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.

So, I wrote my first blog explaining the icelandic band Sigur Ros, in all thier glory.  I might go back to them in a different post, but I thought I'd mention a little band that has gotten quite  a bit of the spotlight the past few years.  The first time I saw these guys, I had known of one song by them, called "Lazy Eye", and the rest of the album, Carnavas, I had thought at the time, was pretty forgettable.  It was at a place in Toronto called the Ricoh Coliseum and they were actually opening for Snow Patrol, I was  a big fan of them then, and still are, really.  Anyways, their set blew me away, and then I kinda forgot about them for  awhile...this was roughly 2006-7, I believe....

Anyhoo, Moving on a few years later, their second album came out.  Wow.  Swoon is  aclassic.  It has about 10 tracks, but every one is a classic of alternative proportions in my mind.  The first time you hear panic switch will not be the last.  The opening guira riff grabs you and by the time Brain get to the guitar solo...WOW. But seriously, this is one album I find that I try to listen to at least one a day lately. Don't ask me why, it's just one of those albums that you could be chilling out with your friends in the back yard, frying up some burgers on the BBQ and having a few drinks. I've also been known to play this album when I come to school in the morning getting ready for the school day, and other teachers can confirm this. =) The extended jam on growing old is getting old is a truly sweet moment of chills down your spine proportions! And the opening bass line is truly hypnotic as well...Did I mention the bass player is a girl as well? I actually had the opportunity to see these guys last June with my brother-in-law, Dave Tabron. We were both pretty psyched for this show, but one thing that was out of the ordinary was how cold it was that night. So, we were headed for the Sound Academy (in Toronto) and as soon as we walked in, there was a line to the merch table at least 5 meter sticks long. We looked closer and we both saw this amazing Silversun Pickups hoodie that we both absoultely HAD to have. So, Dave and I decided to go outside and quench our thirst for awhile as we braved the chilly breeze...(considering it was the end of June...it wasn't the warmest of evenings) So, as we had our drinks, we realized how warm it would be to have those hoodies...So, we braved the line and waited...and waited....until there were TWO GUYS right in front of us...and lo and behold the hoodies were SOLD OUT!!!!!! So, in disgust, Dave left the line and thought I would too, but I took the time and waited and went up and bought 3 Silversun Pickups albums.....on VINYL, baby! During the rest of the evening, Dave and I were lucky enough to find a great spot in one of the bars, which had a great view of the stage. Needless to say, as soon we sat down, we were greeted with some excellent tunes from opener Against Me! and an amazing set by Silversun Pickups. I even thought I knew the setlist up and down, but they played Three Seed from Carnavas, their second album (which I will get to on another day) and it made our night. The only bad thing that happened other than the lack of hoodies that night was that I had wayyyy too many cokes and my bladder was nearing critical mass, when we finally left the Sound Academy. But I am happy to report that this evening led up to a wonderful gas station and it was a happy ending for all. If you've never heard of this band, do yourself a favour and check them out. I remember when I firstlistened to this album, I honestly didn't think much of it. But Dave, said this to me that it "grows on you". Whenever someone tells me that, it's always worth listening. And they are worth listening....on repeat.  And just as a little video game link:  They have a sweet silversun pickups pack on rock band with sort of and panic switch!  Tomorrow:  CARNAVAS and PIKUL!!!  I almost forgot I saw them opening for Muse last March as well, and hoesntly as amazing as Muse was, Silversun Pickups ripped off the roof for me:)  I'd just like to thank all the comments from fellow IGNers last time I wrote a blog and all comments are definitely welcome!!!! Oh yeah, and if you think I'm a huge fan of this band...you'd be write...I won a autographed guitar form the whole band on ebay   I was pretty psyched the day I got that in the mail!

I got it.....String Bow Hero!!!!!

Well, this is my first post/blog/whatever you want to call it, but I thought I would give it a whirl.  A few people have caught on right away to my profile name, while many people have no clue what it means.  Well, basically, they're a band from Iceland, which is itself I thought was pretty cool right off the bat.  Second, the lead musician sounds like a girl.  Ok, I thought how weird that might sound to some people, but I guarantee you, if you've ever heard svefn-g-englar, and have watched CSI (the original......) you'd know this song.  It was also in Vanilla Sky, a Tom Cruise vehicle which wasn't the greatest in my opinion, but it had one heck of a soundtrack including that one.  So anyways, if you were listening to this song and didn't know who the lead singer was...you'd probably think it was a girl....I'd bet you dollars to doughnuts....So yeah, I'm a bit of a concert freak and I saw these guys on September 20th, 2001.....that's right about a week after...welll, I hope most of you know what I'm talking about...but anyways, this was an account of what happened that night and made me realize just how healing music can be.

Atmospheric. You ever lsiten to a band - in a completely different language, mind you....and just feel completely at peace? It's pretty rare that you find a band like that, especially a band where the lead vocalist literally sings like an angel and is defnintely a guy, where I'm sure if most of you ever heard of Svefn-g-englar (and you probably have; you just didn't know it) and you think "wow, she's has the voice of an angel". Correction....HE has the voice of an angel, and what a voice it is. It was a very strange time for me. I was just starting at a new school, in Oakville, my first year as a permanent teacher, so it was a pretty exciting time for me. And it was a pretty ordinary week, until probably the second week of school. On a Tuesday. A very particular Tuesday. Oh yeah, here's a hint: it was in September in 2001. Admit it. You're getting chills right now just thinking about it. It seemed like such a normal day, but by morning recess, all the staff had gathered into the library to watch two tvs (which we use to show movies) to watch the two towers in New York City being destroyed by airplanes. What made me sick to my stomach is that my Dad had a flight to New York City that day, and I only found out later that Dad couldn't even get to the airport because of the chaos surrounding that day. But without a doubt, one of the scariest days I'll ever remember as a professional...So anyways, before all this stuff happened, I bought two tickets to see Sigur Ros at Massey Hall, which was literally a week after these attacks. One of the most memorable shows I'll ever see...You couldn't hear a pin drop in that audience....Maybe part of it was because of the band's insistence of letting the music do the talking, maybe part of it was we all wanted to grieve in our way, and just maybe we all wanted to hear some beautiful music during the Fall season....who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that these guys cam to play, and people came to listen...Now, I've seen these guys more times that I can count, but that show in particular was probably one of the best audiences I've ever had at any concert gig, PERIOD. I think there are a few things that make this band so memorable: 1. They sing in a madeup language (NOT icelandic, as some would have you believe) 2. The lead singer Jonsi, plays with a string bass bow (I believe anyways) against his guitar, giving it a unique sound. 3. The drummer is insane. 4. That voice is a light to the heavens, or as close as you can get. 5. They come out to bow after they're done. ( I mean honestly, how many bands even do that anymore??!?!?!) So, I'd like to say thank you, Sigur Ros. Your music was very healing in a very numbing time for me.

So, yeah, that's why I picked that as a username....I just thought that band deserved some kind of recognition and they got it...why write about  a music band here?  Why not?  Had to write about something   Now, if they could only figure out how to put their music on rock band 3.......