The Activision E3 event was…

…well, it was all of the following:

Huge
Ambitious
Roughly two hours long
Roughly 10 artists long
Ridiculously huge
A celebration of the musical talent currently working with Activision on its games
Surprising
Late to get underway due to soundcheck running long
A good place to get complimentary candy and beer
Unexpected
A nice way to clearly and directly promote games and make the musical acts relevant to them
Successful

You weren't supposed to take pictures, but I snuck one in

The final talent roster was eerily close to the announcement that went out this morning, but had even more famous folks packed in. In addition to a giant video wall, laser and pyro effects, and the aforementioned snacks, the audience was treated to live performances by Deadmau5, David Guetta, DJ Z-Trip and Usher (all supporting DJ Hero 2), Jane’s Addiction, Maynard Keenan, and Chris Cornell (Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock), N.E.R.D and Rhea (True Crime: Hong Kong), a very talented pole dancer who shimmied her way halfway up a 60-foot phallic symbol (also TC:HK, in honor if the game’s fictional Club Bam Bam), Tony Hawk and Andy Macdonald (Tony Hawk: Shred) and last but not least, Eminem, Travis Barker, and a surprise cameo by Rhianna (Call of Duty: Black Ops).

Did I mention the gospel choir that sang “Bohemian Rhapsody” with Maynard? I may have forgotten that. I also forgot the live orchestra that played “Black Hole Sun” with Chris Cornell and played the score to Black Ops live during its level demo. All the music was accompanied by gameplay footage, trailers, demos, or little snippets of info throughout the evening (like release info — GH:WoR in September, DJ Hero 2 in October). As big and loud and party-like as it was, there was still some context to the evening’s entertainment.

The only criticism I have is that it took a while for acts to switch places on the stage. But then I started thinking about it…there were SO MANY acts, all with their own gear (I think I saw four drum kits backstage), so really, it’s a miracle they got things switched out as fast as they did. And everybody used that gear — Jane’s Addiction did two songs, Usher did at least three, Eminem did six, including “I’m Not Afraid” and “Lose Yourself.” I think Kat will have some behind-the-scenes photos showing the mountains of road cases. Things got underway late and there were some gaps in-between (filled ably by a DJ), but this was basically a complete summer festival show in two hours.

We got video of some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, but I’m not sure what we’ll be able to show. Understandably we couldn’t tape the performance itself, but Activision did hire a camera crew to do exactly that. I will mix what they got with what we got and hopefully have a video up soon.

The week has just started.

Follow all the OneOfSwords E3 coverage by clicking below: