Right, so it’s been two and a half weeks since Distant Worlds and about a week since my blog post about Expo. Work has been crazy and I’ve not had the energy or time to post about it.
TL;DR – it was AMAZING.
Arnie Roth was an amazing composer, the orchestra was immense; especially the gentleman on the organ for Dancing Mad. The only complaint is about the two people sat behind me who started being absolute weeaboos and thinking they were funny and cheering for the organ. Alright its funny the first time you don’t need to repeat for EVERY SONG afterwards. While I’m writing this I’m listening to the Distant Worlds Albums (both of them can be bought from Amazon or iTunes).
As well as an amazing composer and orchestra. Mr Nobuo Uematsu was also in attendance and he was also great. With his traditional Japanese outfit and trademark(?) bandana around his head, he was well received and managed to get a few laughs out of us the attendees with a feint to sing at the end of the concert, he did however join in in singing the final piece which was “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy 7. To accompany the songs played they also broadcasted videos taken from their respective games from Final Fantasy 1 to Final Fantasy 11 (or even 14 I forget currently as I’m on a train back to London after working; travelling down from Manchester).
WIth a couple of amazing sung tracks by Susan Calloway, my personal favourite currently is the Final Fantasy XI song “Memoro de la Stono~Distant Worlds” from the first album and “Suteki da ne” on the second. Both albums are amazing but for tracks with vocals both of them are amazing and have a backing choir which adds to the effect.
If Square-Enix ever plan to do a Hi-Def version like HARRP by Muse, it’s going to be a must buy! Another favourite of mine was “To Zanarkand” from Final Fantasy X which was played during the concert and I’ll even admit I shed a tiny tear for the track, not because of the memories from the game (I’ve never actually finished Final Fantasy X – I think it might be because voice acting in Final Fantasy games annoy me. A lot.) but because it’s such a moving track and you can feel the sadness. Well I can, I don’t know about anyone else. With over two hours of Final Fantasy music played in the Royal Albert Hall and Mr. Uematsu himself attending, it was truly a great night and I will definitely be going back next year. regardless of if I have the money or not.
I really do urge people to go as it is an amazing experience, even if you don’t like the games, music is universal. I don’t believe anyone can truly hate music (deaf people regardless as they have unfortunately, lost the ability to hear). There are a wide range of different genres and even more variations of those genres so to say that you truly hate music. I say to you: If you have listened to every track ever released then well done, you’ve spent your whole life listening to music and if you did truly hate it all then why did you listen to it all? did you have hope that there was something you liked? You can’t possibly say that you did not enjoy at least part of a track if not all of one.
Regardless, Distant Worlds Concert at Royal Albert Hall 5th November 2011 – it was an AMAZING experience. Fans of Final Fantasy – it is a must see and you should definitely not miss out. Fans of video game music – Go, just go.
Just a few days before Distant Worlds the Zelda 25th Anniversary concert was also held in London, I unfortunately couldn’t go but if anyone wants to write a summary of their experience I’m more than willing to post it up.
Coming post: State of MY game.
