtracks are from Dragonspine and Fontaine so that was the icing on the cake for me since they did Ballad of Many Waters, one of the OST’s that plays in the main city area. I wasn’t expecting them to play Fontaine’s music at all, given that most of the music played were from the first two regions. I am really upset because I wish they would have done Saltatio Favillae and Let's Go Crimson Knight! for the NYC show. I looked up the setlist only to find out they played both of those in Shanghai. Hoyoverse, what do you have against me and two of my favorite OST’s that weren’t performed. That is what I wanted to see!

I’ve noticed some other fandoms also hopping onto the concert train. Avatar the Last Airbender is expected to have their soundtracks performed in the Kings Theatre on March 2, 2024, as well as Sonic Symphony on June 8, 2024, at United Palace. I think we can expect to see a surge of classical music concerts in the future especially for older fandoms that don’t have much or any new content. I’m excited to see what increase in live performance brings as orchestral music is so important in this age of music. Even if you don’t play Genshin, the music is as timeless as the theme of its tour.

All in all, the concert was a blast, and I met some amazing people there. I heard Zy0x, a popular Genshin Youtuber, attended as well as some other Hoyoverse creators. I loved talking to cosplayers (and hidden fanfiction writers) after the concert. It truly wrapped up the experience and ended on a high note. I left the venue, heart swollen with gratitude for this silly little game called Genshin Impact.