The long awaited Final Fantasy concert was last night. This was the second video game concert I have been to, having gone to Video Games Live back in 2010.
Final Fantasy has always been a hallmark in video game music. You could literally take just one of the games in the FF franchise and put on an entire show. Being able to listen to an orchestra's cherry picked pieces from most of the titles in the series was a godsend.
I cut my teeth on Final Fantasy VII back in the day, so I was ecstatic that the show opened with a video of the FF7 intro. We got to watch the beginning of a game that basically changed my life while a live orchestra played the music in the background. Now I know how ultra rich people play FF games...
Another highlight of the show was the North American premiere of Final Fantasy VIII's "Eyes On Me," the first song in video game history to win an award at the Japan Gold Disc Awards.
Honestly, though, I was there to hear Aerith's Theme from FF7. I've always loved that song; even going so far as to incorporate it into a music mix for a dance class that my friend was teaching. Aerith's Theme has no words in it, yet it tells a story in a way words can't. For the four minutes that song played, nothing else in the world mattered. It's one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard, and made the show worth the price of admission by itself.
Earlier entries in the FF series were highlighted as well, including a very humorous Chocobo Medley. I still have nightmares about the first time I ever went about breeding a gold one in FF7. Final Fantasy XI, a game I've literally spent hundreds of hours on, was also featured. I played FFXI so much back in the day that I even made rap songs about it. Seriously.
The show ended on One Winged Angel, also from FF7. You can't really have an FF concert without it. It was great hearing this again, as Video Games Live also did their version of it two years ago. While the Distant Worlds rendition of One Winged Angel was great, it didn't surpass the tremendous Video Games Live performance. VGL included guitars and a full chorus in theirs, making it just a tad better.
All in all, Distant Worlds was a great show. I really hope they make it back to Pittsburgh sometime in the future, as Video Games Live hasn't been back since 2010, and I'll have to travel to Virginia to see the Zelda concert.
Gone are the days of bleeps and boops dominating the video game music scene. VG music deserves the same respect as film scores do. Here's hoping more shows like Distant Worlds reaches the ears of the uninformed who laugh at the prospect of seeing a "video game concert."
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