NOBUO UEMATSU~♪♫♪♫ FINAL FANTASY~ ♪♫♪♫
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It seems Danny recently went to a concert last Friday. As you can see, he’s been in quite a good mood lately… Danny can you tell us exactly what concert you went to?
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The concert is called Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy. It’s the latest orchestral concert featuring music from all the main Final Fantasy games. The best part? Nobuo Uematsu himself was in attendance! I had a vip ticket and was able to meet him and get an autograph~
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Who’s Nobuo Uematsu?
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……….!!!!!!?????!!!?!?!?!?!?!
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Ok, ok, I was just asking for anyone who didn’t happen to know. You told me a dozen times, he’s the composer, right?
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Composer, childhood hero, demi-god, take your pick.
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D-demi-god…? Uh, anyway let’s get to the concert itself shall we?
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The concert was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday, April 1st at 8:00 pm. It was of course, amazing. As with all the Final Fantasy concerts, they played videos on top of the orchestra, featuring footage from the games. As mentioned, Nobuo Uematsu himself was in attendance, and of course got a thunderous standing ovation when introduced. Videos weren’t allowed during the concert, so I put my camera away but I’ll post some videos other people took during other concerts to show you all what it was like. Here’s the set-list of the music played that night:
Prelude (Final Fantasy series)
Liberi Fatali (Final Fantasy VIII)
Victory Theme (Final Fantasy series)
Don’t Be Afraid (Final Fantasy VIII)
Memoro de la Stono – Distant Worlds (Final Fantasy XI)
Ronfaure (Final Fantasy XI)
Man with the Machine Gun (Final Fantasy VIII)
Suteki da Ne (Final Fantasy X)
Chocobo theme/Swing de Chocobo (Final Fantasy series)
Clash on the Big Bridge (Final Fantasy V)
[intermission]
Opening ~ Bombing Mission (Final Fantasy VII)
Fisherman’s Horizon (Final Fantasy VIII)
Kiss Me Goodbye (Final Fantasy XII)
To Zanarkand (Final Fantasy X)
J-E-N-O-V-A (Final Fantasy VII)
Fabula Nova Crystallis (Final Fantasy XIII)
Blinded by Light (Final Fantasy XIII)
Navigator’s Glory ~The Theme of Limsa Lominsa~ (Final Fantasy XIV)
Answers (Final Fantasy XIV)
Terra’s Theme (Final Fantasy VI)
encore: One Winged Angel (Final Fantasy VII)
Wow, how exciting! Why don’t we summarize the concert by telling us some thoughts on your favorite songs of the night?
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Hmmm, favorites? Well, I loved that the concert started off appropriately with “Prelude,” as any Final Fantasy does. “Liberi Fatale” was awesome. I got a chill the first time the chorus sang the words Fithos Lusec. But then again, I got shivers down my spine during pretty much every song. “Victory Theme” is of course a classic Final Fantasy theme so everyone got a kick out of hearing it. “Don’t Be Afraid” was fun because the video started off with game footage from Final Fantasy VIII, during the initial SeeD exam in Dollet and the song only started from a random encounter.
“Don’t Be Afraid” (Final Fantasy VIII) Chicago 2008.3.1
During my concert, it was the same initial footage except they were in their blue garden uniforms. The footage here is from the demo, as seen by their regular clothes and Rinoa being there. Strange huh? Also, I would’ve played the “Victory Theme” after “Don’t Be Afraid” instead of before…
Hold on, hold on, I thought you were only going to list your favorites?
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I am listing only my favorites.
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Eh? Oh… um alright then.
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Continuing on, “Memoro de la Stono – Distant Worlds” was very good as well. Susan Calloway was in attendance and performed all of the vocals in the concert and I must say, I was very impressed. I was also very happy they played “Ronfaure” from Final Fantasy XI, as that’s probably my favorite track from that game. “Man with the Machine Gun” is always fun to hear of course, can’t forget uncle Laguna can we?
So you ARE listing every song…
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That brings us to “Suteki da ne” the main theme from Final Fantasy X. I recently played through all of Final Fantasy X right before the concert so the entire story was still very fresh in my mind, which made this song a very emotional experience. This version had a more mainstream style to it, instead of the traditional japanese feel of Rikki (the original singer) and the lyrics were changed to english which was interesting to hear. I enjoyed hearing suteki da ne in japanese mixed into the lyrics, even if Susan’s pronunciation is a bit off ^^. But the song sure was beautifully done.
“Suteki da ne” (Final Fantasy X) Chicago 2010.12.12
The “Chocobo Theme” had a very fun video to watch, as everyone loves chocobos! It started with the new chocobo theme from Final Fantasy XIV, then went into “Swing de Chocobo,” which was actually arranged by Arnie Roth for the concerts way back in the Voices tour I believe. It reminded me how silly Final Fantasy V’s chocobo was with it’s big shaking feather butt.
“Chocobo Theme” (Final Fantasy XIV) and “Swing de Chocobo” Toronto 2010.11.27
“Clash on the Big Bridge” was a new, much more orchestral and “epic” arrangement recently added to the Distant World’s song list. I have to say, I really love this new version of Gilgamesh’s theme as it has a “One Winged Angel” feel to it.
“Clash on the Big Bridge” (Final Fantasy V) Toronto 2010.11.27
Aaaand that brings us to the intermission of the show. Sorry this post is so long, I thought Danny would only have a few favorites…
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They hadn’t even played anything from Final Fantasy VII yet, which is probably the fan favorite. You could tell everyone was brimming with excitement when “Opening~ Bombing Mission” started off the second half.
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“Opening~ Bombing Mission” Chicago 2008.3.1
The concert then settled in with “Fisherman’s Horizon” followed by “Kiss Me Goodbye,” the main theme from Final Fantasy XII. “To Zanarkand” was also very emotional for me for the same reason as “Suteki da ne.” I think just hearing the first seven notes of that song made my hair stand up and my pupils dilate. The distant worlds version of “J-E-N-O-V-A” from Final Fantasy VII was quite different from the original version, as it had more of a swing feel to it.
You said the next two songs weren’t composed by Nobuo Uematsu?
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That’s right. The next two song’s were from Final Fantasy XIII, “Fabula Nova Crystallis” and “Blinded by Light.” These two songs were the only ones not written by Nobuo Uematsu, but rather Masashi Hamauzu. Nobuo Uematsu wrote all the music for Final Fantasy I-IX, collaborated on Final Fantasy X-XII, and wrote all of Final Fantasy XIV.
The next two songs are from Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix’s latest Final Fantasy. Danny, you currently play this, right?
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Yup! Final Fantasy XIV is an mmorpg, like XI. I was happy to hear “Navigator’s Glory: the Theme of Limsa Lominsa,” since Limsa Lominsa is my starting city in XIV. I was a bit sad they didn’t play “Twilight Over Thanalan” but what can you do. “Answers” is the XIV main theme, and Arnie Roth talked to us about how layered and intricate the song was and that it was his personal favorite of the list. Susan Calloway is the original singer of the song, so having her there to sing it was also very special.
“Answers” (Final Fantasy XIV) audio only
The concert was wrapped up by “Terra’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VI, possibly my favorite Final Fantasy. They used footage from the intro of the game and changed it to the credits for the concert, a very nice touch.
“Terra’s Theme” (Final Fantasy VI) Seattle 2009.7.10
And finally, we have the encore performance, right?
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No Final Fantasy concert would be complete without the final song of the evening, “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII. Nobuo Uematsu came on stage and actually joined the chorus! These videos are both of the actual concert I went to in New York, the first the full song and the second a short close up video of Uematsu in the choir, enjoy!
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“One Winged Angel” (Final Fantasy VII) New York 2011.4.1
Nobuo Uematsu singing in the choir for “One Winged Angel!” New York 2011.4.1
Whew, what a concert! Finally, we have Danny’s biggest highlight of the night, his meet and greet with Nobuo Uematsu!
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NOBUO UEMATSU~♪♫♪♫ FINAL FANTASY~ ♪♫♪♫
NOBUO UEMATSU~♪♫♪♫ FINAL FANTASY~ ♪♫♪♫
NOBUO UEMATSU~♪♫♪♫ FINAL FANTASY~ ♪♫♪♫
Enjoy the pictures Danny took~! The signed dvd is the same dvd as the first video of this post!
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My Nobuo Uematsu and Arnie Roth Meet and Greet
Danny gave a Square Enix worker there his business card to hand to Nobuo Uematsu and Arnie Roth, so perhaps they are reading this now! If they are, Danny would like to thank you both very much for the concert.
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Uematsu-san, you are truly one of my childhood heroes, your music in Final Fantasy is one of the main reasons why I am an artist today and it continues to be the lifestream in my creative veins. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you and meeting you was truly a dream come true.
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Danny actually has two more concerts to go to this month, so look forward to those blog posts! As always, he’s also working on new artwork to post up, so keep you’re eyes peeled for that as well. Danny is also planning a new category of posts sharing his favorite animations. Please look forward to it~!
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NOW THEN, THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY TO END A POST THIS EPIC~!!!
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