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Music Media Entertainment Games

First U.S. Final Fantasy Concert Announced 92

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?"
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First U.S. Final Fantasy Concert Announced

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  • im so there (Score:5, Funny)

    by tokaok ( 623635 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @02:51PM (#8318796)
    you can spot me in the crowd as ill be jumpin up and down pumping my arms in victory.
  • That's smooth! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Lord Graga ( 696091 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @02:51PM (#8318798)
    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.
    • Re:That's smooth! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Bagels ( 676159 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @05:45PM (#8320755)
      Mind you, a lot of Chrono Trigger's music was done by Yasunori Mitsuda, not Nobuo Uematsu (who did all the music for this particular concert). And I like Mitsuda's work better :). Mitsuda's work can also be found in Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and Xenosaga.
      • I perfectly agree with what you said about Mitsuda. Everyone needs to go get the Xenogears soundtrack right now. Or at least get some of the tracks. June Mermaid, Small of Two Pieces, and Awakening, especially. It's too bad he left the Xenosaga project. Maybe he's busy trying to put together a concert.
  • I would love to go (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thelenm ( 213782 ) <mthelen@gmai l . com> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @03:05PM (#8318944) Homepage Journal
    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 :-)
    • Nobuo Uematsu makes the best background music.
      It's gotten to the point where I measure the amount of time I've been studying for an exam in FF CDs.
    • by GTRacer ( 234395 ) <gtracer308NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @03:38PM (#8319345) Homepage Journal
      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!

      • by Haikiba ( 445118 ) <.icewire. .at. .hotmail.com.> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @04:08PM (#8319691)
        I've gotten all 11 Final fantasy OSTs through AnimeNation [animenation.com]. They may cost more, but their reliability is top-notch.
      • by thelenm ( 213782 ) <mthelen@gmai l . com> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @05:15PM (#8320471) Homepage Journal
        They're mostly EverAnime discs I got off eBay over the last few years. But they're not too bad quality, I don't think. Unfortunately, I don't know of a good place to get them... the guy I bought most of the discs from apparently died in a car accident last year.
        • 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?
          • Hey, I didn't know! I was young and innocent then. All I saw was Final Fantasy music on CD and my excitement blinded me to all else :-)
            • Haha, I'm just joking.

              I've bought a couple SonMay in my time, when I thought it was a good deal... but after I found out, I stopped buying.

              Not because I'm rich, but because I think if I love something, I shouldn't be cheating them. So I buy my music legit, mostly. I have a few odd unbought tracks, but as I earn money I put my money where my mouth is ^^

              Or rather, my ears
          • If Square wanted my money, they would have sold the discs in my country, and not let importers scalp for two or three times the price of a regular CD.

            So, in other words, eat my shorts. I feel no obligation whatsoever to pay obscene prices for imports when I can get the same (or at least a satisfactory) product for a reasonable price through other means.
            • What, two wrongs make a right? Just because Square doesn't do something right means you don't have to do something right?

              The issue is at least as much the purchasers as it is the producers in any transaction, isn't it?
              • I didn't say Square did anything wrong. They're free to not want my money. However, I don't see anything wrong with buying the album from another (reasonably priced) source.

                They decided they didn't want to sell me something. After that, why do they care what I do?
                • The question is what do you care what you do?

                  I guess you don't care... I do

                  I import the soundtracks because that's important to me. I like the music and games Square make, so I would like to see more, right?

                  Your way, if I followed it, they would have less incentive to do so... But that's my thought.
                  • I buy the games they want to sell me. I decline to patronize the scalpers. If they want my business, sell stuff in a store near me. Don't expect me to pay double for the privilege of buying your wares, because I won't do it.
                    • Am I not being understood?

                      I never expected you to pay double for the imported (scalped? Why do you call it that? Are Ferrari's imported into the US scalped?) goods.

                      I think I mean that if you wouldn't buy the originals (scalped, as you put it) you shouldn't be buying the knockoffs. The concept of tit for tat exists, and if we/you/I can't be expected to live by some set of expected behaviors, we can't and shouldn't expect anyone else to either.

                      This means of course people downloading music they can't afford
                    • A Ferrari has more value than a Ford.

                      An imported CD has no more value than a grey-market one, yet costs 2-3x as much. Square has already decided that they don't want my money. They don'w want my custom. They have told me to screw off.

                      I don't see anything at all wrong with paying somebody a reasonable fee to get the music I want. I don't care if it's Square or somebody else.

                      The situation with Macross toys is exactly the same. There's a firm called Big West that has embargoed the United States access
      • Sorry, I can't do a thing about the prices. Japan is expensive.

        http://www.cocoebiz.com (in Japan; has English website; sells some not-often heard soundtracks)

        http://www.cdjapan.co.jp (in Japan, but they speak English fluently and have an English website)

        http://www.gamemusic.com (in the U.S.)

        All of these are reliable. I've bought from all of them.
      • Try GameMusic.com [gamemusic.com]. I recently got the FF7 Piano Collections there. The prices are pretty good... for Japanese imports (admit it-- you're always going to have to pay through the nose for the legit stuff), and the shipping's prompt, too.
      • You can get the VGM (Video Game Music) files from Zophar's Domain (just go to the music section, they are files dumped from an emulator) and then just download Winamp and the correct plugins to play the files, and/or dump them to WAV files, or WMAs, etc. (you can get plugins for XMMS, too) Although I would absolutely LOOOVE to get the legitly, I just don't have the money, but it is more ethical to get the VGMs than to get pirated CDs.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      I have about 20 Final Fantasy soundtrack CDs, including all the piano collections, remixes and all that.

      got any torrents? pleeeeaaaase!

    • Tom, is that you? [kuro5hin.org]

      John could hear the ghost of video game music from the kid's headphones. He wasn't actually playing games -- John had checked on that personally -- he was just listening to the soundtracks. That was only the most superficial evidence of Tom's deeply flawed psychology, but John was the only one who seemed concerned.

      Not that I should criticize... To my horror, I recognized the music some music from FF playing in a software store the other day... The horror was from remembering that it w

    • I always listen to the FF4 soundtrack when I'm coding. It produces superior programs.
  • by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @03:14PM (#8319045)
    Yes I can finally do the Chocobo dance in public and not be laughed at.

    It looks like Moonwalk + Macarena + I am too sexy by Right said Fred.
  • by darkmayo ( 251580 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @03:16PM (#8319060)
    Would love to go to something like this but it will never happen. A chance to hear some of these great themes, songs and what not played out by a live orchestra would be great.

    Some of those songs always give me a nice feeling when I hear them(Crystal Theme for example)
    • If you can find it, check out 20020220: Music From Final Fantasy-- it's the live concert album from the Tokyo performance mentioned in the post (I believe there's a review to the album linked there as well). It is absolutely brilliant, though one could make the argument that the pieces chosen are the more popular ones (how many more arrangements of Aerith's Theme does anyone need?!).

      And if you're anything like me, listening to that album will only make you want to go the the L.A. concert even more...

    • Just out of Curiosity, when you say Crystal Theme, are you referring to Prelude? For reference, it's played over the credits in the beginning of FFVII.

      As for a cd of this, I believe that one was made in limited edition for the Japanese concert.

  • We both wish we had the money for this. =(
  • The first band signed up for the concert is "Billy Crash and the Blue Sound of Death". with their hit ode to the most popular Windows app of all time:

    "And Solitaire's the only game in town,
    Every other thing he tries to run shuts down.
    as any serious app brings up ABEND,
    he'll never try again.
    And keeping to himself he plays the game,
    The other programs all blue-screen the same.
    'Cause the errors are much than he can bear,
    he's playing Solitaire."
  • ...We have to go all the way to Los Angeles for this concert. Why can't they move it somewhere closer to the Midwest (hint: Illinois/Wisconsin)

    • Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)

      Probably because it's being held at the same time as the E3 trade show. So the people visiting to see E3 can take a break from the craziness and check it out.
  • No thanks! (Score:4, Funny)

    by gothrus ( 706341 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @04:15PM (#8319804)
    I'm waiting for the Burgertime [klov.com] concert.
  • Yep, with the Electronic Entertainment Expo [e3expo.com] happening following the concert, I can't think of a better way to spend some time in LA...if you have to do time in LA, that is.
  • FFV album (Score:5, Informative)

    by SpikeSpiegal ( 746025 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @04:41PM (#8320128)
    I am so going to this, then 2 days after is E3. HELL YEA.

    But just incased people didn't know Dear Friends was the name of a Japanese released FFV music CD. Where they orchastrated Final Fantasy V. It sounds awesome, if anyone wants any previews for it, I might put some tracks secretly on www.shadowgt.com

    • The album is not just orchestral music but also world music. There are quite a few different music styles employed on Dear Friends. It not purely orchestral.
    • Another Dear Friends fan! Yay!! ^_^

      Dear Friends does sound awesome, I'll agree. Along with The Black Mages, it's one of my favorite FF arrange albums. The music from FF5 was always a bit underrated, IMHO...

      (Do you by chance know what that other language is that's sung in "My Home, Sweet Home"? I think it might be Finnish, but I'm not sure...)

      • Black Mages is awesome, although there are a lot of songs that they missed that i'd like to hear a hard rock rendition of. Hopefully there will be a Black Mages 2 or some such.

        Have you looked around OC Remix [ocremix.org]? It's got tons of remixes from all kinds of video games, including a ton from (most of) the FF games.

        I assumed that the language was gaelic, for no good reason. Hmmm *googles* at first glance the consensus seems to be that it's Saami, "1. A member of a people of nomadic herding tradition inhabiting

        • Yeah, I very much agree with you about Black Mages, and I hope they do put out a sequel (there's enough good battle themes that they missed the first time around to warrant it...). I do check out OC Remix every so often; some of the FF stuff is great, but I have a particular liking for the Sonic remixes :) VGMix [vgmix.com] has some good stuff as well-- not as much as OC Remix, but still worth checking out.

          I'd assumed the language was Finnish since a good chunk of the album was recorded in Helsinki. Thanks for the inf

  • by RegalBegal ( 742288 ) <regalbegalNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @04:45PM (#8320180) Homepage
    check out the minibosses. 8-bit nintendo tunes done with two guitars bass and drums. minibosses.com. They have a few songs up for download and are releasing an album relatively soon. They came around here once and the show was real fun. Their version of the Castlevania series is some great stuff.
  • VGM Recognition (Score:4, Insightful)

    by CelticWhisper ( 601755 ) <celticwhisper@NOspam.gmail.com> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @06:08PM (#8321011)
    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.
  • Great stuff. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CashCarSTAR ( 548853 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @07:40PM (#8321826)
    This stuff takes up permament places in my playlist. I have a good sound system..a lot of stuff doesn't stand up to the close scrutiny, but the amount of depth in these songs sure do, especially the newer ones (see X).

    If you want to check it out, check out Someday The Dream Will End, or Auron's Theme from FF X. Just amazing music.

  • ... for making this go through my head after it had just got unstuck:
    I know, I know, a
    world of real emotion is sur-
    rounding me, I
    won't give in to it
    now, I know that
    forward is the only way my
    heart can go, I
    hear your voice calling out.

    This is now in constant loop. Thanks a lot!!!

  • by evilhayama ( 532217 ) <evilhayama@NoSpAm.gmail.com> on Wednesday February 18, 2004 @10:53PM (#8323084)
    A few months back I went to a Final Fantasy concert held by these guys [infinity8lue.com] in Sydney. Overall it was pretty good, although most most people with some knowledge of music were cringing at the mistakes. I think a concert arranged by Nobuo Uematsu would probably be more professional.
  • why L.A.??? there should be an FF Concert tour across the US

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