Interview: Ramin Djawadi Talks ‘Game Of Thrones Live Concert Experience’ & More

Mike Nied | September 24, 2019 12:31 pm

This year marked the end of an era for Game of Thrones. HBO’s mega-popular fantasy series came to a predictably bloody and surprising conclusion in May. And nothing has been the same for fans since. That’s also the case for Ramin Djawadi. The two-time Emmy award-winning composer has been working on the show since its conception. Over the years he scored many iconic pieces including the overarching theme song and 2016’s mega-viral “Light Of The Seven.” His work continued through 2019, resulting in the creation of epics like the nearly nine-minute long “The Night King.”

The chilling anthem amassed an impressive 14 million Spotify streams to date after playing during one of the final season’s most-hyped moments. Although the series finally came to a close, Ramin’s work is not done just yet. And it will not be until the conclusion of Game Of Thrones Live Concert Experience. First launched in 2017, the concert created a new way for fans to interact with the show’s beloved music in a live setting. This month marked the beginning of another iteration. The outdoor show makes use of pyrotechnics and other awe-inspiring effects to tell the full story in exciting new ways.

Last week I had the opportunity to hop on the phone with Ramin to talk about the tour. He opened up about how it all came together and evolved over the years. We also spoke about how he selected the setlist for this most recent iteration, and how it differed from working on music for an episode. But that’s not all. The acclaimed composer also talked about what drew him to the series in the first place, shared some of his favorite musical pieces and revealed details about an upcoming project. Dive into our interview and revisit the soundtrack for the last season of Game of Thrones below.

Music has always played such a central role to this show, which is part of the reason why I’ve been so excited to talk to you. I was wondering how you conceptualized the idea for the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience?

The whole thing kind of came together on a much smaller scale, I guess I could say. David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the creators of the show, and this was at the end of I want to say season 3. It was in one of our music review sessions, they just kind of threw the idea out in the room. And said “Ramin, how about doing a live concert of the music. This would be so fun to see live.” And I ran with that idea. Just instead of doing just one concert, I thought well, what about if we create our own tour and take this around the states or even the world.

And make it a fun concert, and then creatively I just kind of ran wild and said “Ok, we have our orchestra and choir and our musicians. But what about making something that’s a bit more immersive. We dragons in the show, why not have some pyro onstage. And if we’re north of the wall, why not simulate some snow?” I felt like it was just the perfect show to do something like that and really drag the audience into feeling like they’re in Westeros while we play all the pieces and see the footage of the show. Just make it a really fun experience.

That’s kind of how it came together. From that original idea, it took us three years to our first concert. I obviously didn’t work on it continuously. I had, as I like to say, my day job to do, which is writing music. But it took quite a while to really put it all together.

That leads perfectly into my next question. How did preparing music for a concert tribute differ from scoring an episode of the show?

It was definitely a challenge. One was when it came to selecting the pieces, I just started dragging in pieces from the soundtracks into iTunes and just selecting all the pieces that I wanted to touch upon and all the themes that I wanted to touch upon. Then when I looked how many minutes I had, it was hours and hours of music. It was way too much. So I had to go in and be very selective. And condense it down to less pieces but still making sure that we hit on all the main themes and also the story-telling in itself. We wanted to obviously touch upon all the story arcs of all the seasons.

It was quite challenging, but it was also a lot of fun. Because then what I ended up doing was actually taking some of the themes and making arrangements specifically for the live concert. Because I realized, wait a minute, now I’m not bound to the picture anymore. It’s the other way around. I’m just picking themes so if I want to play a Lannister theme we can cut a montage around that music. So I felt like I could be very free in doing my own arrangements. I reworked quite a lot of the pieces. In the live show they are actually different from how they are on the soundtrack or in the show itself.

This year it has to be even bigger since you’re playing from the last season of the show now. How does it feel to be bringing all this new music to the fans in a live setting?

It’s really amazing. This is our third tour now. In the first one we ended with season 6. And then last year we included with season 7 so I had to rework it to include season 7. Now as you said with season 8. There was so much material from season 8 that we could have done an entire concert just with season 8. Yet again I had to go in and make decisions on omitting some pieces that we had previously played and shortening some pieces so I could make room for all this new material.

But I feel like now we really have a great show. And obviously now it includes all eight seasons so it’s the full story arc. I think it’s nice too for fans that have seen the show in previous years. They’re really going to see a new show because there is so much new material in this concert now.

What were some of those moments from the most recent season that you felt really needed to be included. I’m sure there are some obvious ones…

Yeah. “Jenny of Oldstones” is one. I made a new arrangement. It has similarities to the instrumental version that’s on the soundtrack. But it definitely is sung by our lead vocalist. So obviously we have lyrics to it. It’s the full song that we’re performing now, which I’m very excited for. It’s one of my favorite pieces in the live show now. So that’s in there. Of course “The Night King” we had to do. The whole Battle Of Winterfell, which was also very tricky to condense down because that’s 60 minutes of music just for the battle alone.

I had to really scale that back, but tell that story arc quickly. “The Iron Throne” is another piece that I really enjoy. It’s really powerful live I feel. So yeah. There’s a bunch of pieces in there from season 8.

You mentioned you still have a lot from the rest of seasons as well. What were some timeless moments you just could not let go of this time?

I still tried to really keep some of these iconic moments from all the seasons in there. Of course “The Red Wedding” had to stay. “Mhysa” is one of my personal favorites. That’s the finale from season 3. “Winds of Winter,” that’s the finale of season 6. “Light of the Seven,” of course. That’s another one I couldn’t be without. “Battle of the Bastards.” I could just go on. There’s so many great scenes in the show so we tried our best to really keep it all in.

And of course for the fans to just really start with Season 1 and relive it all. Then for the people that have never seen Game of Thrones, they really get a sense of what Game of Thrones is all about. And learn about all the characters and of the important scenes. So we still wanted to make sure that’s all in the live show.

Absolutely. Those people have to be in for a wild ride if that’s their first introduction to Game Of Thrones.

Exactly. Especially also with the fans that know Game of Thrones. Because what’s been really fun about the live shows is that the fans really get into it. They cheer when they see their favorite character. It’s very interactive. That’s what makes this show a lot of fun.

Are there any moments from this iteration of the tour that really give you goosebumps while you’re watching?

You mean as we perform the music? I’m trying to think. There’s just so many… When “Light of the Seven” starts for example, there’s always the cheers. People get excited about that. “Needle,” which is pretty much entirely dedicated to Arya because that’s Arya’s theme. It’s always great, too because it’s obviously mostly music in the show, but we do have some little dialogue snippets here and there. Some of these very famous sentences from the show. When they do get said, the audience always starts cheering. That always gives me goosebumps.

I haven’t gotten to see the entire show live, but I saw some footage on YouTube while I was getting ready. It looks so incredible. And it’s such an amazing experience to imagine putting it together because there is just so much to pull from.

Oh absolutely. And it’s been a big learning curve for me, too. Because I have to be honest: I had never done this before. So the first tour was one iteration. And then on the next tour last year we changed things. Things that we had learned of what had worked well and what didn’t work well. And then to improve on things. And then this year, I can point out is quite a different tour again because it is all outside. This is also something we also hadn’t done before so we yet again had to change the stage around for that.

For example we don’t have our walkway that usually goes into the audience because on these outside stages you just can’t do that. So we just changed the stage setting. To me it’s equally exciting. Just because the fact that it’s just under an open sky is something very exciting and almost romantic about it. Right? To play outside like that. So it’s been great fun to do these open air concerts.

Do you think you’ll ever take the Game Of Thrones experience on the road again in the future or will this be the last string of shows?

That’s a good question. And I think the answer is I don’t know. I think we have to see I guess what my schedule looks like and what the demand is. I certainly enjoy these live shows. Who knows. Maybe we’ll do another one next year or maybe we wait a couple of years and then get everybody excited again and have all the fans come back out. I think this is obviously such an important show. It was such a big show that I feel it will always be in people’s minds and hearts.

I can see people in a couple years saying we want to see this whole concert again. And we want to be reminded of all these great scenes and this great story. So I’m certainly open to it. Again, like I said, depending on my schedule… But I certainly enjoy them and I would be up for doing them again.

I agree. I don’t think Game Of Thrones is ever going to be totally over. So I think the thought of seeing the show again and interacting with the characters and the music would be so exciting for other fans.

Yeah, exactly. I am a big fan of the show, regardless of the fact that I worked on the show. And I myself can’t really let go of it. So I can see lots of other people just wanting to be reminded and taken through all that great story again. We’ll see. Hopefully it will happen again.

Speaking of the series, you’ve been involved with it since it first launched. What drew you to the project back then?

Well, there’s two things, really. One was the story itself. I have to admit I had not read the books. And David and Dan when they were interested in working with me they simply showed me the first two episodes. I just immediately fell in love with it. So that was one thing. I just saw how great this project was. The story. The acting. The cast. Everything about it was just incredible.

And then my other things was I clicked right away with David and Dan. We sit in a room together and just talked about ideas. And everything just felt right about it. It just felt like we were on the same page right away. I feel really fortunate that I got the call for this project.

You’ve already mentioned “Mhysa” as one of your favorite scores that you’ve done for the show. Do you have any other favorites that you find yourself continually coming back to?

Let’s see. That one. “Goodbye Brother” is one. The Stark theme is just so emotional with that solo violin. “Rains of Castamere” of course. “Light of the Seven” because that one is so different. “Needle” is another one that comes to mind. Because Game of Thrones is such a dark show and then having an uplifting piece like “Needle” in there is quite a departure. That’s why I’ve always liked that one. Then of course the latest is “The Night King.” That’s another one. That was such a powerful scene, so it always kind of takes me back to that moment.

I don’t think anyone can ever forget the first time they watched everything that went down for that.

Right?

It will stay with me for forever. When you first stared working with the show did you think it was going to become as big as it did?

Oh, not at all. And that goes hand in hand with what I just said earlier. The reason why I was glad to get the call and why I accepted the show was because I personally loved the show when I saw what I saw. And I loved David and Dan. There was nothing beyond that that I ever thought “oh this is going to be really successful. I’ve got to be a part of this.”

That was never on my mind. It’s something you can’t predict anyway, I feel. You cannot pick a project based on its success rate because it’s pretty much impossible to determine. So, yeah, that was not on my mind at all. It was just purely the creativity that sparked for me right away when I saw what I saw. I was just very exited to be part of it.

I have another question. You’re listed in the credits as one of the writers for Ellie Goulding’s “Hollow Crown” on the For the Throne album. What was it like working on something that was so different from the music you typically composed for the show?

To be honest there was not much involvement from me on the song at all. It was more really the fact that they gook some of my existing music as inspiration. And the harmonies and some of that and created this song around it. It was not that we actually sat in a room together and wrote a song. It was more that the start was from one of my pieces. Then they went from there and created the song. That’s why I’m listed as a co-credit.

Cool. Do you have a favorite song on that album?

On the inspired album?

Yes?

I don’t know. I’m not sure. All around it’s a cool inspired by album. I’m not sure I have a favorite.

Coming from a pop writer, that was a really interesting meeting of my worlds. I was excited to hear that this summer. Then I have one last question for you. You mentioned that you’re already thinking about next projects. What is next for you?

Westworld season 3, actually. That’s starting up for me now, and I’m very excited about it. That’s a show that’s obviously so different from Game of Thrones. But it’s another show that I really love working on. I’m also very excited to be a part of. I’m really looking forward to see what’s coming up next in this new season.

That’s very exciting. Thank you so very much. I hope that the last few concerts for the Game of Thrones Live Experience go really well, and I cannot wait to see what’s next for you.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Have you see the Game Of Thrones Live Concert Experience? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!