Seattle Symphony with the Seattle Choral Company

Liberi Fatali (FF 8)
To Zanarkand (FF 10)
Don't Be Afraid (FF 8)
Aerith's Theme (FF 7)
Medley 2002 (FF 1-3)
Dear Friends (FF 5)
Vamo' alla Flamenco (FF 9)
Love Grows (FF 8)
Ronfaure (FF 11)

Intermission

Opening - Bombing Mission (FF 7)
Fisherman's Horizon (FF 8)
Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds (FF 11)
The Man With the Machine Gun (FF 8)
Theme of Love (FF 4)
Swing de Chocobo (FF series)
Opera - Maria and Draco (FF 6)
Terra's Theme (FF 6)
Encore: One-Winged Angel (FF 7)

5 tracks from FF8 vs. 3 tracks from FF7. Indisputable evidence that FF8 > FF7! ^_^

That said, all the cosplayers I saw were from FF7 with Yuffie and Tifa in my row. I'm mystified by the enduring popularity of FF7, I'm not sure the people cheering the loudest when the encore started were cognizant enough to play the game in 1997.

Uematsu appeared to have fallen into a linen closet before the concert. He wore an extremely baggy and beige outfit.

Arnie Roth mentioned the FF7 Main Theme would "probably" be played during the Vancouver sessions in October.

It's hard to get excited about a concert that has nothing that hasn't already been done a thousand times before.

Seriously, is there a lack of other FF music or something!?

I was disappointed at what little energy the performance had. I can forgive the occasional lapse in ensemble but it's hard to get into the music when it sounded like it was being performed underwater. Not sure if the blame lies with the conductor or just a bunch of really bored musicians. Or both.

The FF6 pieces were especially disappointing. Terra's Theme got a simplistic (and repetitive) arrangement and the opera was simply ghastly. All three soloists were grating (especially the wobbly mezzo) and the English translation allowed me to marvel at how bad the lyrics actually are. The last two minutes of the piece are new (to me) and pushed an already uneven performance into parody. I went with a friend unfamiliar with the games and she thought the opera was one of the cheesiest things she's ever seen. I can't disagree with her.

While a few more pieces from FF5 wouldn't have hurt (and less from FF11), I couldn't complain about the five FF8 pieces as they were the highlight of the program.

Theme of Love was skipped at the Saturday performance. Unfortunate as that left no representation for FF4.

I quite enjoyed the show in Baltimore last month.  I especially liked the FF6 opera.  I thought our soloists did a fine job.  The same vocalist was used for Distant Worlds however, and it just seemed... really off.  Distant Worlds shouldn't be sung by someone who seems trained to be an opera singer.  It was unfortunate for me, as Distant Worlds is one of my favorite tracks on their lineup.

Dear Friends was the low point of the evening.  I didn't particularly like their arrangement.  Theme of Love was, as always, dull.  I wish they would just stop arranging that song.  I also agree that Terra was a bit weak.

I went with 7 other people, all familiar with FF, and all loved the concert a lot.  None of us really go to the orchestra ever, nor do any of us have the sort of ear for music to be able to nitpick about every little detail.  For people like us the concert was overall great.