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[Editor’s Note: Shota and I had a blast [2] at the Distant Worlds performance in San Francisco [3] earlier this year, but unfortunately we couldn’t make it this time around. We were, however, able to send contributor Brian Davis, who had also attended the Distant Worlds US debut in Chicago in 2008. He comments on the new “Dancing Mad,” “J-E-N-O-V-A” and Final Fantasy XIV segments that we’ve been talking about [4] for months, so read on!]
The Final Fantasy-themed concert series Distant Worlds has enthralled fans of the series since its inception, and the performance on December 12th, 2009 in Chicago was no different. Arnie Roth once again directed the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra and the Elmhurst College Orchestra through a set that encompassed music from Final Fantasy games old and new, and I braved the beginnings of another Chicago winter to see it. The show took place at the Rosemont Theater as it did last year, and featured the same large screen over the orchestra to show game footage and video during the show.
Read on for our impressions of this special performance that featuring music from Final Fantasy XIV and other special segments.
The audience members, though occupied with their own conversations, immediately erupted into a standing ovation as Nobuo Uematsu and two Square-Enix representatives took their seats just prior to the start of the show. The show commenced with a slow, moving rendition of the Final Fantasy “Prelude,” after which Arnie Roth gushed about the energy of the audience and how far people had come to see the show. Arnie Roth always radiates enthusiasm, both for the music of Final Fantasy and for the appreciation of the fans, and it’s great to see the performance directed by somebody with that kind of energy.
The show proceeded as follows:
01. Final Fantasy Series – Prelude
02. Final Fantasy VIII – “Liberi Fatali”
03. Final Fantasy Series – Victory Theme
04. Final Fantasy XI – “Ronfaure”
05. Final Fantasy VIII – “Don’t Be Afraid”
06. Final Fantasy XI – “To Zanarkand”
07. Final Fantasy XI – “Distant Worlds”
08. Final Fantasy VIII – “Love Grows”
09. Final Fantasy Series – “Swing the Chocobo”
10. Final Fantasy IX – “Melodies of Life”
11. Final Fantasy VIII – “Fisherman’s Horizon”
12. Final Fantasy VII – “J-E-N-O-V-A”
Intermission
13. Final Fantasy VII – “Opening / Bombing Mission”
14. Final Fantasy VII – Overworld Theme
15. Final Fantasy X – “Suteki da ne”
16. Final Fantasy VII – “Aerith’s Theme”
17. Final Fantasy VI – “Dancing Mad”
18. Final Fantasy XII – “Kiss Me Goodbye”
19. Final Fantasy IV – “Theme of Love”
20. Final Fantasy VIII – “The Man with the Machine Gun”
21. Final Fantasy XIV – “Twilight Over Thanalan / Behind Bloody Borders”
22. Final Fantasy VI – “Terra’s Theme”
First and Second Encore: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children – “One Winged Angel”
You’ll notice a few things. First of all, this show was particularly special for its debut of two new pieces, Final Fantasy VI’s “Dancing Mad” and Final Fantasy VII’s “J-E-N-O-V-A.” Both of these songs won an audience poll to choose which Roth, Uematsu and company would arrange next, and anticipation for these two was high. Neither track disappointed: “J-E-N-O-V-A” began with a sinister, atmospheric tone, led by the choir, then erupted into its signature bombast with a drummer and the horn section in the lead. I really enjoyed the buildup and tone on this one, and the fact that the arrangement didn’t just hold to the tone and rhythm of the original; in my opinion, it’s these different takes on established favorites that helps distinguish Distant Worlds so much. That inventiveness has always struck me with their arrangement of Final Fantasy VIII’s “Fisherman’s Horizon” as well, where the choir adds a breathtaking depth to the song.
“Dancing Mad” debuted in the second half of the program, and took another interesting twist: instead of arranging the entirety of all four tiers of “Dancing Mad,” the arrangement held to its more dramatic and downtempo portions. The first segment began with a tone and tempo more akin to Final Fantasy VI’s intro sequence than its “Dancing Mad” counterpart, before bursting into its more energetic portion. Although I couldn’t discern the actual lyrics sung by the choir, their contribution gave the song an extra bit of spine-tingling kick. This continued in “Dancing Mad’s” second segment, leading into the organ introduction to the third. Here, however, came the arrangement’s twist: this organ solo then led almost seamlessly into a full rendition of the second part of the fourth tier’s music, retaining the drama and tempo of the arrangement instead of drastically changing it. I admit, I was let down a bit at first – I love every part of “Dancing Mad,” as Final Fantasy VI was the first game I played in the series – but in the context of the performance, it worked perfectly, and I wouldn’t go back and change it. The audience didn’t seem to mind either, as the following applause was deafening.
Another debut was music from the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV, “Twilight over Thanalan” and “Behind Bloody Borders,” accompanied by the trailer for the game. This didn’t set off my nostalgia gland like many Distant Worlds songs do, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Several other songs were new to Chicago, including Final Fantasy X’s “Suteki da ne” and Final Fantasy IX’s “Melodies of Life.” Both songs featured guest vocalist Susan Calloway, who performed the lyrics wonderfully and without stealing the spotlight from the other musicians. And, though it was a mere few seconds long, the Final Fantasy victory theme got a lot of cheers from the audience.
While the performance was full of debuts – songs new to Chicago, to North America, or to the entire Distant Worlds show – plenty of old favorites appeared in the program too. Two of my favorites have always been Final Fantasy IV’s “Theme of Love” (a favorite of Uematsu’s as well) and “Terra’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VI, and both songs saw great performances once again. If I have one qualm with the show, it’s that the focus has shifted towards music from the later games in the series. As somebody who was introduced to Final Fantasy with the earlier games, those tend to trigger the strongest reactions in me, and the last time I saw Distant Worlds it was much more even-handed in its program.
The encore was a treat for fans too: Final Fantasy VII’s “One-Winged Angel” has long held the distinction of being the final song played for the evening, but this performance would be more memorable than ever. Nobuo Uematsu took the stage – to more riotous applause, of course – with the band The Chicago Mages, to play the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children rendition of “One-Winged Angel” not once, but twice. In addition to this, Roth decided to have some audience participation, and directed the fans to sing “Sephiroth!” at the appropriate moments in the song. The audience, of course, complied with gusto, and the performance was incredibly energetic. My one criticism would be that the mixing seemed a bit heavy-handed on the Chicago Mages, but the song still sounded phenomenal. Uematsu himself manned the Hammond organ for the song, although he did step away for a moment to air-guitar next to one of the Chicago Mages, which was definitely appreciated by the audience.
Arnie Roth made several announcements during the program: A newsletter for Distant Worlds is coming soon, and more performances have been scheduled in the coming months for Seoul, Stockholm, San Francisco and another return to Chicago. Even more exciting is the fact that Roth and company will be recording the second Distant Worlds CD very soon, featuring the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.
Distant Worlds is really a one-of-a-kind show, and well worth seeing if you have the opportunity. Arnie Roth and Nobuo Uematsu don’t seem to be getting off the train any time soon, so it will hopefully continue its success for a long time to come.
Comments Disabled To "A Night of Firsts: Final Fantasy Distant Worlds Chicago Impressions"
#1 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On December 24, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
Wish I could have been there. “Dancing Mad” sounds awesome. I hope they take these new segments and carry them over to future performances. Also, San Francisco again? Can’t wait! Also cool that they played “Kiss me Goodbye.” Thanks for writing this up for us.
#2 Comment By rick On December 24, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
dancing mad is exactly the same version as performed at play!, even featuring the same lyrics. oh wait, the distant worlds version is shorter, they cut out the pipe organ solo.
#3 Comment By Robby Huang On December 24, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
I really appreciated the new content in the show. I was extremely disappointed with the orchestra and stage though.
I went to the Dear Friends and Play concerts when they were debuted at the rosement and that concert hall just really sucks. The sound is probably some of the worst I have heard because it’s not acoustic, it’s miked and it’s usually just too loud and lots of times there is noticeable distortion.
On top of that, the sound man just did not do a very good job remembering to turn on the mikes! There were times where I could see sections of the brass playing and could not hear them or where the xylophone player was going nuts and couldn’t hear a thing. The one song I remember in particular is Don’t Be Afraid, and if you know that song, you know how crucial the xylophone is.
This concert was just a huge disappointment after seeing Symphonic Fantasies in person and not only that, but expecting it to sound like the recording of Distant Worlds which has one of the best recordings of Final Fantasy music ever. Listen to Final Fantasy 20020220 and compare Distant Worlds to that, and you will never be able to listen to the 20020220 version again.
And you know, it’s even fair to compare Distant Worlds to Symphonic Fantasies because the tickets were even cheaper than Distant Worlds AND everyone who came got an opportunity to get in the meet and greet while Distant Worlds you need to buy ungodly expensive tickets.
I know I’m probably not the typical Distant Worlds concert attendee, but it’s one of those things where once you know, you can’t ignore it.
#4 Comment By Robby Huang On December 24, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
I know I shouldn’t complain more, but I had other complaints too.
The videos are really distracting and often times caused the audience to laugh. I have no problem with laughing and having a good time, but I want to hear the music, so please don’t show visuals that are specifically engineered to do that.
And the victory theme is an actual song! Why would they just pretend like it’s two bars long and leave it at that. At first, I thought they would surely play the entire thing as an encore. Instead, they decided to play One Winged Angel twice. That would have been cool when I was a little younger and hadn’t heard it literally hundreds of times, but as it was it really was kind of disappointing. I know you HAVE to play that song at a Final Fantasy concert because people would literally kill you if you didn’t, but why not save one of the reveals for the final encore?
On a positive note, I did really enjoy the English version of Suteki da ne as that’s the first time that I have heard it. To my knowledge there are no recordings of it. It was a direct translation for the most part too, which was pretty cool. The singer was pretty good too.
These are nitpicks to be sure, but when I pay 65 dollars for a concert, I expect a little better, especially after the ridiculous amazing value that was Symphonic Fantasies (minus the travel expenses to get across the world to Germany). Man, I think that concert spoiled me rotten. I’m such a snob now! hahaha
#5 Comment By andrew On December 25, 2009 @ 1:42 am
I was a little disappointed that the arrangements of “Jenova” and “Dancing Mad” were little more than orchestral transcriptions of the Black Mages arrangements. For the Black Mages, those arrangements worked well – but when they come to the orchestra, a lot of the essence in lost. These arrangements needed to be reconstructed with an orchestra – not a rock band – in mind.
Other than that, the brass section was impressive. The choir was decently balanced. Susan Calloway did an excellent job. Advent One Winged Angel was something worth experiencing twice. The audience seemed unimpressed about having old songs played again for them – but showed their enthusiasm for everything new. I would agree that Rosemont is *not* anywhere close to the ideal venue for this type of performance. The acoustics are downright awful for an orchestra – they would likely have more luck playing in a gymnasium. It will be interesting to hear the Chicago Symphony play “Distant Worlds” in the future.
#6 Comment By DS On December 26, 2009 @ 3:17 am
That’s a very impressive playlist…if you’ve never heard Final Fantasy music live before. Honestly, I think Arnie Roth has milked this cow to death, and I’m glad to see some readers are aware of the risk of squeezing dry udders. At first I was a little annoyed this concert wasn’t streamed like Symphonic Fantasies or Awakenings (both of which were just amazing, even through the less-than-crystalline medium of streaming), but after a little reflection, I’m not that bothered. I’ve heard most of these live, including Play!’s version of ‘Dancing Mad’ (which they attempted in ‘full’ at the Sydney Opera House, but using the local orchestra who clearly had little passion for the work). There is one thing Arnie Roth-led arrangements do that I really don’t appreciate: they’re occasionally overembellished (as noted above regarding the expansion of the victory fanfare into a full song) and given flourishes I find a little too whimsical for the source matter. The Dancing Mad I heard lacked all sorts of impact, and yet I’m not terribly impressed by the Mages’ version either. I think the original, strangely enough considering it’s from the old Snes ‘limitations’, is yet to be outdone.
I’d be interested in hearing if the OWA was the Advent Children or the Advent Children Complete version, the latter of which has a very sweet instrumental interlude right when (SPOILER) Sephiroth does something unpleasant to Cloud — an interlude that very much reminds us that Sephiroth is Kefka’s spiritual successor and still has some of the deadly clown’s playful qualities.
Angela Aki’s also a tough act to follow…
All in all, I think the nostalgia upon which Final Fantasy music rides has pretty much run dry in a live context. Good thing there’s always other game music for orchestras to bring us.