'The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring' Live In Concert Tours West Coast

It's beginning to look a lot like Middle Earth, everywhere you go. Off in New Zealand, Peter Jackson and crew are back at it filming two films based on The Hobbit. On June 28, the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions are finally coming to Blu-ray and, in anticipation of that, each of those films are coming back to a theater near you for one night only. But that's not all. Beginning this Fall, each one of the films – in celebration of their ten year anniversary – will be touring with a full, live orchestral accompaniment of Howard Shore's award-winning scores.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Live In Concert premiered in New York in 2009 and, this October, will come to the West Coast for several stops. The event is a feature length, digital presentation of the film on a 60 foot screen while the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale and the Phoenix Boys Choir perform the score live. Next year, and the year after that, The Two Towers and The Return of the King will get similar treatments. After the jump, find out if this event is coming to an arena near you.Variety alerted us to the concert touring but all the official dates are on its Facebook page. Here they are:

  • October 12 7:30PM – Phoenix, AZ (Jobing.com Arena)
  • October 13 7:30PM – San Diego, CA (Valley View Casino Center)
  • October 14 7:30PM – Las Vegas, NV (The Orleans Arena)
  • October 15 7:30PM – Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
  • October 18 7:30PM – Portland, OR (Rose Garden Arena)
  • October 19 7:30PM – Seattle, WA (Key Arena)
  • October 21 7:30PM – Fresno, CA (Save Mart Center)
  • October 22 (2 shows) 2PM and 8PM – Oakland, CA (Oracle Arena)
  • October 23 7:30PM – Sacramento, CA (ARCO Arena)
  • The only downside is that Howard Shore isn't going to be conducting the orchestra (he's probably a little too busy writing new scores for the prequels to these films) but he's replaced by Ludwig Wicki, called "The preeminent conductor of Howard Shore's Ring music." Here's the official description:

    Middle Earth has never sounded this good!

    The Lord of the Rings In Concert: The Fellowship Of The Ring is the groundbreaking first installment of Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning film trilogy based on J.R. Tolkien's beloved novels as you've never seen or heard it before, with Howard Shore's entire Academy and Grammy Award-winning three-hour score performed live on-stage by more than 200 musicians, and the film projected on an immense 60-foot screen. Celebrated Maestro Ludwig Wicki, the preeminent conductor of Howard Shore's Ring music, will conduct all performances and the music is performed live by the combined forces of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale, and Phoenix Boys Choir. Entertainment Weekly calls it "High Class Geekery" and The San Francisco Examiner exclaims "It's The Concert of the Decade."

    It was Peter Jackson who dared the impossible, remarkably turning out the three films of the trilogy — The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003) — in three successive years and amassing 17 Oscars along the way, culminating in the awards for Best Director and Best Picture for The Return of the King. In similar fashion, The Lord of the Rings In Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring kicks off a three-year celebration during which each of the three Academy Award®-winning films will be performed In Concert upon the tenth anniversary of its release. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) will tour in 2011, The Two Towers (2002) in 2012, and the grand finale, The Return of the King (2003), in 2013.

    It's our chance to join the Fellowship!

    For more info, head over to the official website.