Due to the sheer number of fans that Vic Mignogna has, the mini concert was held in panel 3, which was one of the largest panel rooms in the convention center with an addional autograph session held at the end. This was my first Vic concert and I must say, I enjoyed it. He is a good performer, a great singer and he engaged the crowd very well for being a one-person show with a keyboard. The concert started with ‘True Light’ in English from DNAngel. The animation flashed across the screen as Vic dances from the stage and up and down the catwalk. The second song was ‘Separate Ways’ by Journey, very upbeat and had everyone dancing (if they weren’t dancing already.) The ‘Brothers’ (Fullmetal Alchemist melody began to the cheers of the crowd…though it was was stopped immediately. He stated that he wasn’t going to sing that one as he sat at the keyboard.
He began to talk about the musicians and singers who inspired him, playing little bits on the keyboard and singing the familiar tunes. Barry Manilow, Billy Joel…and in the middle of ‘Piano Man’…fellow voice actor and singer, Todd Haberkorn appeared on stage.
Vic and Todd really knew how to play for the fangirls.
- Vic: *singing* Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody, and Todd gots me feelin’ alright.
Audience: *fangirls*
Vic: *turning to Todd* Todd, I got something to say to you.
*singing* Lying beside you….
Audience: *more screams*
Todd encourages him to sing Elton John and they also turned ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’ into their very own love song. After their onstage hugs, Todd left the stage. Vic then talked about his first time playing the piano. Turns out he is self taught, playing by ear. He mentions his love for ballads and starts to sing one of his own creations, ‘Hello, Beautiful’.
Than Vic talks about the history of the song ‘Soldier A’. Simply put, he was voicing some bit parts for background characters and came up with the song between recordings. His hummings grew so incessantly…that the engineer complained about the tune being stuck in their heads. ‘It’s eating our cerebellum!’ And than of course, he had to sing it. However, it being so popular with his fans, he got some people from the audience to sing on stage…including Todd Haberkorn with the famed amv was shown in the background.
Following the song, Vic re-introduces his movie, ‘Fullmetal Fantasy’. It’s a live action fanmovie of the voice actors of Fullmetal Alchemist cosplaying/becoming their characters from anime. The movie was shown throughout the cons in 2005, but stopped afterwards since Funimation was considering the legal ramifications of the movie with the Japanese company. Although Vic never got permission to sell the dvd, he received permission to show it again. However, the usual rules apply: no recording allowed.
After the awesome movie, Vic sang ‘Brothers’ and ‘Nothing I Won’t Give’ with the amv in the background. Vic mentioned something new (new to me,) which was that the song’s inspiration was actually Evanesence. It was his longing to create a song in her style. I believe he succeeded quite well. While we were leaving the room, the remix of Vic’s English version of ‘Guilty Beauty Love’ (Tamaki’s character song) was playing through the speakers.