Rock star Johnny Gioeli to sing; play 'Sonic The Hedgehog' at Hopewell arcade & museum

HOPEWELL TWP. ― Mixing a rock concert with a gaming contest, Pinball PA promises a fun, unique event May 26.

World-known vocalist Johnny Gioeli will be at Pinball PA's Hopewell Township arcade and museum, singing and meeting fans.

Gioeli will perform songs from his band Crush40, which provides the primary soundtrack for Sega’s "Sonic The Hedgehog" video games and movies. The Crush40 hit “Live and Learn” will appear in the upcoming "Sonic The Hedgehog 3" movie starring Jim Carrey and the voices of Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba.

While at Pinball PA, Gioeli also will greet fans and play video games with them. There are prizes at stake, though as he's quick to mention, he's not a skilled gamer.

"I'm known as the idiot gamer. I never played one of the games I've written for before," Gioeli cheerfully said in a phone interview. "I'm in Super Smash Brothers' Nintendo series that's grossed over $3 billion, but I've never even looked at it. I couldn't even tell you what it looks like. The kids know this − I call them kids because they're all younger than me these days, anyways − so we're just going to make fun of me that day, and I'm going to challenge these kids to playing on the big screen and just have a great fun escape-from-the-normal-world day. Let them come in and play pinball, I'll do a full-on Crush40 style show with all my big hits and then we're going to run some competitions."

The event, formerly titled "Live And Learn with Crush40’s Johnny Gioeli," costs $65 for the concert, $100 for the concert plus the opportunity to play "Sonic Adventure 2" against Gioeli at liveandlearn.pinballpa.com.

Located in the Hopewell Shopping Center, at 2284 Brodhead Road, Pinball PA offers dozens of vintage video arcade games and pinball machines, with no quarters or tokens necessary, as gaming is covered by the admission charge.

"I love that whole business model where you just pay then go in and play," Gioeli said. "That's so cool."

Gioeli, 56, asked Pinball PA owner Chris Akin to try to track down the NASCAR Sega arcade game console from a quarter century ago.

"I performed all the songs on it, so I got to buy that big, huge thing," Gioeli said. "It's got to go in my home. That's how I started until Sega came along and said, 'Hey, are you interested in writing something for our next game?' And I kept going and here we are, 26 years later. I've been part of the whole Sega community since 1998, writing some of the biggest songs they ever had. I usually do all their big events."

Gioeli also sings lead vocals for hard-rock band Hardline and for German guitar hero Axel Rudi Pell − two acts that sell out venues in Eastern Europe and Asia. He also co-wrote the 2018 Journey song "Through," but said there's a "totally different mindset" to composing songs for a video game.

"It's more like a soundtrack to a movie. So, in all of these games, or if someone wants me to write for a specific scene, to me it's a movie. I don't care if it's cartoonish characters, it doesn't matter. There's a vibe, there's a plot, there's a storyline, there's an objective," Gioeli said. "I just take the creator's lead where, hey, I want this kind of feel, and musically it just comes out. Knock on wood, I've been extremely lucky because everything's been accepted that I've done. And I've loved it, because it's a lot easier than writing a (traditional) album. I have 103 albums out worldwide. That's insane."

He brings decisively upbeat lyrics and energetic melodies to his "Sonic" songs, which gamers hear while navigating the high-speed moves of a blue hedgehog battling evil mad scientist Doctor Eggman,

"That's built into my DNA. I like writing more uplifting, positive-based music. I wake up every day grateful, grateful, grateful, so it's hard for me to write any other way," Gioeli said.

It might seem like a niche to many, but the gaming music industry is powerful and has an avid following.

A month ago, in Chino Hills, Calif., a Sonic Speed Cafe opened, and when Gioeli popped in "there was over 2,000 people that showed up. The line was through the parking lot and I signed (autographs) for four hours until finally the manager said, 'We can't do anymore, let's just go outside, stop by each person and say hello, then you got to get out of here.' It's insane, the loyalty to the franchise, the loyalty to the Sonic character. A lot of childhood memories have clung to those kids."

Smaller events, like the one in Hopewell, bring a special quality, "because I get a chance to really communicate with these kids," he said. "It's a chance for them to meet me and I talk to them, and we share stories and laughter."

It's almost impossible to keep up with the volume of social media messages Gioeli gets, especially on Instagram, but he tries his best.

"I sit for hours and just respond. And it's life-changing for some people," Gioeli said. "For me, that's the ultimate payoff from music to affect someone to the degree that it can, like saving a kid's life. I've seen it all. I just got a message from a kid who said, 'Listen, I just want you to know that your music saved my life.' I said, 'Thank you, man, that is so beautiful, music is a great support system but please promise me you're going to go talk to someone because you just shouldn't have those thoughts. Please.' He said, 'I will, absolutely.' It's heavy but I've learned a lot about the community and support it as much as I can through talk and music. I'm not a therapist and never claimed to be one but I certainly offer positive advice to these kids that need help."

Gioeli's Beaver County appearance, including his live singing backed by Crush40 tracks, will be a tiny bit of a homecoming.

"I was actually raised in Lancaster, Pa., so I grew up in the Amish country, by way of New York, and what a transition that was," the now-New York-based Gioeli said. "I'm a little familiar with your area, but not entirely. I'm really into bass fishing, so along with the show we're preparing with Chris Akin and Pinball PA, I'm going to do some bass fishing while I'm there, so I can't wait."

Akin, a longtime friend and business partner of Gioeli, said the event came about organically.

"Certainly, Johnny’s incredible work in the gaming world is well known. So, I just asked him if he’d be willing to come out and hang out with fans. Johnny then offered to do a performance, play Sonic against fans, do giveaways … basically turn it into an event that Beaver County will long remember."

Pinball PA has attracted a few rock stars and gaming genius visitors over the years, including Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, Ron Keel from metal band Keel, Jerry Buckner, who was half the duo that recorded novelty hit single “Pac-Man Fever” and Jerry Yingst, one of the creators of the popular 1980s pinball game Gottlieb's Black Hole.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Johnny Gioeli of Crush40 to entertain at Pinball PA in Hopewell Twp.