The best classic game music and more
Nobuo, Arnie etal. to perform the latest Distant Worlds series in Newark at the NJPAC on 1/31/15. I'm going to this because it's so close so why not? 
Apparently RIKKI is making her North American debut as well, singing suteki da ne.
http://www.njpac.org/events/detail/dist … al-fantasy
Presale starts tomorrow!
Schedule permitting, I'm thinking of checking this one out as well. I am curious, though: I note that they've already listed the highlights for both shows. Excluding said highlights, approximately how many more songs do they typically perform at a Distant Worlds concert?
FF6 Opera, Battle Theme Medley, and Answers at 3PM, or the FF6 Character Medley, Eyes On Me, and two new FF9 pieces at 8PM. Decision, decisions!
They usually average about 20 songs:
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=tour … l+fantasy)
I'll be going to the 3pm one with a bunch of friends because I have a Devil's game at 7 to hop over to after the concert, don't be afraid to say hi!
I'm glad this topic got revived since I had forgotten about it. Bought my ticket for the show at 8. Being a Flyers fan I don't have to worry about the Devils game =P
After last night you have a lot to be worried about... SLAM! j/k 
Well Timonen being out (probably for good) as well as Coburn are just the beginning of the Flyers' problems on defense -_- only good thing despite losing was still putting up 4 goals.
Just bumping this because I was reminded this is coming soon. I'm still excited but I had forgotten about it until I got the email reminder today 
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I was at the 3pm show today; overall it was a great show! A "mini-review" below.
On vocals, both Susan Calloway (Answers, Memoro de la Stono) and Rikki (Suteki da ne) were very good. The three vocalists in the FF6 opera (who played Maria, Draco and Ralse) were also excellent. In addition to those previously mentioned songs, another highlight for me was Liberi Fatali (great energy).
Relative lowlights were Hymn of the Fayth (I don't get the appeal of this) and the Chocobo medley (didn't recognize much of the tunes, and there was some strange chanting of C-H-O-C-O-B-O throughout part of it).
A few other points to note:
- Acoustically, the venue was very good (at least, in my seat left of the orchestra).
- Tons of applause for Nobuo Uematsu, as you'd probably expect.
- Rikki's dress was awesome
As for the merchandise booth: the line for the booth very long throughout the show, so I didn't try to buy anything. It looks like they had Distant Worlds t-shirts, posters, and bunch of Square Enix albums for purchase (DW I/I/III, A New World, Octave Theory, all of the in-print OSTs, ...). Interestingly, the DW III albums looked like the US pressing (as it didn't appear to have an obi), which hasn't yet been released. I will say that they sold a lot of music; I saw a bunch of people with six or seven albums each...
All in, the event was a ton of fun - and it was cool to see the crowd's enthusiasm (as I don't know many others IRL who are big fans). Would highly recommend.
The opera was a new arrangement, they added a battle song in the middle of it and the addition of the narrator made it pretty good. The original song is 16 minutes of complete boring bullshit so I'm glad they made it more accessible. I'm not sure if the battle song is just another song or if it's a new piece.
I liked the venue a lot, I was impressed that it was that nice inside. Acoustically it was good. The orchestra performance was pretty out of sync at some points, though and there was definitely some production issues with some of the instruments (namely, piano) being drown out by the horn section completely.
The merch line was retarded, I was waiting in line while I was checking my gmail to make sure that I ordered Distant Worlds III from CDJ and as soon as I confirmed I got the f--- out of there. I kind of wanted a program because I think it's a newer version than the one I have from some of the previous ones I went to but not enough to sit in line for 45 minutes. They must make an absolute killing on merch sales.
I was also pretty surprised to hear him say that this was their 103rd show. I'm not sure if that's counting the original Dear Friends and things in LA/Chicago or not but it's impressive nonetheless.
Just got back from the 8 show, and it was a mostly different setlist. RIKKI did Suteki da ne of course, Susan Calloway sang Kiss Me Goodbye and Eyes on Me instead. I'm pretty glad I was in the front because I really wondered if the classical guitar in Dear Friends and Vamo 'alla Flamenco (especially the former) would reach very far. I thought the arrangements of Rose of May and Hunter Chance could have been better, and the Chocobo medley made for a weak second encore, but overall it was a very enjoyable performance and I thought they did a good job. I could post full setlist if wanted, though I did on the Steam group already. And I got my FFX OST signed by Uematsu and RIKKI, woot!
Thanks for the reports, Rrolack, jb and Paladin.
Relative lowlights were Hymn of the Fayth (I don't get the appeal of this) and the Chocobo medley (didn't recognize much of the tunes, and there was some strange chanting of C-H-O-C-O-B-O throughout part of it).
I can see them including the Chocobo medley in the concert programs as a theoretical crowd-pleaser. It does seem strange that they've included it on virtually every DW album release.
Anybody know what games the new medley is taken from? I seem to remember hearing part of it in FFXIV: A Realm Reborn but not sure.
Interestingly, the DW III albums looked like the US pressing (as it didn't appear to have an obi), which hasn't yet been released.
That is interesting. I'm a little surprised they haven't announced a U.S. edition yet... maybe they were waiting for the concerts to come back stateside first?
The opera was a new arrangement, they added a battle song in the middle of it and the addition of the narrator made it pretty good.
So this is in addition to the new ending segment that's in FF Orchestra Album and DW: The Celebration?
I was also pretty surprised to hear him say that this was their 103rd show.
Yeah the recent Japan shows were titled "The Journey of 100" for that reason.
I could post full setlist if wanted, though I did on the Steam group already.
I'd like to see it here.
So wasn't recording and didn't have phone out to update as it went, but pretty sure I'm not missing anything.
Final Fantasy 1~3 Medley (FF1 Main Theme, Matoya's Cave, Rebel Army Theme, others I am not remembering)
Rose of May (FF9)
Kiss Me Goodbye (FF12)
Final Fantasy VII Main Theme
Final Fantasy VI Character Medley (Terra ~ Kefka ~ Celes ~ Locke)
Eyes on Me (FF8)
Dear Friends (FF5)
Vamo 'alla Flamenco (FF9)
*Intermission*
The Man with the Machine Gun (FF8)
Dark World (FF6) with Uematsu on Organ
At Zanarkand (FF10)
Theme of Love (FF4)
Don't Be Afraid (FF8)
Hunter Chance (FF9)
Suteki da ne (FF10)
Aerith's Theme (FF7)
Prelude (FF1)
*Encore* One-Winged Angel (FF7)
*2nd Encore* Chocobo Medley
*Edit* Forgot Aerith's Theme