Final Fantasy Distant Worlds

[Wemrys]

So chances are if you're an FF fan you've heard of Distant Worlds. If not it's a concert tour that started back in 2007 consisting of a philharmonic orchestra and choir conducted by Grammy-winner Arnie Roth which contains music composed by Nobuo Uematsu for the Final Fantasy series. Uematsu himself is present for nearly every concert and is a keyboard soloist for the orchestra. Their repertoire list contains a large amount of favorites from all entries in the main series, including those containing vocals such as "Melodies of Life" (IX), "Suteki da Ne" (X), and "Answers" (XIV) to name a few, performed by Susan Calloway.

 

Now that my introduction is out of the way...I'm going to spaz out because the concert series is now returning to Northeastern U.S., specifically to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on January 31st for TWO concerts on the same day! I've already attained tickets for the 8 pm show and wanted to see/fanboy with whoever may be going/considering going to this event. I'm horribly excited since they recently posted the setlist highlights for each concert and they're going to be premiering two new FFIX songs at the 8 pm show! Okay, okay calm down Spec...so who's looking into this or thinking of going out of curiosity?

[FreelanceWizard]

I've been to three of these so far (two in Chicago, one in Nashville) and they're just plain awesome. Beyond the incredible music (and associated video), what's especially neat is seeing your fellow FF fans; many of them go all out in cosplay, while others dress for a night at the symphony.

 

I won't be at the NJ one unless something really weird happens to put me in that area, but whenever it comes close to me, I try to make the trip. St. Louis might be one I go to, depending on the SO's schedule.

[Goodfellow]

I haven't been to Distant Worlds (it's pretty far for me), but I did go to Dear Friends a few years ago with some dear friends (har har), and it was all sorts of fun.  I loved seeing the regular symphony-goers and cosplayers mixed together and the enthusiasm the crowd had for the music. 

 

I've wanted to go to another ever since but my neck of the woods doesn't get quite so much attention as the left and right coasts.