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A Review of the Final Fantasy Concert Following a successful debut in Los Angeles last May and its second U.S. appearance in Chicago in February, the concert series "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" made its way to the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, California on Monday, March 7 2005. With a sold-out crowd of over 3,200, enthusiasts and music lovers alike were treated to orchestral arrangements of various songs from the Final Fantasy series, composed by Nobuo Uematsu (who was also in attendance).
The concert included such favorites as Final Fantasy VI's "Terra's Theme," Final Fantasy VII's "Aeris' Theme," and Final Fantasy VIII's "Love Grows," as well as music from the upcoming DVD and UMD-only movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Specially arranged by Uematsu himself, the orchestral performance was complemented by a series of CG FMVs from the corresponding games shown on three giant overhead projection screens. Led by Grammy award-winning conductor Arnie Roth, the Symphony Silicon Valley and San Jose State University Chorale gave an impressive performance, doing justice to the popularity of Final Fantasy's music. The audience was obviously receptive to the performance, with long, drawn-out applauses following each piece. When the camera focused on Nobuo Uematsu during the intermission, the crowd immediately burst into a standing ovation. The audience even cheered the Mistress of Ceremonies, a courtside announcer from the Sacramento Kings, who seemed awkwardly out of place, making comments like "this will probably be the first time you can use video game music to get a girl to fall in love with you." It was surprising that a number of people involved in the performance apparently didn't know much about Final Fantasy. The various clips that were played were often oddly chosen and had little relevance to the music or the emotions it was conveying. One notable example was "Aeris' Theme" juxtaposed with a video of Sephiroth tearing off the head of Jenova. Some of the lighting effects also seemed problematic at times, with too much shadows casting over the amazing performers in the orchestra. But these were only minor complaints, and all was forgiven by the enthusiastic audience toward the final part of the concert.
After the notes to the "Ending Theme" faded, Uematsu, came on stage in traditional Japanese outfit with socks and slippers. He waved enthusiastically while the audience honored him with a standing ovation. Through his translator the maestro thanked the performers and audience and expressed his appreciation that video game music is becoming more mainstream outside of Japan and in the U.S. Uematsu ended his speech asking the audience to continue to support future game-related concerts that might take place in the US. After Uematsu finished his comments, the orchestra and chorus came back for one last encore, performing "One Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII. Then after a final standing ovation, the crowd filed out of the auditorium. All in all the concert was a complete success marred only by a small number poor choices in presentation, most notably the juxtaposed “Mistress of Ceremonies” and FMVs. With several more concerts planned in the U.S.later this year, Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy is a highly recommend experience for gamers and music lovers alike. |
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