page_title: Crush 40
section_title: Rise Again, Live!, 2 Nights 2 Remember, and Driving Through Forever
hierarchical_section_title: Crush 40 / History / Rise Again, Live!, 2 Nights 2 Remember, and Driving Through Forever
caption_attribution_description: English: Crush 40 live in Tokyo 2012
context_page_description: Crush 40 is a Japanese-American hard rock band. The group consists of guitarist and composer Jun Senoue and vocalist Johnny Gioeli, although Senoue has featured other lead vocalists on a Crush 40 album. Crush 40 is best known for their contributions to the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.
  Senoue is employed by Sega as a composer and sound director, and has worked with Sega as a composer since 1993. While preparing music for Sonic Adventure, he contacted Gioeli to record the game's title track, "Open Your Heart". They also recorded the soundtrack for NASCAR Arcade under the name "Sons of Angels" and released it in 2000 in Japan as the album Thrill of the Feel. Afterward, Senoue and Gioeli stayed in contact and continued to record new music for further Sonic games, as well as their own original music, and performed live concerts.
  Crush 40 has released a total of two studio albums, two live albums, two compilations, an EP, and individual tracks, mostly under Sega's Wave Master label. The band's musical style of hard rock, considered by some to be a continuation of glam rock, has created a legacy with fans of the Sonic video game series.
context_section_description: After the 2010 release of Sonic Free Riders, Crush 40's contributions to Sonic the Hedgehog decreased. Senoue was no longer lead composer on games in the Sonic series after 2011's Sonic Generations. During the next few years, Crush 40 made more live performances and recordings. In 2010, Crush 40 performed live at the Summer of Sonic convention. The next year, Crush 40 recorded a single, "Song of Hope", as inspiration for hope for victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. According to Senoue, the song was written for charity, specifically for the Red Cross. Subsequently, "Song of Hope" and three new songs were released as an EP called Rise Again. One of the included songs, "Sonic Youth", pays tribute to Crush 40's fans with numerous references to the band's past songs.
  On March 29 and 30, 2012, Crush 40 performed live at Shibuya GUILTY in Tokyo, with Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka in the audience. From this concert, performed with Taneda and Kawamura, Crush 40's album Live! was recorded, and was released on October 3, 2012. The band also performed at the St. Louis Sonic Boom Festival in August 2013, and performed additional shows at the Summer of Sonic convention in 2012 and 2016, and San Diego Comic-Con conventions in 2016 and 2017. After more live performances at the Tokyo Game Show and Japan Game Music Festival 2013, in 2014 Crush 40 was announced for another two-night performance at Shibuya GUILTY.  For the concert, Senoue and Gioeli were joined by Taneda and Katsuji. The concert featured two new songs, as well as a performance of Hardline's "Love Leads the Way". Recorded from that performance, 2 Nights 2 Remember, Crush 40's second live album, was released on May 13, 2015.  It features four additional studio-recorded songs.
  In 2018, Senoue was named lead composer for the soundtrack for Team Sonic Racing. He was requested to make the game's theme a song by Crush 40.  This led to Senoue and Gioeli recording "Green Light Ride" for the game, Crush 40's first Sonic game theme in several years.  The song was premiered at E3 2018, to a stronger reaction than Senoue expected.  A short version of the song was made available in December 2018, before the 2019 release of the game itself. Senoue expressed his joy at being able to record another game theme with Crush 40, twenty years after Crush 40 began. Subsequently, Crush 40 released another compilation album, Driving Through Forever, in 2019. In 2020, Gioeli re-recorded "Song of Hope" with Bulgarian vocalist Sevi, as a way of reconnecting with fans during the coronavirus pandemic.
caption: Crush 40 performing in Tokyo in 2012
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