(My view from the lower balcony, row 11, seats 149 and 150.)
The show started at 8:00. Once the Vancouver Opera Orchestra was finished tuning, director Arnie Roth came out to the stage to applause. Shortly afterward, Nobuo Uematsu also made his presence known as he walked out from the side of the stage and to some seats at the front. Uematsu got a huge crowd response as everyone cheered him even louder. I was up in the balcony and unfortunately couldn’t see much of him taking his seat in the VIP area, but it was fine. We would see plenty of him later in the night.
The concert opened up with the “Bombing Mission” theme from Final Fantasy VII, and a projector screen above the orchestra played out the corresponding introductory scene for the audience. There was a definite nostalgia factor going as the music swelled and the title screen came up, and I remember feeling a couple shivers throughout the piece. The audience, while generally well composed for the night, still let out a cheer when Cloud jumped down from the train and a laugh when the gameplay video included the menu screen for equipping materia. In all, the opening song from Final Fantasy VII was a fantastic way to start the night.
I should give a quick mention about the use of game cinematics and gameplay during the performances. This is one of the big ways Distant Worlds is set apart from other game concerts. Distant Worlds is an official concert in that Square Enix gives them license to use imagery from their games. When I was at Video Games Live, I remember video screens playing montages from only Disney films when they played a piece from Kingdom Hearts and a slideshow of cosplayers when they played “One Winged Angel”. In that way, Distant Worlds is a special sort of show.
Arnie Roth took a microphone and did his formal introductions next. He described the history of the concert, past cities they had performed, and how the tour has matured over the years. “We came to Vancouver two years ago,” he said, “but back then we were missing something… Nobu-san!” Uematsu stood up again with a wave to more cheers. I never got close to him, but he really gave the impression of being very approachable. A man in his 50s wearing casual dress, long grey hair bouncing around under a white bandanna, and a constant smile, Uematsu seemed completely at ease the whole night. Roth then told the audience to enjoy the night, but that first they had to play something to get everyone into the correct mood.
So the orchestra played a seven second rendition of the “Victory Fanfare”. Laughter and applause ensued.
In general, most musical sets were fairly straight forward with the orchestra playing a piece while the screen above showed gameplay and cinematics. Still, they had a few fun twists as the night went on, including their next piece: “Don’t Be Afraid”, the battle theme from Final Fantasy VIII. The video screen opened up with the first big mission in Dollet. The orchestra sat quietly as a dog barked, some Japanese text rolled out, and some game characters’ footsteps echoed over the sound system. The audience laughed as the screen went black to load the next screen with more noisy footsteps as the characters ran across a bridge. That’s when the screen blurred and wiped for what would have been a battle encounter in-game. And that’s when the orchestra began playing. It was cute.
They played a newly revised medley of songs from Final Fantasy I-III next, playing a group of songs that I imagine most of the audience never heard before. Myself, I was familiar with more bits than not. Actually, I found myself smiling when the medley went into the classic Final Fantasy “Prologue” because I kept imagining the Brentalfloss lyrics as the orchestra played. It wasn’t so bad, though.
At least it was better than when they played the “Love Theme” from Final Fantasy IV later in the night. Again, Brentalfloss lyrics popped into my head… and his lyrics for that song weren’t quite as uplifting as his “Prologue” lyrics. This is but another example of how the internet forever ruins everything.
“Aeris’ Theme” came next, introduced as “one of Nobu-san’s favourites”. This was the only time I actually felt anxious about the video screen; “they wouldn’t actually show it, would they?” I wondered. And you know, they almost did… but, they cleverly edited around the scene and went from Aeris praying in the temple straight to her dropping the Holy materia. Just saying, it probably could have wrecked the mood to show that specific bit. Either way, manly tears were likely shed throughout the theatre.
They lightened the mood with “Swing de Chocobo” from Final Fantasy X. As a treat, they actually opened up with the chocobo theme from the still-unreleased Final Fantasy XIV. It was also about that time that I realized that Nobuo Uematsu was in fact back on Final Fantasy games, composing for XIV. So that was exciting. After that, they played the aforementioned “Love Theme” from Final Fantasy IV (with the unfortunate Brentalfloss lyrics in my head).
They brought out a guitar soloist for the next set, and he took a seat at the front next to Arnie Roth’s conductor podium. The set included “Dear Friends” from Final Fantasy V and “Vamo’ alla Flamenco” from Final Fantasy IX. Both are games I haven’t played yet, but at the same time were songs I knew through Uematsu’s previous band The Black Mages. There were quite a few songs like that for me, where I didn’t know the game exactly, but definitely know how the songs go. It’s funny how familiar all these songs just sort of become, as just part of one’s general pop culture osmosis.
The orchestra finished the first half of the concert with a strong rock-drummed rendition of the “Jenova” theme from Final Fantasy VII (at least to the best of my memory I didn’t forget any songs). As the concert broke for intermission, most of the audience cleared out to stretch their legs and maybe see who else was out at the theatre. Well, I can’t say how the lobby was for this part. I stayed in my seat and discussed with my friend which Final Fantasies we had played and which ones we had actually finished.
Probably for the best, anyway. I talk too much as it is…
