It's now less than a month away.  I wanna get an idea of who exactly is going to be there.  I'll be there with two of my friends, we have VIP tickets, and we're staying at the Doubletree hotel which is right across the street from the Rosemont Theatre.  We should all try to get together for a bit either before or after the show.

So if you're gonna be there, reply!

-Mike

I'll be there, and it would be really cool to meet some of you guys! Carl's going to have a tough time getting away from me, considering my seat is about 7 over from him in the same row.

Sounds romantic!

I'll be there as well!  ... Balcony seats, on account of I'm cheap.

I'll be there, Orchestra Left on the aisle.  My lady friend and I will be staying at the Omni, in case anyone else is too.

-Seph

I didn't expect it to work out, but it looks like I'll be going to Chicago, too!  I'm really looking forward to this -- ever since reading about the Orchestral Game Concerts in Japan, plus all the recent stuff like Dear Friends and Video Games Live!, I've really been aching to go to one of these.  And Play! looks like it's going to have a great lineup with some amazing special guests.  I can't wait!  So is that everyone for now -- just eight STC people plus six guests?

Kirin Lemon
longhairmike +1
Carl +1
Shinobin
the_miker +2
Zane
Sephiro444 +1
Alex +1

Am I the only one wondering why the heck this show isn't sold out yet?

According to TicketMaster.com, pairs of tickets are still available as close up as the second price tier, Section 111, which, while it's possible people could have bought balcony seats or whatever, indicates a lot of the theatre is still empty!

Is Chicago just a terribly poor choice of venue for this kind of concert?  I'd feel a little bad if only the front sections had people in them!

Wasn't Dear Friends a sell out in Chicago?
Nevertheless, I have no idea if it is still possible to sell out that concert, but maybe they are concentrating too much on the "real" video game music freaks? It is obvious that PLAY! gets some attention from these people (as we can see in this forum), and the support from the publishers. It might be a wrong choice in terms of the target group? I do not know. It would be a shame if this tour fails.

Last year's Dear Friends did sell out at this same Chicago location, and the place was crowded enough to prove it, so everyone did show up.

For this year, even though the VIP for Chicago has sold out, I too am surprised there are still lots of regular seats left...  Maybe some people now have a "been there done that" feeling, even though it's going to be completely different songs here than all FF...

Or maybe it was just the strength of the FF fanbase that sold the Dear Friends quicker, and people might not be as excited about "other vgm" it's hard to say...  But at any rate we're getting to see real market analysis in action as to what people really do attend and don't attend.

(off-topic)

And speaking of attending, it seems the One-Up Mushrooms are playing a live gig in Arkansas on the same day (May 27th) and they've still got ~275 of their 300 seats available, so that's only like 25 people paying to show up to there (ouch!)

A quick browse of their messageboards shows that their fan demographic is mostly teens who need their parents permission though (14-19) and their parents are putting the smack-down on driving to other states with a bunch of other online guys they've never met before.

The last Chicago concert had a pretty diverse age demographic, so that shouldn't be the issue for PLAY, while it might be that people just can't spare as much in 'travel money' these days for ANY type of roadtrip...

Most likely. Their website says that tickets in Stockholm were sold out in 14 days. Sweden did not have such a concert before, so...

If they do not attend the Chicago concert with this line-up of titles and composers, I think it will have a very negative impact on video game concerts in general. If PLAY Chicago does not bring in people, what other kind of video game music concert should.

... and not to forget that Chicago is only one stop for PLAY, there is also Detroit, Philadelphia and so on, WITHOUT a line-up of VIP composers attending (so far).

For me, the main appeal of this concert is the meet and greet.  I don't know how many VIP tickets were made available, but I know I would only go if I had a VIP ticket.  If I lived in Chicago, then I might go on a regular ticket just because of the convenient location, but I don't, and I wouldn't travel just for the concert portion.  Maybe the lack of ticket sales reflects fans who think along similar lines.

Hahahaha, oh man. That just struck me as very funny.

I currently live about 20 miles south of the airport (thats what we call ohare,, kinda like how we just call chicago "the city" and lake michigan "the lake"). but the day after the concert im moving to elk grove village (the city that borders the west side of the airport)...   man its gonna be a hectic weekend... at least i have monday off for mammalia day...

i thought about buying vip tickets for this concert as well (for the dear friends concert i lucked out with THE front row center section seats number 1 and 2), but in retrospect is wasnt really worth forking out the money for the dearfriends meet and greet. Uematsu looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion or something. He didnt seem to enthused to greet the people who paid 3x the normal ticket price.

Id rather take the extra money and go see the silent hill movie a few more times... that was f---ing awesome..

I'm going, VIP tickets and all, and would be delighted to meet people despite the fact that approximately two people know me here because I've uh, never posted.

I might as well ask now - is there any word on whether this will be recorded professionally or not?

My bet is that they will Record, BUT the question is WILL THEY RELEASE IT?....

A likely determining factor would be if that More Friends CD ended up selling satisfactorily to their expectations, or if it undersold to the JP market.

Given the fact that this isn't just an "ordinary" VGM concert, seeing as how there are a lot of big-name composers showing up and performing there, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a CD release. Even if it were a domestic/Sumthing Else release. We'll see...

I have my doubts. Because it all depends on the publishers and their interest in such a CD release. Correct me if I am wrong, but did you see any music from Square-Enix mixed with other game music on an album recently? They might be against it.
There are so many different parties involved that it will be near to impossible, I believe.

I really didn't take the different parties into consideration. I just figured since they have the rights to perform the songs, they'd have the rights to also release a live concert CD with the songs on them. Maybe I just have my hopes up too high.

Ordim makes a good point, it wouldn't be SQEX's own label releasing it this time, since the show's got all these other game copyright holders involved too...

It would have to be a publisher who has been willing to do compilations which span multiple game companies in a single package already, such as Team-E (Shooting Game Sound Omnibus Series) or Scitron Discs (Legend series).   But it's unknown if JMP Productions would have any relational contacts there (or if those labels would even be interested at all).

Exactly. Just imagine one of the publishers disagrees for whatever reason - it would make the compilation less interesting.
Square-Enix: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger etc.
Konami: Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid
SEGA: Sonic, Shenmue

You got the idea... I am not sure if they think that it is worth the risk.

Why would they release a recording of one when this is supposed to be a series of concerts?

What I could read about Play so far is that Chicago will be special. Chicago has Akira Yamaoka playing guitar, Angela Aki singing, music from Blue Dragon and all these composers who are certainly not coming to every other concert.
I will be happy if I am wrong (because I am not even close to Chicago), but I do not see so many composers coming together at one place again. Chicago looks unique, and this is why they should record it (if...). But again, I have my doubts.

Okay, how about unprofessional recordings.....?

OK, so I decided to call up JMP's office in San Francisco, to see if we could get a straight answer right from the source...  and I just got off the phone a few minutes ago from briefly talking with Jason, and we have the answer alright.

The official answer is no, there is NOT any CD release planned for the PLAY! Symphony tour.
(neither Chicago or any of the other stops)

The reason being firmly on the legal side of things, with too many issues about securing the rights with the multiple owners.   He agreed that there is some interest, but quickly pointed out that it's not a matter of making the recording, but of the legal ownerships.   

So there you have it...

Not that anyone knows who I am (I've lurked and occasionally posted here for several years), but I'll be there.  Section 109, row U.

Miker & I have decided that it's pretty necessary for all of us to go out and have a few drinks together. I know nothing about Chicago, but I do know that beer flows freely in bottles and from taps no matter where you are.

Couldn't have said it better myself

Come on people, who's up for some drinks after the show?

-Mike

Okay, here comes a nice gimmick for the Chicago attendees:

Oooh, I am! I am!

Provided the other people I'm with are up for it, you can count me in for those drinks.

Now I just need to decide if I want to dress up or not...

I'm going halfway. Dressy pants and shoes, and a funky button down shirt. Who knows how everyone else is going to dress, though.

I'll agree for a few drinks, as long as we keep it somewhat close-by to the venue, as opposed to long hours of bar-hopping all over downtown...

currently saturday is being forcast to be the first 90 degree day of this year...
we're game music fans, not a bunch of 6-figure-earning opera listeners. shorts and a tshirt should cut it... if youre going to dress up,, dress up like pyramidhead or something...

But this is my only night to be fancy!

Really?! Weather only says 79ish. Well, "only 79" is still damn hot. O_o