"Dear Friends" Final Fantasy Concert - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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Grahf
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""Dear Friends" Final Fantasy Concert" , posted Tue 5 Jul 02:47post reply

Hey everyone. Haven't posted in a while. I've been busy with work and my new router still hates MMCafe for whatever reason. I have time to lurk every now and then, but it's just too darn slow to try posting anything (I'm on my old connection right now). Hopefully my internet situation will change soon, and I'll be able to post a little more regularly. Anyway, onto the topic of this thread.

Last week I was able to see the "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" concert as performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. It was fantastic. Not sure if anyone here has seen the concert performed elsewhere or saw it in Atlanta last week, but it's a real treat for Final Fantasy and gaming music fans.

The music was very well done, and I really enjoyed the song selection. They had three big screens over the orchestra that showed cinematics from the game of the song that was playing, mixed with live shots of closeups on the orchestra. They also used the screens to show an introduction by Nobuo Uematsu. The chorus was only on stage when performing Liberi Fatali and One Winged angel.

The concert was a big success here in Atlanta. I have seen multiple news articles since the performance saying how well it went and how the symphony should do more things like this. There were two showings (Friday and Saturday); I heard that the Saturday showing was sold out and the Friday show almost did. When the conductor asked how many people were from out of state, it seemed like more than half the audience cheered. When I was there, it seemed like the crowd was a mix of college students, regular symphony fans, and teenagers with their grandmothers. I didn't see anyone cos-playing, but I heard there was an Aeris there.

Here's the program for the show:

1. Liberi Fatali - FFVIII
2. Zanarkand - FFX
3. Terra's Theme - FFVI
4. Theme of Love - FFIV
5. Dear Friends - FFV
6. Vamo' Alla Flamenco - FFIX
7. Love Grows - FFVIII
INTERMISSION
8. Aeris's Theme - FFVII
9. Not Alone - FFIX
10. Ronfaure - FFXI
11. Final Fantasy I-III Medly
12. New Melody from FFVII Advent Children
13. Final Fantasy
Encore: One Winged Angel - FFVII

For those of you who have heard the recordings (or possibly went to) the 20020220 concert, you'll notice that most of the songs at "Dear Friends" were played there also. For the most part, they were the same arrangements. After the first encore, people were standing and cheering so long that the conducter came back out and they played One Winged Angel again. Very cool.

Here are a couple of links about the performance:
http://www.atlantasymphony.org/aso_concert_details.aspx?Event=251
http://na.square-enix.com/uematsu/concert/dear_friends.html






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threesixtee
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"Re(1):" , posted Tue 5 Jul 04:42post reply

I heard this concert is coming to Benaroya Hall in Seattle next year and I totally want to go, but tickets aren't on sale yet. after reading the song list, I have to admit I'm really bummed that they didn't play (even better: end or encore with) "Aria di Mezzo Carattere." I'd probably cry if I heard that song performed live. I'm such a pansy.





Radish
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"Re(1):" , posted Tue 5 Jul 22:02post reply

I'm really glad to hear you didn't see anyone cosplaying. Something like this should be attended in decent attire and I think people with crazy hair gel, clothes that don't quite fit properly and giant plastic weapons would severely cheapen the experience.






Gojira
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"Re(2):" , posted Wed 6 Jul 11:45post reply

quote:
I'm really glad to hear you didn't see anyone cosplaying. Something like this should be attended in decent attire and I think people with crazy hair gel, clothes that don't quite fit properly and giant plastic weapons would severely cheapen the experience.



I'll ignore what people are wearing, but if they don't shut up during the concert I'm throwing so much shit at them.





Juke Joint Jezebel
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"Re(3):" , posted Wed 6 Jul 15:53post reply

quote:
I'm really glad to hear you didn't see anyone cosplaying. Something like this should be attended in decent attire and I think people with crazy hair gel, clothes that don't quite fit properly and giant plastic weapons would severely cheapen the experience.


I'll ignore what people are wearing, but if they don't shut up during the concert I'm throwing so much shit at them.


i was planning on going to the concert in Texas. forgot it was last friday





Just One Fix
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"Re(2):" , posted Thu 7 Jul 00:44post reply

quote:
I'm really glad to hear you didn't see anyone cosplaying. Something like this should be attended in decent attire and I think people with crazy hair gel, clothes that don't quite fit properly and giant plastic weapons would severely cheapen the experience.


My girlfriend and I went (to the one that was just in Texas), and while most people there wore "formal" clothes (my girlfriend and I included) there were a LOT of people there in just jeans and t-shirts... ¬_¬

I sorta half expected to see cosplayers too, but the closest I saw were two Asian girls - one was wearing a Red Mage hat, and one was wearing Moogle ears (complete with the little ball :-P)





exodus
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"Re(3):" , posted Thu 7 Jul 00:55post reply

so I've seen two of these, just because I can go for free. Uh...they're traditionally really badly coordinated, but still pretty cool to watch. The second time I got front row seats, which was pretty nice...it's fun to watch an orchestra up close, see them eat candybars during the breaks, scratch their asses, etc.

I think it's classy to dress up for an event like that, but it's not necessary. I saw plenty of cosplayers when I went, and lots of Q#$!@#% 'game journalists', so just keep an eye open if you want to avoid them. The second one had a good MC - the voice of Tidus from FFX. Much better than the last one we had, some female sportscaster who was like "I'm just a girl who doesn't know how to play videogames - anyone wanna teach me? TEEHEE!"

And I'm not even joking.





Radish
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"Re(4):" , posted Thu 7 Jul 03:33post reply

quote:
so I've seen two of these, just because I can go for free. Uh...they're traditionally really badly coordinated, but still pretty cool to watch. The second time I got front row seats, which was pretty nice...it's fun to watch an orchestra up close, see them eat candybars during the breaks, scratch their asses, etc.

I think it's classy to dress up for an event like that, but it's not necessary. I saw plenty of cosplayers when I went, and lots of Q#$!@#% 'game journalists', so just keep an eye open if you want to avoid them. The second one had a good MC - the voice of Tidus from FFX. Much better than the last one we had, some female sportscaster who was like "I'm just a girl who doesn't know how to play videogames - anyone wanna teach me? TEEHEE!"

And I'm not even joking.



Voice of Tidus is also Fry from Futurama and the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee (which makes him more awesome). That alone would be cool enough to go.

I used to go to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC frequently so maybe that's why I'm a bit uptight about the dress code (almost everyone who went there dressed pretty fancy; at least when I went). I don't think you need a suit and tie or anything, but seeing a guy in a Vincent outfit would seem really weird. I guess it depends on where it's held since it wouldn't be so bad if it was an outdoor amphitheater or something that is conventionally much more informal.

And yeah it's funny to watch the musicians stretch and chew the fat during the intermission.






exodus
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"Re(5):" , posted Thu 7 Jul 03:46post reply

quote:

Voice of Tidus is also Fry from Futurama and the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee (which makes him more awesome).



You are confused, sir. Fry is Billy West, whereas Tidus is James Arnold Taylor. You might be thinking of Wakka from FFX, who is done by John Di Maggio, who also plays bender on futurama.





Radish
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"Re(6):" , posted Thu 7 Jul 03:53:post reply

quote:

Voice of Tidus is also Fry from Futurama and the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee (which makes him more awesome).


You are confused, sir. Fry is Billy West, whereas Tidus is James Arnold Taylor. You might be thinking of Wakka from FFX, who is done by John Di Maggio, who also plays bender on futurama.



Oops. Someone told me that Tidus was Billy West and I didn't double check them. They probably heard about John Di Maggio and through the grapevine the information was corrupted. Thanks for the correction.






[this message was edited by Radish on Thu 7 Jul 03:54]

exodus
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"Re(7):" , posted Thu 7 Jul 05:47post reply

it's ok, I feel like a total geek for even knowing any of that.