Right, so it's been two days since I last went to Play!, a video game symphony concert [Asia premiere, Singapore] which was held on Friday and Saturday (15th and 16th June). I went for the Friday one. Here's a list of the songs they played, in chronological order.
1) PLAY! A Video Game Symphony (Fanfare) by Nobuo Uematsu
2) Super Mario Bros (Suite) by Koji Kondo
3) Shenmue and Shenmue II (Sedge Tree) by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
*4) Lost Odyssey (Main Theme) by Nobuo Uematsu
5) Sonic the Hedgehog (Suite) by Masato Nakamura
*6) Metal Gear Solid (Main Theme) by Tappy Iwase and Kazuki Muraoka
7) Blue Dragon (Main Theme) by Nobuo Uematsu [game not yet released]
8) Kingdom Hearts (Suite) by Yoko Shimomura
*9) Final Fantasy VI (Dancing Mad) by Nobuo Uematsu [produced specially for Play!]
10) Daytona USA by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi [also him singing and on the paino]
*11) The Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion (Suite) by Jeremy Soule
12) Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross (Suite) by Yasunori Mitsuda
*13) World of Warcraft (Suite) by Jason Hayes
*14) Halo (Suite) by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori
*15) Castlevania (Suite) by Michiru Yamana [Fantastic, spectacular, amazing composer]
16) The Legend of Zelda (Suite) by Koji Kondo
*17) Final Fantasy VII (One-Winged Angel) by Nobuo Uematsu
18) Shinobi (Suite) by ?? [This was the encore, secret song not listed in the program booklet]
->* denotes "with chorus"
They put One Winged Angel all the way at the end, can you believe it? Haha, good tactic to keep people in the concert hall from the start to the end though. I really do think that video game music is really spectacular; amongst all the pieces I heard that night, other than obviously One-Winged Angel, I was particularly impressed with Castlevania. It's really amazing how they blend the sounds of the drum set with that of the orchestra. I wonder whether I'll ever be able to do anything like that. And think of how old will I be, if I do actually accomplish such a feat! All these composers start when they're like 12? Well, they're introduced to music then, and I can still barely play the piano >_<
The composer for Shenmue and Daytona USA was there too, and he sung a song which he composed for Daytona USA. The name of the song is "Let's go away", and he cracked a lame joke about that, by saying "But don't go away!" >_< His voice is not too good, but you can tell that he really tried his best, he's really enthusiastic. I didn't mention this earlier, but when he appeared on stage, he was carrying a Sonic: The Hedgehog Plushie which he later threw into the crowd. No chance of me getting it, because I was sitting on the highest tier...the person seated beside me was really excited about that bit though...I really like his composition for Shenmue though it appeared to me like an eroge. The climatic bits of the piece are really good. Oh! The music composer for Shinobi was there too!! There was an autograph session at the end of the show, which I didn't stay for because my friend couldn't stay. Well, if Nobuo was there, I would have made her stay no matter what, but he wasn't so...
The whole stage was set up so that there were three screens just above the orchestra area, where they would flash scenes from the game during the performance; or just zoom in on the solo parts during performance. The organ player was really good btw. These screen were also used to flash out small video segments which were specially recorded for the audience. My friend who was with me that night told me how during her harmonica performances for video game songs, they would also flash the game on the screen but they would have an actual person playing the game, so that the character would die at the end of the song >_<
Nearing intermission time, just before they played one of Nobuo's piece, they showed a small video where Nobuo addressed us; just a few lines like "Welcome to Play" that sort of thing, but it still managed to rouse the audience I think? Well, it's Nobuo after all!!
On a side note, World of Warcraft is really different from how I imagined it to be, but the last time I played it was approximately ten years ago, so...
The conductor, Arnie Roth, was behaving strangely though, because at the end, he went to the conductor's stand and then exited several times, and with his every entrance, the audience was expecting him to maybe have an encore, which he didn't. Because he already had an encore before these several entrances and exits he made. A good way to hold the audience in anticipation for the next concert?
After the performance, I did something rather like what Konata-chan from Lucky star would do. In the program booklets which they placed at the entrance to the concert hall were included forms for a lucky draw where the grand prize was a Blue Dragon XBox. When we left the concert hall area, just before we exited, I took a whole bunch of these forms, filled them in and put them in the box. Haha >_< It didn't say multiple entries were not allowed so...but, unlike Konata, I placed them in the same box >_< For those who haven't already, go watch Lucky Star, it's a really cute anime and I bet that you will find traits of yourself in either one of the characters. I'll give you anything you want if you don't. But then, you'll just be lying to yourself.
By the way, for those reading this, I would like to open up a debate: Why do you think music composers are more renowned than the game creators? For example, you can tell me Nobuo Uematsu was the composer for One-Winged Angel, but I bet you can't tell me who created Sephiroth right? Why is that? >_<
Ending this entry, I would just like to mention that the NUS Choir rocks ^_^ They didn't disappoint with ther rendition of one-winged angel. I almost cried...well, it's the song just before Sephiroth dies after all!! Also, the immense power of the song when you watch it live... I just wished more songs from the FF series could have been performed...I leave you with a video from Play! in 2006, since I did not have anything that could be used to record music on me on that day. >_< ((Btw. they played a lot more FF songs for the 2006 concert...unfair >_<))
And this is a video from the 2007 concert, the music is from Super Mario Bros, and you can get a feel of how the screens look like from this one
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