Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy 2017
It's been another 2 years since my last Distant Worlds concert - which was in St. Louis. I'm not sure why they haven't returned to Vancouver to play at concert halls. They will play at the yearly anime convention sometimes and this seems to be a trend at certain cities. I think conductor Arnie Roth said at this concert in Calgary that they previously played at an anime convention in the past but that this was their debut in Calgary (in particular - in a concert hall). As I wrote in my previous post, I took Daddy Scott to it while Ben - his partner - couldn't join us. We left their house at 6pm and we got there in nearly half an hour and after paid parking, we waited outside the main entrance for Ben - a friend of Scott's and was the third person using the ticket I got for the other Ben originally. We went inside and I bought Daddy Scott a drink and one myself as we were kind of dehydrated. There was a long lineup for merchandise and thought I would try checking it out later. There were also a small handful of cosplayers: Lightning, Noctis, etc. We found our seats N 39-41 and I chose very well! I sat in N 39.
Here is the program of all songs that night including the title track, and which game in the series it appears in. I include a YouTube link to the song too. All songs are ripped from the Distant Worlds CD soundtracks but if a song hasn't been recorded yet, then I use the original in-game music instead.
Set 1
"The Prelude" (Series): Traditional way to begin things.
"Liberi Fatali" (FF VIII): Not that good as the choir wasn't powerful enough.
"Victory Fanfare" (Series): Unlike the other times they do this for fun, this one included the entire theme so it seems they updated it finally. Since FF VII, not all games used the same fanfare. FF XIII had a completely different one, for example.
"Character Theme Medley" (FF VI): Character themes from FF VI.
"Theme of Love" (FF IV): Nice as usual.
FF XIV: I don't remember what the song was called and I accidentally deleted the note I typed on my phone and oversaved it.
"Roses of May" (FF IX): Nice to hear this one again.
"Cosmo Canyon" (FF VII): This was a first for me to hear. Not too bad. I think they may have combined another track with this piece. In FF VII, visiting Cosmo Canyon is around halfway through Disc 1. Besides being the hometown of Red XIII (after you arrive you find that his real name is Nanaki), it is portrayed as almost a kind of Native American, nature-spiritual tribe. Red XIII discovers the truth of his father, and we are told of the essence of the Lifestream (the spiritual energy that keeps the planet alive) and how the planet and every living thing is connected to it. When something perishes, it goes back to the Lifestream in the center of the planet.
"Blinded by Light" (FF XIII): One of my favourite series battle themes.
"Chocobo Theme 25th Anniversary" (Series): Daddy Scott got a kick out of the footage of cute chocobos. Why they didn't do a new 30th Anniversary theme was questionable. Anyways, the link goes to footage from London 2012.
There was an intermission at 8pm so Daddy Scott and I quickly went to the merchandise table and found a lineup already. It took about 5 minutes to get to the table. The only new merchandise were plushies but they were sold out. I bought a couple of "Distant Worlds" t-shirts: one for my younger sister and one for myself that I wanted to wear this time, and a art/program book. Daddy Scott was with me and once I paid for everything, I handed the book to him as a gift and he thanked me. 5 minutes until the second set, we returned to our seats.
Set 2
"Opening Bombing Mission" (FF VII): Nice as usual.
"Balamb Garden" (FF VIII): Pretty good but I'm waiting for them to do "Dance with the Balambfish" someday.
"Apocalypstic Noctis" (FF XV): I haven't played Final Fantasy XV yet but this seemed like a good song. The footage was stunning. The link is from Barcelona earlier this year.
"Legend of the Eternal Wind" (FF III): Nice as usual. Link goes to an HD version of the opening movie from the remake version of the game that originated on the Nintendo DS.
"Not Alone" (FF IX): Good to see this one back.
"To Zanarkand" (FF X): Nice as usual.
"Don't Be Afraid" (FF VIII): This one was unnecessary.
"Battle & Victory Theme Medley" (Series): This combines the famous "Battle on the Bridge" from FF V, then (I think) Battle with Seymour from FF X, then the regular battle theme from FF VII. It ends with the victory theme ("Victory Theme! It's a Victory! Uh!").
"Final Fantasy Theme" (Series): The series anthem. I think it was done close in style to the end credits of FF VIII. Hence, why I link to the end credits of FF VIII here.
"One Winged Angel" (FF VII): Of course they did it. But the youth choir was too weak in their singing of the latin lyrics that I had to sing it to myself.
The concert ended after 9pm and we waited outside for friends of Scott, including some of them bears, to come by outside in the hall. One of them remembered me from my last Calgary visit (I forgot his name though). In the end, Ben thanked me and said goodbye to us and the friend who knew me joined us for the rest of the night. I gave my opinion that while the concert was okay, the orchestra lacked energy in some of the songs and the youth choir wasn't powerful enough. And since there was no Susan Calloway, there could be no lyrical songs. The past Vancouver ones I went to were spectacular so it's a shame Calgarians couldn't get the full experience. Daddy Scott was entertained and may try playing the Final Fantasy series someday. Here's hoping he will! :-)
