I've had the opportunity to hear Final Fantasy music before at one of the Video Games Live concerts, but I've never really had the chance to see a FULL orchestral show that was completely dedicated to Final Fantasy music. So last night, with my beautiful wife, I had to opportunity to hear this music firsthand, and as expected, it was a full house. The rich amount of music that we heard during the 2 1/2 hour was unreal. From Final Fantasy IV all the way up to the upcoming online Final Fantasy XIV, this concert was devoted to one music composer's rich repetoire of beautiful intricate compostions: Nobuo Uematsu. And the best part? He was actually there in the audience, and he played Terra's Theme from Final Fantasy VI on a double keyboard with Arnie Roth, the conductor of the orchestra, who was conducting during this piece as well as playing the violin at the same time!

I wish I could get a better quality photo, but best I can do with a mobile phone....
So, anyways, yeah, I was in the nosebleeds...but I was dead centre which was great...and one thing about being in the nose bleed section...you can really see EVERYTHING going on.....just sayin...being front row centre isn't all it's cracked up to be when you're seeing a full orchestra concert.So, I could see trumpets, trombones, TUBA (YES!!!!), flutes, violins, a percussion section that was IMMENSE and a full complement choir. (a little corporate though, naming your choir after a cell phone company...) Nobuo did do Terra's theme from Final Fantasy VI earlier, and at the end of the night he also got to sing One WInged Angel from Final Fantasy VII with the Telus Choir. What made this concert so surreal and amazing was the fact that there was also a video screen playing all of the different scenes from the video games. So I was constantly doing the head shake going from orchestra to video screen, and video screen to orchestra. The rest of the song that were played during the night was of course, the lovely victory/experience theme from all of the games, the wonderful intro theme to Final Fantasy IV (which, the harpist NAILED...a perfect solo), Final Fantasy X's Zanarkland, Final Fantasy VII's Aerith's Theme, Jenova and the beautiful opening into the bombing mission, and of course, the gorgeous Love theme from Final Fantasy IV, it was an amazing night of music. If you have never played a final fantasy game before (which is rare, I know, but hey...I'm sure there are people like that out there..) this is a great way to get exposed to some great music.
I will be the first to admit that the popularity of final fantasy has gone down a bit in recent years, but this concert made me rediscover something about final fantasy that I had totally forgotten: without the music that was used in the game, it truly would be an incomplete experience. I believe the "Setlist" was something like this:
1. Prelude/Main Theme (all Final Fantasies) 2. Love Grows (Final Fantasy VIII) 3. You're Not Alone (Final Fantasy IX) 4. Don't be Afraid (Final Fantasy VIII) 5. Fabula Nova Crystallis (Final Fantasy XIII) 6. To Zanarkand (Final Fantasy X) 7. Theme of Love (Final Fantasy IV) 8. Ronfaure (Final Fantasy XI) 9. Chocobo Medley (all Final Fantasies) (intermission) 10. Opening - Bombing mission from Final Fantasy VII) 11. Fisherman's Horizon (Final Fantasy VIII) 12. Man With A Machine Gun (Final Fantasy VIII) 13. Dark World w/Nobuo Uematsu on keyboards (Final Fantasy VI) 14. Aerith's Theme (Final Fantasy VII) 15. Battle on the Bridge (Final Fantasy V) 16. Opera "Maria and Draco" w/three classically trained singers doing the vocal parts (Final Fantasy VI) 17. Terra's Theme (Final Fantasy VI) encore: 18. One-Winged Angel w/Nobuo Uematsu joining the choir (Final Fantasy VII)
Do yourself a favour: go play a final fantasy game that Nobuo Uematsu wrote the music for. You won't be disappointed, especially with any PS1 era games.