Support NeoGAF

[Parallax Scroll]

Sorry if anyone's made a thread about this already. I don't see anything about it on the first 5 pages of the forum.

Did anyone go to the Final Fantasy "More Friends" concert in LA last night? An old friend who owed me a favor called me about 2 hours before the show began and hooked me up with an extra ticket. I didn't go to last year's show but this one was pretty good.

The Black Mages made their US debut, as did the female vocalists from FFIX and FFX. They also brought out some opera singers to do a surprisingly good rendition of the opera scene in FFVI.

 

[Eggo]

Yeah, I went and saw a bunch of friends I wasn't expecting to see there. Great show, lot of surprises, but Dear Friends was better. The Universal Amphitheater really blows as a venue. Horrible popping throughout the first half of the concert, and the final jam was delayed for 2 minutes because the sound guys didn't have their act together. Uematsu had to kowtow to the audience in apology like 3x. That's ridiculous. Looking forward to a new venue next year.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Yeah, their sound guy screwed up big time. I also could have done without the slobbering fanboys behind me who were shouting "Black Mages rule!" or shouting out song requests every five minutes. Still, it was a highly enjoyable show.

 

[XMonkey]

I didn't go to last years concert, but I thought More Friends was awesome. I think the loud popping noises were from outside or something. Maybe I'm a Lion was a great track by the Black Mages, really impressive and Samba de Chocobo was great, love how that was arranged. I feel a bit ripped on the CDs though. Both of them are just the original versions of the music they played and not orchestral at all (yes, MIDI is on there).

The encore at the end with the CSUF singers, the symphony, and the Black Mages doing One Winged Angel topped everything though. That was simply amazing.

 

[artful_dodger]

The show last night was incredible though I didn't catch Dear Friends last year. My girlfriend (who is a trained opera singer) commented that the tenor from the 'Maria and Draco' portion of the show was one of the best she's ever heard (the guy on the right, not the bearded guy).

A couple other highlights from the show included 'Swing de Chocobo' which was a fantastically humorous take on the familiar FF theme (They showed chocobos running around the world maps from all the games on the large moniters during the 3-4 minute song, was really quite hilarious).

To wrap it all up Uematsu put together a metallica S&M - esque rendition of 'One Winged Angel' utilizing his rock band , The Black Mages, the world symphony festival orchestra, and the CSUF Choir. Was really something to be had. (If you've watched the FFVII advent children trailers you can get a good sense of what this sounded like as they seemed to have remixed a bit of the orchestrated FFVII music with some rock).


Overall was a very enjoyable concert and will have to attend the future offerings (BTW its coming to San Diego on July 14th if you missed last nights performance.)

 

[IAmtheFMan]

Anybody have the play list of tracks they hit up?

 

[RuGalz]

Whoa the CDs are the original version not the orchestrated one?

 

[RiZ III]

The vocalist for ffx was there? So Rikki was there? Damn it..

 

[XMonkey]

Whoa the CDs are the original version not the orchestrated one?

Yes, mega ripoff.

 

[Joeholley]

Yes, Rikki was there, and they played the swimming/kissing CG from FFX during the first part of her song.

 

[Uncle Dukey]

Anybody have the play list of tracks they hit up?

1. Opening - Bombing Mission [ from FINAL FANTASY VII ]
2. Aerith's Theme [ from FINAL FANTASY VII ]
3. Zanarkand [ from FINAL FANTASY X ]
4. Don't be Afraid [ from FINAL FANTASY VIII ]
5. Terra's Theme [ from FINAL FANTASY VI ]
6. Swing de Chocobo [ from FINAL FANTASY Series ]
7. FINAL FANTASY [ from FINAL FANTASY ]
8. The Rocking Grounds [ from FINAL FANTASY III ] (Black Mages)
9. Maybe I'm a Lion [ from FINAL FANTASY VIII ] (Black Mages)
10. SUTEKI DA NE [ from FINAL FANTASY X ] (RIKKI)
11. A Place to Call Home [ from FINAL FANTASY IX ] (Emiko Shiratori)

12. OPERA "Maria & Draco" [ from FINAL FANTASY VI ]
Stephanie Woodling (Mezzo Soprano)
Chad Berlinghieri (Tenor)
Todd Robinson (Bass-Baritone)

13. Sephirtoh's Theme [ from FINAL FANTASY VII ]
(World Symphony Orchestra, The Black Mages, & CSUF University Singers)

--

I bought both CDs and felt really ripped off ..

 

[Prince of Space]

To eBay!

 

[IAmtheFMan]

1. Opening - Bombing Mission [ from FINAL FANTASY VII ]
2. Aerith's Theme [ from FINAL FANTASY VII ]
3. Zanarkand [ from FINAL FANTASY X ]
4. Don't be Afraid [ from FINAL FANTASY VIII ]
5. Terra's Theme [ from FINAL FANTASY VI ]
6. Swing de Chocobo [ from FINAL FANTASY Series ]
7. FINAL FANTASY [ from FINAL FANTASY ]
8. The Rocking Grounds [ from FINAL FANTASY III ] (Black Mages)
9. Maybe I'm a Lion [ from FINAL FANTASY VIII ] (Black Mages)
10. SUTEKI DA NE [ from FINAL FANTASY X ] (RIKKI)
11. A Place to Call Home [ from FINAL FANTASY IX ] (Emiko Shiratori)

12. OPERA "Maria & Draco" [ from FINAL FANTASY VI ]
Stephanie Woodling (Mezzo Soprano)
Chad Berlinghieri (Tenor)
Todd Robinson (Bass-Baritone)

13. Sephirtoh's Theme [ from FINAL FANTASY VII ]
(World Symphony Orchestra, The Black Mages, & CSUF University Singers)

--

I bought both CDs and felt really ripped off ..

Hmmm.... a lot of repeats from Dear Friends. That's kinda disappointing.