The last gaming music concert I attended was Zelda Symphony of the Goddess, back in November 2012. I made a review of my experiences, and in the final line I stated "I hope that they'll bring a Final fantasy concert to Calgary soon! =) "
Lo and behold, my wishes were granted when I found out about Distant Worlds coming to Calgary back in December 2016. In short, I booked them ASAP and as close to the front as I could (Row B). In comparison to the seats we had last time (Row E), it would be nice to be a bit further back. My neck wasn't strained from looking up at the monitor, but I somehow found the seats better slightly back.
Anyways, yesterday, May 21st, was the day of reckoning. I planned to arrive extra early (an hour early) so that I can grab prime parking to leave the lot. Like Zelda, there were fans of all ages. What was sweet were seeing elderly couples enjoying the music together. I'm not sure whether they are Final Fantasy fans directly (granted that it is the 30th anniversary of FF... so a 60-70 year old person would be just about my age now...), or through their children, but it was a welcoming site.
And onto the concert itself!
While I found my seat, I was thinking about how prepared I was for that particular day. I spent the past couple of months listening to a bunch of different Distant Worlds concerts and Distant Worlds CDs on YouTube. Unlike Zelda, Final Fantasy has many times more music to pick from the 15 main games (not counting sequels or spinoffs). For the most part though, I had an idea of what to expect.
In retrospect, it wasn't the brightest idea, especially listening to CDs. Overall, I felt like Distant Worlds Calgary wasn't as well balanced in terms of its instrumentation. It was as though the melody line was buried by the accompany. It also doesn't help that being so tuned to the music made it easier for me to pick out mistakes that were made throughout the night. (Granted, the Distant Worlds Philharmonic just finished playing in Edmonton the night before and that it's a touring orchestra, mistakes are more probable than a local orchestra.)
The night started with the prelude. Unfortunately, the harpist either missed a few bars, or just played the incorrect chord by accident. It placed a bit of a damper on my spirits. Certain musicians looked at the harpist and I felt as if the conductor would stop and restart from the beginning. Though, professionals they are, for the harpist quickly found her spot and carried on. The entire orchestra came in and it initially sounded like music from the heavens.
Strangely enough, or maybe its because I'm growing older..., I have troubles remembering the track list. For the most part, I thought they did a good job of playing music that most people would like: FF IV's Theme of Love, FF X - To Zanarkand, Chocobo Medley, and FF VII - One Wing Angel. FF VII's Cosmo Canyon was pleasant, along with FF IX's Roses of May. FF IX, being my favorite Final Fantasy to date though not nearly as popular as FF VII had a couple of songs (Roses of May and Not Alone). The chocobo medley was nice and the video that played along it was spot on.
To my dismay, I wished there were more music from FF XV. I guess since the game is relatively new, that they didn't have time to prepare scores for songs like Somnus, and Luna's Theme. Also, there weren't any soloists singing ending themes like FF IX's Melodies of Life or FF VIII's - Eyes on Me. I was also surprised that Aerith's theme was not present as well.
Overall, it was an amazing experience to witness FF music live in Calgary. There wasn't quite the same magic as Zelda, since I had a pretty good idea of what to expect for the night, yet to be surrounded by music from, what I believe, to be the best gaming music in the world is quite the experience I'll probably never forget. I only hope that the next time they come back to Calgary, they'll be a few soloists and the legendary Uematsu Nobuo himself.
Taken by my brother's phone since my phone refuses to take pictures nowadays. =(
