Board 8 > Just went to my first VGM concert

(+) Yeah! (+)

A New World, an off-shoot of Distant Worlds, came to Philadelphia tonight. It's basically the same thing as Distant Worlds -- Final Fantasy music in an orchestral format -- except with a much smaller group of musicians. There were maybe 15 total? (String quartet, flute, two trumpets, piano, bass viol, guitar, drummer, and maybe one other, plus the conductor.)

Was a medium-sized venue, and did not sell out. Dunno how well advertised it was, but the concert was held at the concert hall for Drexel University. Interesting building. Never been to University City in general, but unsurprisingly the architecture is extremely impressive. The auditorium, specifically, had some really high-ass ceilings. Like maybe 50% higher than the length of the audience seating.

I had been keeping a memo of the setlist, but it appears my phone ate the second act.

First half:
Red Wings (FF4)
Chaos Temple (FF1)
Rebel Army Theme (FF2)
Heroes (FF14)
Fragments of Memories (FF8)
The Decisive Battle (FF6)
Supa Garuda, or something like that? (FF12, I think. Wasn't recognizable)
Troia (FF4)
Home Sweet Home (FF5)
Safe Haven (FF15)
Seymour Battle (FF10)
Moogle Medley

What I can remember from the second act:
Force Your Way (FF8)
some piano solo
some guitar solo
Fighting (FF7)
Eruyt Village (FF12)
The Yaschas Massif (FF13)
To Zanarkand (FF10)
One-Winged Angel (FF7)
Chocobo Medley as encore

I'm not big into orchestral music, but as far as my untrained ear could tell, the performances were excellent. Red Wings and Home Sweet Home were probably the top renditions IMO. Seymour Battle was not a song I was expecting to be performed by a string quarter only, when they had those other musicians on-stage. Fighting was one of three piano solos; their pianist was damn good, but that was the only one I really appreciated.

Conductor had some fun talking to the crowd. You can tell he loves what he does, especially when he essentially closed the show with a slide whistle solo during the chocobo medley.

After it was over, I hustled to 30th St station and just barely caught the last train back home. Otherwise I might have stayed longer. Not going to give a rating since I don't attend this kind of event often enough, and literally have never gone to a VGM concert before, but I certainly enjoyed it.
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Aw man I always wanted to go to this but never got the chance.

Went to Distant Worlds 2 times many years ago and loved it both times.
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RIP FF3 and FF9
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I know I forgot some stuff in the second half, but I'm pretty sure there were not any songs from 3 or 9, no.
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For reason I thought they only played music from FFVII and later. I definitely need to see them then! Interesting that the orchestra is so small, but I guess that's the really the only way they can afford to survive. I guess it could still be great, though.
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were the clangs good?
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NFUN posted...

were the clangs good?

That was the first thing I thought of when they started playing, but the closest a cellist can come to clangs is knocking against the body of the instrument. I was disappointed, because I thought the other musicians could have made a big difference in the portrayal. Like, at least the pianist in the intro. And one of the things the original does is trade off voices, which doesn't happen when all you have is first violin and second violin. I expected the ensemble to jump in right when the clangs start, but nope.

It was still a cool arrangement, and I'm glad to have heard it. Had this only been a string quartet concert, my remarks would have been straight praise. The conductor even acknowledged afterward it was probably the most radical arrangement in their repertoire.

Haste_2 posted...

Interesting that the orchestra is so small, but I guess that's the really the only way they can afford to survive. I guess it could still be great, though.

Not a matter of survival. That's how the group was imagined from the start. The emphasis is supposed to be on the concert being more "intimate," or as the conductor put it, "you can actually make eye contact." They're literally an extension of Distant Worlds, so if they did exactly what DW did, it would be kinda silly. Plus, I have no idea what the tickets cost for DW, but I imagine they have to be much higher when you're managing that big a production.
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more like smaller worlds am I rite
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this sounds amazing. philly? if I'd known I totally would have made the drive

Just looked it up, coming to my neck of the woods Nov. 2. tickets purchased.
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I would've liked to go to this.

I loved the Zelda Orchestra that was here. My only issue with the Zelda one was that you had to hear the Zelda main theme song so many times in the medleys.

Final Fantasy is probably the one I'd most like to go to though.
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Obellisk posted...

this sounds amazing. philly? if I'd known I totally would have made the drive

Just looked it up, coming to my neck of the woods Nov. 2. tickets purchased.

Glad I could make you aware of something you'd enjoy. Where are they playing?
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Montclair St. University.

Yeah much appreciated!
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