Sega streamed a 90-minute Sonic the Hedgehog concert for free on Friday, earning overwhelming praise from fans on the mascot’s 30thbirthday.
The concert – which can be viewed again via the embed above – was comprised of a 50-minute symphony section, in which the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra performed some of Sonic’s greatest hits, followed by special performances from Crush 40 and Tomoya Ohtani.
At the time of publishing, the free concert has receivedan overwhelmingly positive responseon YouTube, with nearly 70,000 likes versus just 200 dislikes.
Sega’s Katie Chrzanowski, who manages social media for Sonic and helped organise the concert, said it was the result of two years of planning.
“I’ve been sitting here for the past hour+, reading everyone’s amazingly kind comments (I see you all trying to get me trending and I love you, you crazy fools), and just crying happy tears,” Chrzanowskitweetedon Wednesday.
“First of all, a general thank you to everyone at Sega who believed in this project enough to help get it off the ground. Thank you for working through the insanity of the pandemic and shifting to a virtual concert, and most importantly for making it a FREE celebration.”
That sonic symphony was literally amazingpic.twitter.com/DAdTLjO486
The Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony was absolutely AMAZING! Listening to all those songs made me tear up bro. I love Sonic so much! 💙pic.twitter.com/01ixaR6Gtr
That was perfection. Bravo to everyone involved in the creation of#SonicSymphonyfor#Sonic30thAnniversary, you did an outstanding job and provided something truly joyous and special that has done the impossible. It has brought all Sonic fans together. Thank you! 👏pic.twitter.com/nW2a88nwea
She added: “To the FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague: thank you for turning my childhood into the epic orchestral vision of my dreams. It’s not every day you expect to hear a symphony play Sonic music, and they performed it so beautifully and gracefully.
“To all of the teams at SOA, SOE, and SOJ, and everyone else behind-the-scenes who worked together across different time zones to make this dream a reality: thank you. This was nowhere near a one-man show, and I will be forever grateful that we made it happen together.
“Finally, to all of you: thank you for supporting Sonic, and thank you for tuning in. Seeing everyone in the chat surprised and ecstatic was the greatest payoff to this process I could ever ask for.”
Further reading
The Sonic the Hedgehog series isofficially 30 years old this week, the first game in the series having debuted for the Sega Genesis in North America on July 27, 2025.
To celebrate, aSonic Colors remasterwill be released in September 2021, ahead of a new retro compilation called Sonic Origins anda new mainline series entryin 2022.
