In early December of 2012, I was fortunate to have a show that I was originally in rehearsals for… to be postponed until spring of 2013. Why fortunate? Because it gave me a chance to see a concert celebration for the music from Final Fantasy… and I have yet to miss a concert since the tour began five years ago and have come through Chicago how many times since then?
The Final Fantasy Concert holds a special place in my heart… it is where I met one of the first people that I knew from the online world and were friends with (well before the internet became littered with predators and crazies). So naturally it became a habit for me to want to see the concert every time it comes through Chicago… there is a bit of nostalgia that comes into play.
This year was no different and yet meant the world… for this time around it was the Distant Worlds Official Final Fantasy 25th Birthday Celebration. Since Chicago is known to be the kick off city for the first North American Tour of the Final Fantasy Concert series it made sense to have the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Celebration to be in Chicago.
Now I would typically write my own review of the concert… but I am lazy and there are already people online that have put their own two cents of the concert. So I will just link to one such blog post by another concert go-er…
Just click on the break to see the set list that was featured at the 25th Celebration concert… and some of my quick impressions.
According to the Final Fantasy Concert Website:
The program is full of premieres, classics and wildcards, including…
FINAL FANTASY IV: Battle With Four Fiends (Uematsu)
FINAL FANTASY V: Main Theme (Uematsu)
FINAL FANTASY VI: The Phantom Forest (Uematsu)
FINAL FANTASY VIII: Eyes on Me, featuring Susan Calloway
FINAL FANTASY XI: Vana’diel March (Mizuta)
FINAL FANTASY XII: The Dalmasca Estersand (Sakimoto)
FINAL FANTASY XIV: Answers, featuring Susan Calloway
PLUS: Nobuo Uematsu’s new version of FINAL FANTASY VI: Opera “Maria & Draco” and other beloved classics such as FINAL FANTASY VII: One Winged Angel and FINAL FANTASY X: Zanarkand – and new SURPRISE MEDLEYS!
I did manage to record the new Battle Medley and Chocobo Medley that you can find below (I apologize for the poor filming of the video screens… I was trying to keep my camera hidden in some capacity):
NEW CHOCOBO MEDLEY
NEW BATTLE MEDLEY
If there was one thing I would really have loved to have seen it would have been a sing-along version of the Sephiroth piece from Final Fantasy VII. Granted hearing the chorus was great… but I think it would have been so much more fun if the audience was able to sing along with. If you are wondering what I am talking about… here is a YouTube video I found that demonstrates what I am talking about (I did not tape this…)
Naturally I did a quick shopping trip, got a few CDs and a couple of other souvenirs that normally would not have gotten. Plus TWO Chocobo 25th Anniversary plushies… I has a happy.
So all in all (being a lover of video game music) I was very happy indeed… and needless to say, this concert series is very much high on my priority list of concert that I MUST go to down the road. 🙂