First U.S. Final Fantasy Concert Announced

Carlos Rodriguez writes "I just read at Games Are Fun that Square Enix has officially announced the first U.S.-based Final Fantasy Concert. Entitled 'Dear Friends', it will take place in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall this May 10th, and will feature melodies from the entire series composed and arranged by Nobuo Uematsu. This is the first Final Fantasy music event since 'Final Fantasy 20020220' took place on February 20th, 2002 and the first official Final Fantasy concert to take place outside Japan... It looks like fun! Anybody is planning to attend?"

That's smooth!

[Lord Graga]

SquareSoft RPG's has allways got some of the best quality music that I have ever heard. Not just the music from Final Fantasy, but also a lot of music from games like Chrono Trigger.

I would love to go

[thelenm]

I would love to go to this. Of course, I'm probably the exact person they're targeting... I have about 20 Final Fantasy soundtrack CDs, including all the piano collections, remixes and all that. It makes nice background music while coding, so I listen to them all the time. And almost makes me feel like I'm playing video games, which is nice :-)

Re:BFD

[CashCarSTAR]

Is Classical a style? Or is classical just when something has dust on it? Generally speaking, classical is a style, at least a broad-genre. Usually referring to orchastral/instrumental type music. The FF music, for the most part is indeed classical. Although I would say some things go into electronic or the odd song straight out rock.

Re:I would love to go

[GTRacer]

I have about 20 Final Fantasy soundtrack CDs...

Out of curiosity, and no, I'm not flaming, are those legit OSTs or are they Son May/EverAnime/etc. discs?

I ask because I've been wanting to get more game-based OSTs and the legit ones are crazy expensive! Do you know a good site or store to order from (both in terms of price and reliability)?

GTRacer
- Long Live the Music!

Re:flamebait

[eunos94]

Ok, I won't tout prevailing opinion, but I will disagree with you.

Uematsu is an exceptionally talented composer. The themes and motifs that he created for the FF series and other games are argueably some of the better for the entertainment industry. After several years of studying music in college and still having many friends and colleagues who are professional writers/arrangers, I can say that his music would stand up in any concert hall against most of todays prominent orchestral composers.

Now, the one coveat to all of this is that Uematsu needs to arrange the works for the appropriate ensemble. For a looped track in a game that could go on forever, the game system audio tracks are great. However, for an orchestral suite, there is a lot of work involved to properly craft it to that venue.

There are some previous FF works arranged for orchestra and performed in Japan and to the average non-gamer they sound just like a Hollywood soundtrack (in the best sense of that phrase, not in the soundtrack to You Got Served sort of way). A concert of his works is completely appropriate and I applaud them for bringing quality, modern soundtrack music to our concert halls.

VGM Recognition

[CelticWhisper]

Well lord knows I'm no fan of Final Fantasy, and in fact have some choice words to say about Squaresoft as a whole, but one place I do not discriminate is in video game music. By far my favorite genre, I'm truly surprised that VGM hasn't already made a bigger hit here in the States, what with games becoming so mainstream nowadays. It's truly great stuff (usually-like any genre, there are always a few stinkers), far better than anything the RIAA churns out, and deserves this kind of recognition.

Who knows-if this is a big enough hit, I might be able to go to Borders and buy the Phantasy Star Online episode 3 OST along with my next book on Perl-as someone said before, great background music for coding.

This just might be the ticket to getting video game music the recognition it deserves here. Let's hope.

Re:I would love to go

[2nd Post!]

So you're saying... when Square was in debt... and had to go to Enix for help.. you were part of the problem? :P

Seriously though, if you really *love* the music, why aren't you giving any cash to Square?