Masashi Hamauzu, Jonne Valtonen, Roger Wanamo Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Jonne Valtonen The night's opening piece ("Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII) had tremendous energy and the chorus seemed to come across much stronger than what I heard in Los Angeles.Concert tour of music from the Final Fantasy video game seriesįinal Symphony Orchestral concert tour by Merregnon Studios Knowing that the selection and order of songs were identical to the performances already held in Los Angeles and Chicago, Roth aimed to win the crowd over with a powerful performance and for the most part he succeeded.
He approached the orchestra with a great enthusiasm that seemed to catch on with everyone else rather quickly. Don't get me wrong, she seemed like a nice enough lady, but she just wasn't suited well for this assignment.Ĭonductor Arnie Roth, on the other hand, definitely fit the part. Constant mispronunciations of names and titles were common occurrences whenever she was one the mic, but her good looks and willingness to tell really bad jokes made the situation a lot better than it could have been. Her knowledge of the material was obviously next to nothing, which made most of her introductions and small talk almost uncomfortable to listen to (you could actually hear the audience brace itself whenever she took the stage). These intermittent alter egos weren't as disappointing as the emcee herself, though, as former Sacramento Kings reporter Rebecca Harlow was a poor choice for the event. Honestly, it's nothing against Cosplayers out there, but I personally find that dressing up in feathers, wearing leather strap-ons, and sporting swords made out of aluminum foil are a bit inappropriate for a formal setting like this.
As an added bonus, the number of Cosplayers in attendance was pretty low - I just saw the occasional Aerith wannabe and the entire cast of Final Fantasy VIII, but that's about it. He's been my favorite videogame composer for as long as I can remember, and it's great to see an appreciation for his talent. They had an obvious respect for this man, and I can't say I didn't share it. All Rights Reserved.When Uematsu finally did walk into the room, however, the arena exploded even louder than it did the first time. Apparently they thought that it was Uematsu and his entourage preparing to take their positions, but the obvious mistake quickly turned into laughter when the pack realized that the famous composer wasn't a teenaged boy with overly-teased hair. This small delay caused quite a stir among the attendees actually, because at one point the crowd was so anxious for the show to begin that it erupted in cheers the moment a small group of Asian listeners moseyed in somewhat late. The concert itself lasted just over two hours, with a delayed start of 7:45 instead of the planned 7:30. The Symphony Silicon Valley and the San Jose State Chorale seemed to be very much into their material as well, and appeared to give it just as much effort as I suspect they would have for Beethoven or Rachmaninoff. Everything about it, from its high-end lighting techniques and CG cutscene overlays, were exactly what one would expect from one of the most prestigious venues in the city. Performed at the Nob Hill Masonic Center and conducted by the Grammy Award winning Arnie Roth, Dear Friends: Music From Final Fantasy certainly didn't seem like it was a concert about videogames.
The sold-out crowd of just under 3200 people seemed to share that sentiment as well, because the buzz around the auditorium was near-deafening at the conclusion of almost every song, announcement, and introduction. Having already attended Nobuo Uematsu's first Dear Friends concert in Los Angeles last year, I already knew that I was in for a good show - but having my wife at my side while we were surrounded by our hometown crowd gave this third-ever performance of an already-excellent recital an extra special meaning.
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