Being a nerd is honestly so great. Candlelight: Rings and Dragons (Jan. 29, 2026) elevates nerdom in the most beautiful way possible. Described as “a live, multi-sensory musical experience,” the string quartet (two violins, a cello, and a viola) consisted of multiple members of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and had beautiful harmony that filled the dark, candle-lit room.
Setting the mood
The INDUSTRIAL Event Space is a perfect venue for this affair. You walk in the doors and the vibe is immediately intimate. Candles (non-flame) are set up pretty much all through the space providing a lot of the light. Two strategically placed bars to grab a cocktail or wine before you walk in. The seating is split between Zone A, in the front, and Zone B in the back, with no assigned seats. An usher guides people to their seats; it all feels very organized and comfortable. To keep the mood dark and atmospheric, the audience was told to keep their phones away until the final song.
“The Lord of The Rings” by Howard Shore
After much introduction (and a little “Game of Thrones” tease), the four launched into instantly recognizable tunes from the trilogy, starting with “The Shire.” One of the violinists (and de facto host) did a great job guiding the audience through numbers, making us guess what songs were playing, and giving interesting tidbits about the music and composers.
The LOTR section brought out a ton of emotions in the crowd, with people wiping tears away, as the quartet made their way through the familiar chords of “Gollum,” “Flaming Red Hair,”
“The Passing of the Elves,” “Saruman the White,” and others. It was a genuinely beautiful to hear the movie’s iconic music through talented strings. Even if you’ve never seen a LOTR movie, anyone can still appreciate the haunting sadness and jubilant lightness of Shore’s score.
“Game of Thrones” by Ramin Djawadi
The very first song performed was the infamous, iconic “Game of Thrones” theme song. This got a big cheer from the crowd, as they moved between LOTR and GOT original music. I was fully anticipating the main theme song to be the very last song played, but they apparently wanted to start strong with a crowd pleaser.
Once the string quartet moved on from LOTR into GOT, the crowd went from nostalgic to amped up. “Fire and Blood” was high-energy and brought back memories of HBO’s legendary show. But truly when “Rains of Castamere” was teased and then began, there was an almost-tangible buzz of excitement in the audience. I leaned over and whispered to my friend, “This is when most of the Starks died. You know the Red Wedding?” And even though she’d never watched the show, my buddy’s eyes widened, because even a non-watcher had heard of the infamous Red Wedding.
Followed by the beautiful “Light of the Seven” and the dark “Bastard,” the show moved with a slow efficiency, making sure we appreciated every little string. Ending the GOT section with a “House of the Dragon” number (“Reign of the Targaryens”) was a nice touch and hinted at a future evolution of this section.
Final thoughts
All in all, a wonderful evening and place for folks to geek out in a classy way with their fandom. Candlelight Concerts are ideal for a date night, girls’ night out, treating visiting family, or just to enjoy the music alone. It was especially wonderful to see folks dressed up as elves and dragon queens, cheering like they were at a football game.
Writer and editor