MAGFest 2023: The 8-Bit Big Band

‪@The8BitBigBand‬ is a Grammy Award winning contemporary symphonic Jazz orchestra created to celebrate and reimagine video game music’s most beloved hits rearranged in exciting and creative new ways in order push the envelope of how we experience the music from these legendary sound tracks as a standalone body of musical work! Formed in 2017 with the release of their debut album “Press Start” followed by their sophomore album “Choose Your Character” in 2018 and their Grammy Award winning 3rd album “Backwards Compatible” in 2022. Since the inception of the band they have garnered an online following aggregating millions of views on YouTube, and over 200,000 subscribers, followers, and listeners across the globe, selling out concert venues across the US.

Set list / Time Stamps:

00:00:00 - Pre show
00:00:16 - Intro fanfare
00:01:00 - Can You Feel the Sunshine? ft. Solomon Parker
00:07:36 - Bob-Omb Battlefield ft. Skatune Network
00:13:15 - Still Alive
00:17:54 - Delfino Plaza ft. Eli Bishop
00:24:26 - Hydrocity Zone -ft. Dave Pollack
00:30:28 - Fourside ft. Insaneintherain
00:36:48 - Dire Dire Docks ft. Adam Neely
00:44:40 - Meta Knight's Revenge ft. Buttonmasher
00:51:05 - Song of Storms ft. Andrew Gould
00:57:51 - Snake Eater ft. Litty Official
01:03:05 - Super Mario World End Theme
01:08:52 - Dolphin Shoals ft. Jared Schonig

Full Band Credits:

Vocalists: Solomon Parker, Danielle Gimbal, Litty Official, Charlie Rosen
Trombone Soloist: Skatune Network
Violin Soloist: Eli Bishop
Alto Sax Soloists: Dave Pollack, Andrew Gould
Tenor Sax Soloist: Insaneintherain
Bass Soloist: Adam Neely
Synth Soloist: Button Masher

Alto 1 - Andrew Gould
Alto 2 - Dave Pollack
Tenor 1 - Santosh Sharma
Tenor 2 - Luis Hernandez
Bari Sax - Dustin Mollick

Trumpet 1 - John Lake
Trumpet 2 - Thomas Eby
Trumpet 3 - Max Boiko
Trumpet 4 - Jon Barnes

Trombone 1 - Jimmy O'Connell
Trombone 2 - Toby Ekpunobi
Trombone 3 - Jack Kotze
Bass Trombone - Altin Sencalar

Guitar - Brian Sheu
Piano - Jake Silverman
Bass - Adam Neely
Drums - Jared Schonig
Timpani - Dominic Palombi

Violins - Eli Bishop, Matt Evans, Hannah LeGrand, Charles Gleason, Chris Baum, Jake Roege, Patrick Lin, Rebecca Hannigan
Violas - Rosie Samter, Marylin Mello, Tim Zenobia
Cellos - Jessica Wang, Sasha Ono, Camille Dietrich, Chad Schwartz

Harp - Liann Cline

"Charlie Rosen, a New York-based lifelong musician and lifelong gamer, thinks of video game music as a musical tradition unto itself: the 'Video Game Songbook.' Mr. Rosen’s arrangements of video game tunes are brilliant, boisterous, and—befitting the medium— delightfully playful. " - Forbes

MAGFest, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization -- that’s right! MAGFest is more than just a fun musical festival to party at several times a year! Our status as a non-profit organization is a way for us to further our mission statement, which is:

MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE THROUGH VIDEO GAMES.

Other primary goals of MAGFest include:
-To educate the public about video game music, art, and history
-To promote public appreciation of video game music, art, and history
-To preserve for posterity the culture and history of video games