Digital Extremes rocks London, Ontario with first ever Tennoconcert |The Gamerheads Podcast

Friday, July 18th marked the start of Tennocon with Digital Extremes (DE) hosting a cosplay contest and Tennoconcert featuring music from their now 12 year old game “Warframe.” Doors opened to the public at 6 PM and fans otherwise known as “Tennos” were lined around the Canada Life Place well before. 

The night started off with DE showing off the hard work and talent of their players with the cosplay show. Splitting the cosplayers up into two groups, non competitive and competitive, with the latter competing for a cash prize of $10,000 CAD. I’ll never not be impressed with how these talented cosplayers can bring a game to life, and with Warframe there is no lack of characters to draw inspiration from. While everyone who participated blew me away, I think the highlight of the non-competitive showcase was the “Stalker Dad” cosplay, an original design inspired by one of the community's favorite quests “Jade Shadows.” The show moved onto its competitive section with a Flare Varleon cosplay taking the prize, a very detailed cosplay of the protoframe rocker boy featuring over 6,000 rhinestones.

After a brief intermission the stage lights dimmed and the string section came out, then a surprise to everyone and answering the question many ask during DE’s Thursday prime time streams. Where’s Steve? Steve Sinclair, CEO of DE, walks out on stage and plays “Smiles from Juran” on his guitar then with a wave is off the stage, a reminder that everyone at DE loves their game and pour their heart and soul into it. This is a concert though after all one that promised the full experience with pyrotechnics and music to rock to.

Matt Chalmers and the rest of the Warframe band came out playing more rock and pop songs from their 1999 expansion. From “The Call” to their boy band creation “On-Lyne” and their hit “Party of a Lifetime,” it was a reminder of how far this free to play looter shooter has come in the last twelve years.

This concert was a celebration of ten years of Tennocon for the players just as much as it was for the creative teams behind the game. DE has yet to confirm if there will be another concert next year for Tennocon or if this was a once in a lifetime opportunity but luckily they streamed and put the entire concert up on Youtube so everyone can enjoy the music of Warframe from a live stage. When I first became a part of the Warframe community one joke I saw repeated was that DE created a video game to sell their music and this concert may strengthen the joke.

I don’t remember the last time I went to a concert that wasn’t hosted at some local dive bar with cheap tickets and cheaper Long Islands, so high end productions are new to me but DE knew the assignment and aced it. DE has said Warframe is a game made by its community as much as it is them and this concert was no different from the LED wrist bands they handed out making us feel like we were all part of the show and I think that’s why DE has a brighter future than their shining past. They’ll always take us along for the ride.