Jecca Mehlota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jecca_mehlota) wrote2011-07-06 12:24 am
jecca_mehlota) wrote2011-07-06 12:24 am
Entry tags:
Where the hell'd I go?
I guess Chicago and the following week+ of superstress burnt me out more than I'd thought? Actually, Chicago was amazing. I meant to write up a post about it earlier. Oops. (I've meant to do a lot of things lately. None of it's been happening. It's troublesome.)
Unfortunately, as it is a million degrees and I've had a bit of an unpleasant day, and also because I'm lazy and it was over a week ago, now, I don't think I'll be doing one of my usual posts. Coding images in is just not something I feel like doing.
Instead, here is my Facebook album (the link should work for everyone. I know the few vids I took won't, though) with a bunch of my pics from the trip.
What the pictures won't show is my epic adventure of "actually getting there", during which (of course) things went wrong. I got to JFK no problem, but then weather rolled into New Jersey, and since the flight path would take us over that way... well, first we were delayed 30 minutes. Then we boarded and got in line for take off aaaand... second or third in line, boom! MORE WEATHER. So we taxied around a while hoping things would clear up a bit, and then when it because obviously that, even if that did happen, none of the idiot passengers would be sitting down so we wouldn't we be able to take off anyway, we pulled off and parked for, like, an hour? I believe the law is three hours in the ground before they have to let you back off. We were pretty close to the three hour mark when we finally had our opening.
And then Chicago was fine, except it was later than I'd planned on arriving, so I didn't get to my hotel until after 9, and then I was tired so I just ate my remaining sandwich half, took a shower, and went to bed.
But anyway, Chicago. First things first, I did not get bedbugs. Yay! I also had a heck of a lot of fun. Yaaaay! Also, it is maybe a good thing I ended up on my own? Maybe not, I mean. But, regardless, I ended up walking something like 17 miles all around downtown Chicago on Saturday. I hit up Navy Pier (and the candy shop there, ohoho, milk chocolate covered cappuccino biscotti bits, you are delicious), walked up and down both Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue (several times, in the latter's case. I got a bit disoriented), saw five beautiful Ferrari parked in front of the Trump Tower + Hotel, walked through a Vietnam memorial, wandered around the Merchandise Mart for a while (more because it was there and everyone else around me seemed to be all OMG WE MUST GO! than anything else. Also, my brain keeps calling it the Merchants' Ward, which is what they call the shopping areas in FFXIV, gah), went up the Sears/Willis tower, had delicious pizza for dinner, started back to the hotel, changed my mind and took a long and winding detour to the Target I'd seen from the van window the night before (I didn't know where it was, exactly, just that there was one. But I did find it!), and finally collapsed into bed and passed out.
(Know what was pretty awesome? Dark of the Moon, right? I knew they'd filmed in Chicago, but I didn't know where, or that so much of things would take place there. So when I went to the early premier Tuesday night, I kept thinking, hey, I was just there! And there! And there, too! If you've seen the movie and looked at my FB album, you will see what I mean. XD)
And then Sunday morning I went down the block (same direction as Saturday. I actually walked past it Saturday, but I had other things to do) to the Taste of Chicago festival thing, where I bought some tickets and sampled lots of delicious food. Mmmm. And then I went to Millennium Park and made myself dizzy looking in the Cloud Gate.
AND THEN IT WAS THE AFTERNOON AND I WENT AND FOUND THE SYMPHONY CENTER (I'd meant to do it Saturday, but - despite walking right past it after dinner - ultimately neglected to do so). It was not hard to find, though, it was the building with a bunch of people wearing Final Fantasy (and, in a few cases, Kingdom Hearts. ???) related things. And also a few people in costume. Mostly Yunas. I saw at least 5 Yunas on Sunday. They all kinda sucked, but possibly I have a bias. (Also seen: SeeD Squall, Sorceress Edea, a super-scrawny Auron, several white mages, a Rinoa, a Laguna, a Tifa, a Zidane - those last three are in the picture gallery - and a RMD pimp hat.
They had a little shop set up selling things at ridiculous prices. I neglected the FFXIV CD because it was $20 and only had 8 battle tracks (I'll wait for the full thing, thanks), but I did pick up a Distant Worlds t-shirt and a disgustingly expensive little booklet with pictures from the games in it. Whatever, the pages are glossy, so I can draw hearts and exclamation points all over it and then wipe them off (and don't think I haven't).
ANYWAY THE CONCERT Nobuo Uematsu was there, of course (it said he would be). For both concerts, I was in the lower balcony. First one, I was on the left side in the very front row, and, when I leaned over the railing, I was nearly right over him. SO COOL. (I was on the right side in the second row for the evening concert.) They also had someone named Benyamin Nuss, who plays piano (very well!) and Susan Calloway. (For the first concert, they had a choir, and for the second concert, they had a trio of soloists, but I will briefly mention that later.)
ANYWAY, THEY PLAYED MUSIC AND IT WAS AMAZING and haha, man, 'kay, I totally did not start crying four measures into the prelude. I am pretty sure it was only the second measure. It was just so beautiful and amazing and I wasn't really believing I was there and then the harp started up and I FOUGHT VALIANTLY for all of like 5 seconds. Anyway, the songs from the first concert (with commentary, and links to the Distant Worlds CD versions on YouTube when possible!):
Prelude (cry cry), leading straight into Liberi Fatali. Then Arnie Roth (the conductor) paused to introduce the concert and play the Victory Theme, then we jumped into Aerith's Theme and Clash on the Big Bridge. Next, he introduced Benyamin Nuss (hee, my notebook is covered in variations on his last name and question marks, as I had no idea how to spell it. It was pronounced "nyoose") and they played Love Grows. Then they premiered a new song for their lineup! And it was You're Not Alone, from FFIX! (I can't find it on YouTube, though, I guess no one recorded/uploaded it, so here's the game version EDIT and here's the live version, though not the one from Chicago, but who cares?) Then it was Theme of Love, and then! Then he introduced Susan Calloway and they performed Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds and WHOOPS ARE YOU CRYING AGAIN, JECCA? No, actually, but it was a near thing. My eyes were watering pretty good. NEXT, The Man with the Machine Gun (during which I pondered my continuing, conflicting adoration and deep desire to punch in the face of Laguna) (though, speaking of Laguna, how unspeakably cute is this piece of fanart? Actually, Raine looks a bit weird, but whatever, just don't look too hard at her)! AND THEN CHOCOBO. CHOCOBOOO. Only it wasn't their usual Swing de Chocobo, no. No, no, see. They opened it with a sample from the chocobo music from FFXIV! And the video was adorable! And someone else agrees, clearly, because, hey! XIV de Chocobo is amazing. I can't wait for the official soundtrack release. Or, you know, for them to add chocobos to the game (assuming that happens before they mark it as "playable" and start billing, anyway). Whichever. (The video is from the evening concert. I know this because we were livier in the first concert and laughed a bit more at the opening and cheered at the appearance of the gold chocobo in VII). Aaand that was followed by a brief intermission because it had somehow already been an hour wtf?? HOW WAS THAT AN HOUR.
So I spent the intermission chatting with the two girls to my right. We joked about eating the expensive booklet in hopes of assimilating with the glee and then about how while it would be okay to get the awesome, we hoped we didn't also contract the madness of the villains pictured (since both Kefka and Sephiroth appeared...). We spoke quite a lot about Kefka's complete insanity, actually.
BUT THEN THE MUSIC CAME BACK and we went back to shutting up and clasping our hands in delight (when we weren't clapping, anyway). They started with the Opening ~ Bombing Mission, and then and then and then and and and eeee. Uematsu came on-stage! And Arnie Roth spoke about how he'd been trying for years and years now to get him to play in one of the concerts, and he had always refused, BUT BUT BUT. Finally, Uematsu agreed to, but only if Roth also played! So together (which only a bit of help from the orchestra) they performed Dark World and I am pretty sure I can never actually listen to the in-game track again now? It was so beautiful. (SEE I FOUND IT I WAS SO HAPPY TO FIND THAT ON YOUTUBE) After they finished, they got a standing ovation, which they both seemed a bit surprised by. And then, what the hell, they launched into Dancing Mad (live!) and the girl next to me leaned over and whispered, "we summoned him with our minds D:" and we were both suitably horrified for the next few seconds until the music started. Nuss came on again and solo piano'd Those Who Fight, then we went through Fisherman's Horizon (it surprised me how much cheering this one got, since it's never been one of my favourite tracks, and I don't feel the voices add much at all), Ronfaure, and J-E-N-O-V-A. Then Susan Calloway came back and Roth told us he was now allowed to announce that she was, in fact, the singer in "Answers" (um, we all knew that already, whoops) and that they'd actually recorded the version heard in-game right there in Chicago (which, okay, we hadn't known that). AND THEN ANSWERS, as you probably guessed. And everyone clapped at the wrong part because no one cares about the music for XIV (or XIV itself, haha), so no one knew that wasn't the ending. Shaaaame. They concluded with Terra's Theme and then surprised absolutely no one when they came back for an encore of One-Winged Angel (which was, of course, fantastic, but damn, I think half the choir was mispronouncing "interius" as just "interus" and it was weird. But it was made up for by Roth making Uematsu sing with the choir, haha. First he asked him to sing a song solo for us, but Uematsu ran away from the mic. MORE ON THIS LATER, THOUGH).
And that was two and a half hours and it totally did not feel like it, let me tell you. I had two and a half hours, then, to kill before the next concert. ... I ended up taking a nap, 'cause I was still a bit tired from my walkathon Saturday, and 'cause clapping that much is exhausting. (Though, on my way back to the hotel, someone else from the concert was talking to me. He asked what I was hoping to hear in the second half, and I said, well, there are a few I'd like, but they already covered the ones I had to hear. He said he hoped they performed the Hymn of the Fayth - he probably meant The Sending - bad luck for him, I guess.)
AND THEN IT WAS TIME FOR THE SECOND CONCERT! YAAAY! So now I'm on the right side. They opened by replayed the Opening ~ Bombing Mission bit from FFVII but - kinda odd - they used a different video. I wasn't sure at first, but then the text was in Japanese, and the dialogue boxes were definitely in English in the first video for it they showed (which was kinda odd, too, because for Aerith's Theme, they'd shown clips of in-game stuff without any dialogue boxes at all, heh). Then another intro speech and another go of the Fanfare. Then Don't be Afraid, which had a clever opening! They just let the video play for a while - the Dollet mission, Squall and Zell and Seifer (and the dog) standing around arguing, then you run for the bridge and - oh no random encounter - CUE ORCHESTRA! I liked it. Then the FFI-III Medley, then Suteki Da Ne (in English, sung by Susan Calloway, and man that song was never meant to make sense in English, but I still wound up with tears in my eyes. DAMNIT). Then You're Not Alone again... and the video ran a few seconds longer (maybe kinda weird, but the second ending made more sense XD). Then Dear Friends, then Vamo' alla Flamenco, which got off to a bad start due to sound troubles (see for yourself). So they stopped and tried again after readjusting the system for the guy playing the ... whatever it was. Instrument. And then later the video broke. BAD DAY. (The comments blame it the restart on a missed cue, but I could see him playing it all, we just couldn't hear him...) Nuss came out again to perform Those Who Fight again (though there was no accompanying video this time, for whatever reason), then Calloway came out for The Place I'll Return to Someday ~ Melodies of Life. (From the show.) AND THEN MOAR CHOCO! Man with the Machine Gun, Dark World (I was so, so totally cool with a repeat of that), To Zanarkand (TEARS), Main Theme of FFVII (which never fails to get me right here, oh, nostalgia), Prima Vista Orchestra (inexplicably, part of the video for that was the logo for FFXI), Kiss Me Goodbye (featuring Calloway, of course)... And then we got a few tracks from FFXIII! The Promise - Fabula Nova Crystallis, March of the Dreadnoughts (Nuss on piano), and Blinded by Light. To finish it off, they performed the "Maria and Draco" opera from FFVI. I didn't really catch the names of the singers, but they did a really fantastic job of it.
And, of course, we clapped and clapped and they came back for the encore. One Winged Angel again, yay!
... so, who remembers a critical point from way earlier? Something about there being a choir present for only the first of the two concerts? Yeah, about that... They made us sing it. XD It was so much fun and also kind of hilarious. I don't think most of us actually believed him when he said we were going to sing it, and that they were going to put the lyrics on the screen (just in case anyone did not already know them))... so the music starts and we get to our entrance and, I dunno, maybe a fourth of us actually start singing? Other people joined in once they realised, yes, they were entirely serious, but not enough. After we totally botched the first verse, Uematsu came back out and walked across the stage holding his hands to his ears and motioning that we needed to SING LOUDER. You can sort of see the top of his head moving around the bottom of the screen sometimes in this video, here (that's what most of the laughter is about. The rest of the laughter is "oh my god I cannot believe we're doing this"). (Speed edit: most of the video sucks, and the sound also sucks, but you can see his coaxing a bit better in this video. Just mute it and skip to about 3:25.) Honestly, I'm surprised we sounded as good as we did. XD
And then we clapped and clapped and clapped and clapped and holy gods I thought my hands were going to fall off, we just. Kept. Clapping. FOR EVER. Because we did not want to go. ;_; But they did finally get us to start trickling out. On my way down the stairs, I encountered a Zidane, who was talking about finding the Laguna from earlier - which was easier done than you'd think, as he was waiting right in the lobby. And there was a Tifa, too. So the three of them posed for pics. ... until Laguna got a leg cramp, anyway (hahaha I love how Zidane just uses him as an elbow rest).
AND THEN MORE SLEEP. And then I went home Monday. wheee!
SO BASICALLY: Chicago? AWESOME. Distant Worlds? QUITE POSSIBLY LIFE CHANGING. The only bit that wasn't entirely positive (aside from the "ow my hands" from all the clapping, I mean) was that some of the videos they had kind of sucked. XD Like, if you watched the One Winged Angel one there, you saw that, despite it being "the Sephiroth song", he is barely featured in it! Guys, you have two games (the original and Crisis Core - heck, more if you count the Dissidia games, and they did use clips from that for the Dancing Mad video) as well as a movie to pull clips from. What on Earth is your excuse? The video for the Main Theme of FFVII wasn't very good, either. It's the world map music, but the entire video was from inside Midgar. Bah! (Also, I had issues with the video for Ronfaure, but since most people don't care about the MMOs, I'd bet most people didn't get it.) However, the good videos were all delightful (see: Chocobo! And the Prima Vista Orchestra aside from the wtfFFXI thing, anyway! And others, of course. Most of them were absolutely fine).
In short, if you ever get a chance to attend a Final Fantasy concert - ie, if they're ever anywhere near you (and assuming you care about the games/music) - DO IT DO IT DO IT RIGHT NOW WHY HAVE YOU NOT BOUGHT YOUR TICKET ALREADY.
And now I need to go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I get about catching up on things, eh? (And maybe I'll have the energy to tell you all about my exciting - that is, stressful - that is, SE dropped the ball again - weekend! And maybe Dark of the Moon, which I keep typing as dork...)
Unfortunately, as it is a million degrees and I've had a bit of an unpleasant day, and also because I'm lazy and it was over a week ago, now, I don't think I'll be doing one of my usual posts. Coding images in is just not something I feel like doing.
Instead, here is my Facebook album (the link should work for everyone. I know the few vids I took won't, though) with a bunch of my pics from the trip.
What the pictures won't show is my epic adventure of "actually getting there", during which (of course) things went wrong. I got to JFK no problem, but then weather rolled into New Jersey, and since the flight path would take us over that way... well, first we were delayed 30 minutes. Then we boarded and got in line for take off aaaand... second or third in line, boom! MORE WEATHER. So we taxied around a while hoping things would clear up a bit, and then when it because obviously that, even if that did happen, none of the idiot passengers would be sitting down so we wouldn't we be able to take off anyway, we pulled off and parked for, like, an hour? I believe the law is three hours in the ground before they have to let you back off. We were pretty close to the three hour mark when we finally had our opening.
And then Chicago was fine, except it was later than I'd planned on arriving, so I didn't get to my hotel until after 9, and then I was tired so I just ate my remaining sandwich half, took a shower, and went to bed.
But anyway, Chicago. First things first, I did not get bedbugs. Yay! I also had a heck of a lot of fun. Yaaaay! Also, it is maybe a good thing I ended up on my own? Maybe not, I mean. But, regardless, I ended up walking something like 17 miles all around downtown Chicago on Saturday. I hit up Navy Pier (and the candy shop there, ohoho, milk chocolate covered cappuccino biscotti bits, you are delicious), walked up and down both Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue (several times, in the latter's case. I got a bit disoriented), saw five beautiful Ferrari parked in front of the Trump Tower + Hotel, walked through a Vietnam memorial, wandered around the Merchandise Mart for a while (more because it was there and everyone else around me seemed to be all OMG WE MUST GO! than anything else. Also, my brain keeps calling it the Merchants' Ward, which is what they call the shopping areas in FFXIV, gah), went up the Sears/Willis tower, had delicious pizza for dinner, started back to the hotel, changed my mind and took a long and winding detour to the Target I'd seen from the van window the night before (I didn't know where it was, exactly, just that there was one. But I did find it!), and finally collapsed into bed and passed out.
(Know what was pretty awesome? Dark of the Moon, right? I knew they'd filmed in Chicago, but I didn't know where, or that so much of things would take place there. So when I went to the early premier Tuesday night, I kept thinking, hey, I was just there! And there! And there, too! If you've seen the movie and looked at my FB album, you will see what I mean. XD)
And then Sunday morning I went down the block (same direction as Saturday. I actually walked past it Saturday, but I had other things to do) to the Taste of Chicago festival thing, where I bought some tickets and sampled lots of delicious food. Mmmm. And then I went to Millennium Park and made myself dizzy looking in the Cloud Gate.
AND THEN IT WAS THE AFTERNOON AND I WENT AND FOUND THE SYMPHONY CENTER (I'd meant to do it Saturday, but - despite walking right past it after dinner - ultimately neglected to do so). It was not hard to find, though, it was the building with a bunch of people wearing Final Fantasy (and, in a few cases, Kingdom Hearts. ???) related things. And also a few people in costume. Mostly Yunas. I saw at least 5 Yunas on Sunday. They all kinda sucked, but possibly I have a bias. (Also seen: SeeD Squall, Sorceress Edea, a super-scrawny Auron, several white mages, a Rinoa, a Laguna, a Tifa, a Zidane - those last three are in the picture gallery - and a RMD pimp hat.
They had a little shop set up selling things at ridiculous prices. I neglected the FFXIV CD because it was $20 and only had 8 battle tracks (I'll wait for the full thing, thanks), but I did pick up a Distant Worlds t-shirt and a disgustingly expensive little booklet with pictures from the games in it. Whatever, the pages are glossy, so I can draw hearts and exclamation points all over it and then wipe them off (and don't think I haven't).
ANYWAY THE CONCERT Nobuo Uematsu was there, of course (it said he would be). For both concerts, I was in the lower balcony. First one, I was on the left side in the very front row, and, when I leaned over the railing, I was nearly right over him. SO COOL. (I was on the right side in the second row for the evening concert.) They also had someone named Benyamin Nuss, who plays piano (very well!) and Susan Calloway. (For the first concert, they had a choir, and for the second concert, they had a trio of soloists, but I will briefly mention that later.)
ANYWAY, THEY PLAYED MUSIC AND IT WAS AMAZING and haha, man, 'kay, I totally did not start crying four measures into the prelude. I am pretty sure it was only the second measure. It was just so beautiful and amazing and I wasn't really believing I was there and then the harp started up and I FOUGHT VALIANTLY for all of like 5 seconds. Anyway, the songs from the first concert (with commentary, and links to the Distant Worlds CD versions on YouTube when possible!):
Prelude (cry cry), leading straight into Liberi Fatali. Then Arnie Roth (the conductor) paused to introduce the concert and play the Victory Theme, then we jumped into Aerith's Theme and Clash on the Big Bridge. Next, he introduced Benyamin Nuss (hee, my notebook is covered in variations on his last name and question marks, as I had no idea how to spell it. It was pronounced "nyoose") and they played Love Grows. Then they premiered a new song for their lineup! And it was You're Not Alone, from FFIX! (I can't find it on YouTube, though, I guess no one recorded/uploaded it, so here's the game version EDIT and here's the live version, though not the one from Chicago, but who cares?) Then it was Theme of Love, and then! Then he introduced Susan Calloway and they performed Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds and WHOOPS ARE YOU CRYING AGAIN, JECCA? No, actually, but it was a near thing. My eyes were watering pretty good. NEXT, The Man with the Machine Gun (during which I pondered my continuing, conflicting adoration and deep desire to punch in the face of Laguna) (though, speaking of Laguna, how unspeakably cute is this piece of fanart? Actually, Raine looks a bit weird, but whatever, just don't look too hard at her)! AND THEN CHOCOBO. CHOCOBOOO. Only it wasn't their usual Swing de Chocobo, no. No, no, see. They opened it with a sample from the chocobo music from FFXIV! And the video was adorable! And someone else agrees, clearly, because, hey! XIV de Chocobo is amazing. I can't wait for the official soundtrack release. Or, you know, for them to add chocobos to the game (assuming that happens before they mark it as "playable" and start billing, anyway). Whichever. (The video is from the evening concert. I know this because we were livier in the first concert and laughed a bit more at the opening and cheered at the appearance of the gold chocobo in VII). Aaand that was followed by a brief intermission because it had somehow already been an hour wtf?? HOW WAS THAT AN HOUR.
So I spent the intermission chatting with the two girls to my right. We joked about eating the expensive booklet in hopes of assimilating with the glee and then about how while it would be okay to get the awesome, we hoped we didn't also contract the madness of the villains pictured (since both Kefka and Sephiroth appeared...). We spoke quite a lot about Kefka's complete insanity, actually.
BUT THEN THE MUSIC CAME BACK and we went back to shutting up and clasping our hands in delight (when we weren't clapping, anyway). They started with the Opening ~ Bombing Mission, and then and then and then and and and eeee. Uematsu came on-stage! And Arnie Roth spoke about how he'd been trying for years and years now to get him to play in one of the concerts, and he had always refused, BUT BUT BUT. Finally, Uematsu agreed to, but only if Roth also played! So together (which only a bit of help from the orchestra) they performed Dark World and I am pretty sure I can never actually listen to the in-game track again now? It was so beautiful. (SEE I FOUND IT I WAS SO HAPPY TO FIND THAT ON YOUTUBE) After they finished, they got a standing ovation, which they both seemed a bit surprised by. And then, what the hell, they launched into Dancing Mad (live!) and the girl next to me leaned over and whispered, "we summoned him with our minds D:" and we were both suitably horrified for the next few seconds until the music started. Nuss came on again and solo piano'd Those Who Fight, then we went through Fisherman's Horizon (it surprised me how much cheering this one got, since it's never been one of my favourite tracks, and I don't feel the voices add much at all), Ronfaure, and J-E-N-O-V-A. Then Susan Calloway came back and Roth told us he was now allowed to announce that she was, in fact, the singer in "Answers" (um, we all knew that already, whoops) and that they'd actually recorded the version heard in-game right there in Chicago (which, okay, we hadn't known that). AND THEN ANSWERS, as you probably guessed. And everyone clapped at the wrong part because no one cares about the music for XIV (or XIV itself, haha), so no one knew that wasn't the ending. Shaaaame. They concluded with Terra's Theme and then surprised absolutely no one when they came back for an encore of One-Winged Angel (which was, of course, fantastic, but damn, I think half the choir was mispronouncing "interius" as just "interus" and it was weird. But it was made up for by Roth making Uematsu sing with the choir, haha. First he asked him to sing a song solo for us, but Uematsu ran away from the mic. MORE ON THIS LATER, THOUGH).
And that was two and a half hours and it totally did not feel like it, let me tell you. I had two and a half hours, then, to kill before the next concert. ... I ended up taking a nap, 'cause I was still a bit tired from my walkathon Saturday, and 'cause clapping that much is exhausting. (Though, on my way back to the hotel, someone else from the concert was talking to me. He asked what I was hoping to hear in the second half, and I said, well, there are a few I'd like, but they already covered the ones I had to hear. He said he hoped they performed the Hymn of the Fayth - he probably meant The Sending - bad luck for him, I guess.)
AND THEN IT WAS TIME FOR THE SECOND CONCERT! YAAAY! So now I'm on the right side. They opened by replayed the Opening ~ Bombing Mission bit from FFVII but - kinda odd - they used a different video. I wasn't sure at first, but then the text was in Japanese, and the dialogue boxes were definitely in English in the first video for it they showed (which was kinda odd, too, because for Aerith's Theme, they'd shown clips of in-game stuff without any dialogue boxes at all, heh). Then another intro speech and another go of the Fanfare. Then Don't be Afraid, which had a clever opening! They just let the video play for a while - the Dollet mission, Squall and Zell and Seifer (and the dog) standing around arguing, then you run for the bridge and - oh no random encounter - CUE ORCHESTRA! I liked it. Then the FFI-III Medley, then Suteki Da Ne (in English, sung by Susan Calloway, and man that song was never meant to make sense in English, but I still wound up with tears in my eyes. DAMNIT). Then You're Not Alone again... and the video ran a few seconds longer (maybe kinda weird, but the second ending made more sense XD). Then Dear Friends, then Vamo' alla Flamenco, which got off to a bad start due to sound troubles (see for yourself). So they stopped and tried again after readjusting the system for the guy playing the ... whatever it was. Instrument. And then later the video broke. BAD DAY. (The comments blame it the restart on a missed cue, but I could see him playing it all, we just couldn't hear him...) Nuss came out again to perform Those Who Fight again (though there was no accompanying video this time, for whatever reason), then Calloway came out for The Place I'll Return to Someday ~ Melodies of Life. (From the show.) AND THEN MOAR CHOCO! Man with the Machine Gun, Dark World (I was so, so totally cool with a repeat of that), To Zanarkand (TEARS), Main Theme of FFVII (which never fails to get me right here, oh, nostalgia), Prima Vista Orchestra (inexplicably, part of the video for that was the logo for FFXI), Kiss Me Goodbye (featuring Calloway, of course)... And then we got a few tracks from FFXIII! The Promise - Fabula Nova Crystallis, March of the Dreadnoughts (Nuss on piano), and Blinded by Light. To finish it off, they performed the "Maria and Draco" opera from FFVI. I didn't really catch the names of the singers, but they did a really fantastic job of it.
And, of course, we clapped and clapped and they came back for the encore. One Winged Angel again, yay!
... so, who remembers a critical point from way earlier? Something about there being a choir present for only the first of the two concerts? Yeah, about that... They made us sing it. XD It was so much fun and also kind of hilarious. I don't think most of us actually believed him when he said we were going to sing it, and that they were going to put the lyrics on the screen (just in case anyone did not already know them))... so the music starts and we get to our entrance and, I dunno, maybe a fourth of us actually start singing? Other people joined in once they realised, yes, they were entirely serious, but not enough. After we totally botched the first verse, Uematsu came back out and walked across the stage holding his hands to his ears and motioning that we needed to SING LOUDER. You can sort of see the top of his head moving around the bottom of the screen sometimes in this video, here (that's what most of the laughter is about. The rest of the laughter is "oh my god I cannot believe we're doing this"). (Speed edit: most of the video sucks, and the sound also sucks, but you can see his coaxing a bit better in this video. Just mute it and skip to about 3:25.) Honestly, I'm surprised we sounded as good as we did. XD
And then we clapped and clapped and clapped and clapped and holy gods I thought my hands were going to fall off, we just. Kept. Clapping. FOR EVER. Because we did not want to go. ;_; But they did finally get us to start trickling out. On my way down the stairs, I encountered a Zidane, who was talking about finding the Laguna from earlier - which was easier done than you'd think, as he was waiting right in the lobby. And there was a Tifa, too. So the three of them posed for pics. ... until Laguna got a leg cramp, anyway (hahaha I love how Zidane just uses him as an elbow rest).
AND THEN MORE SLEEP. And then I went home Monday. wheee!
SO BASICALLY: Chicago? AWESOME. Distant Worlds? QUITE POSSIBLY LIFE CHANGING. The only bit that wasn't entirely positive (aside from the "ow my hands" from all the clapping, I mean) was that some of the videos they had kind of sucked. XD Like, if you watched the One Winged Angel one there, you saw that, despite it being "the Sephiroth song", he is barely featured in it! Guys, you have two games (the original and Crisis Core - heck, more if you count the Dissidia games, and they did use clips from that for the Dancing Mad video) as well as a movie to pull clips from. What on Earth is your excuse? The video for the Main Theme of FFVII wasn't very good, either. It's the world map music, but the entire video was from inside Midgar. Bah! (Also, I had issues with the video for Ronfaure, but since most people don't care about the MMOs, I'd bet most people didn't get it.) However, the good videos were all delightful (see: Chocobo! And the Prima Vista Orchestra aside from the wtfFFXI thing, anyway! And others, of course. Most of them were absolutely fine).
In short, if you ever get a chance to attend a Final Fantasy concert - ie, if they're ever anywhere near you (and assuming you care about the games/music) - DO IT DO IT DO IT RIGHT NOW WHY HAVE YOU NOT BOUGHT YOUR TICKET ALREADY.
And now I need to go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I get about catching up on things, eh? (And maybe I'll have the energy to tell you all about my exciting - that is, stressful - that is, SE dropped the ball again - weekend! And maybe Dark of the Moon, which I keep typing as dork...)