[News] Distant Worlds - new Final Fantasy concert series

Should I travel across Europe to see it? lol
I wish I had the money to...

The tickets for the Meet & Greet are sold out now, so if anyone of you had planned on meeting him but not gotten a ticket yet, tough luck :P I'm happy I've gotten one, so I can't wait to actually meet him. I wonder though how many tickets it was in the first place.

Less than a month left! Woo

Originally Posted by nanaman

The tickets for the Meet & Greet are sold out now, so if anyone of you had planned on meeting him but not gotten a ticket yet, tough luck :P I'm happy I've gotten one, so I can't wait to actually meet him. I wonder though how many tickets it was in the first place.

Less than a month left! Woo

150 tickets. No wonder they sold out quickly!

Dammit why can't more concerts be like VGL with their meet and greets? They let anyone with a ticket in, just for a limited time, then they keep rotating people in and out. All it takes is a little organization and everyone can have a chance to the meet and greet. And VGL's meet and greet has more people than Distand Worlds....

Oh well, gratz to those who were the lucky 150.

VGL is a pretty special case. Meet and greets for commercial artists typically run how Distant Worlds/PLAY! runs, with premium ticketing. Think about it, yeah, the artist likes to see their fans, etc, but it must be pretty tiring sitting there for that long and not really having meaningful conversation with anyone. It's the same thing over and over again, you know?

Originally Posted by Cogo

150 tickets. No wonder they sold out quickly!

Yeah, although they didn't sell out that quickly did they? Do you know an estimate of the time it took to sell them all (like how many days after release)?

Oh and does anyone know if Uematsu speak English or does he have a translator with him or something? I guess he has a bit of English knowledge, but will he be able to hold a conversation with us all in English or how will it work?

Is VGL that special? I think what they do is a common courtesy and the right mind set

We had all our guests meeting all the composers and our musicians for our A Night in Fantasia concerts. Yes it's tiring, but at the same time rewarding. How often do composers get to hear their music live and greet fans?

Originally Posted by -=SeRaPH=-

How often do composers get to hear their music live and greet fans?

Surely by far not as often as Nobuo Uematsu and Arnie Roth apparently do.

Well Uematsu attended our concert and greeted all his fan and gave out autographs. He seems to have enjoyed it quite a bit.

Oh, I'm not saying some composers don't enjoy it. I'm sure there are those who don't enjoy it, though.

When you open a free-for-all meet and greet like VGL does, they usually go on... and on... and on, up to three hours after the concert. Koji Kondo had to retire from the VGL show at GDC last year at 12am, which disappointed a lot of people, but yeah, I'm sure he was tired!

I love what VGL does with the meet and greet, but you have to admit that it's atypical, so I don't understand why people complain so much about paying a premium for the meet and greet when it's pretty standard in the music industry.

Anyway, please bring Eminence and Uematsu-san to California already. =)

Originally Posted by nanaman

Yeah, although they didn't sell out that quickly did they? Do you know an estimate of the time it took to sell them all (like how many days after release)?

Oh and does anyone know if Uematsu speak English or does he have a translator with him or something? I guess he has a bit of English knowledge, but will he be able to hold a conversation with us all in English or how will it work?

I remember looking at jobs for Square-enix once and, on nearly every single one, you needed to be able to speak English and Japanese. But, considering Uematsu's skill, they may have passed that for him!

I'm guessing he probably will know english..

Originally Posted by Rich-

I remember looking at jobs for Square-enix once and, on nearly every single one, you needed to be able to speak English and Japanese. But, considering Uematsu's skill, they may have passed that for him!

I'm guessing he probably will know english..

I spoke to Uematsu when I met him in Stockholm last year. He could understand somewhat of what I said and could also make me understand what he said (and hum Matoya's Cave for me), so I guess you can at least say some words to him and he will answer.

He's been there a long time way before those rules were imposed. He can't really speak much english, all his assistant did the talking even in Japanese.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Arcubalis

Oh, I'm not saying some composers don't enjoy it. I'm sure there are those who don't enjoy it, though.

When you open a free-for-all meet and greet like VGL does, they usually go on... and on... and on, up to three hours after the concert. Koji Kondo had to retire from the VGL show at GDC last year at 12am, which disappointed a lot of people, but yeah, I'm sure he was tired!

I love what VGL does with the meet and greet, but you have to admit that it's atypical, so I don't understand why people complain so much about paying a premium for the meet and greet when it's pretty standard in the music industry.

Anyway, please bring Eminence and Uematsu-san to California already. =)

I'm planning to do something bigger than just brin Mr Uematsu out =D

New interview with Arnie Roth about Distant Worlds.

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Interview

Interesting stuff regarding a possible DVD release, and I hope he was made aware of the other composers who have composed music for Final Fantasy titles. I doubt the set list will change much, however.

Originally Posted by Arcubalis

VGL is a pretty special case. Meet and greets for commercial artists typically run how Distant Worlds/PLAY! runs, with premium ticketing. Think about it, yeah, the artist likes to see their fans, etc, but it must be pretty tiring sitting there for that long and not really having meaningful conversation with anyone. It's the same thing over and over again, you know?

Speaking as a video game composer and the person who has arranged over 40 video game concert meet & greets that have included over 250 industry people.... I can tell you that we all enjoy talking and listening to the fans who grace us with their presence. Lets face it... the video game industry hasn't exactly done a stellar job of focusing on the actual people who MAKE the games or music... so we've had to do it for ourselves. All of the game developers love the fact that they get a chance to meet the public in a way that is respecting their work, career and lives.

I perosonally believe it's an absolute travesty that some game concerts out there are changing people $125 - $150 to meet game composers. I can see if the industry was established so much that tens of thousands of people were selling out every show... then obviously you would need to somehow limit the number of people willing to attend the meet & greet (although when we played VGL at the Hollywood Bowl twice to over 11,000 people... we didn't).

When we play a normal show there are about 2,500 people in the audience. We find an average of about 800 - 1,000 people stay after for the meet & greet. It normally takes us about 2 - 3 hours to get through the entire line (and mostly because we have so many game industry people at our meet & greets).

Our goal has always been to spread the word about game music and game music composers to as many people as possible. I believe that by having a free meet & greet that our goals of exposing people to the talent of game music are being accomplished on a greater scale.

But hey... that's just me and my outlook. It's fine to have other opinions and to set concerts up in different ways. Just giving my opinion from someone who knows how cool it is to meet the fans interested enough to want to meet us.


Tommy



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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by -=SeRaPH=-

Is VGL that special? I think what they do is a common courtesy and the right mind set

We had all our guests meeting all the composers and our musicians for our A Night in Fantasia concerts. Yes it's tiring, but at the same time rewarding. How often do composers get to hear their music live and greet fans?

Exactly!! I agree 100%!


Tommy

Don't take what I said as a complaint of any sort! I absolutely love what VGL does, and I think it's an impressive feat to get everyone there for 2-3 hours. I've gone through those lines, so I know first-hand how amazing it is.

I'm simply saying that I don't mind paying a premium to attend a meet and greet, since I also understand that's how it's done elsewhere in the industry, and I personally find it worth it.

Keep up the good work, Tommy. =)

Originally Posted by Arcubalis

Don't take what I said as a complaint of any sort! I absolutely love what VGL does, and I think it's an impressive feat to get everyone there for 2-3 hours. I've gone through those lines, so I know first-hand how amazing it is.

I'm simply saying that I don't mind paying a premium to attend a meet and greet, since I also understand that's how it's done elsewhere in the industry, and I personally find it worth it.

Keep up the good work, Tommy. =)

No... not at all. I didn't think you were complaining. Just wanted to give my perspective and experience with other industry folks about having to sit for hours and meet the public. We all love it!

T.T.

Distant Worlds in Stockholm's Konserthuset was by a million miles the best vgm concert I've ever been to (it was my third). No crappy compositions or dull arrangements of Halo or old Amiga music I personally don't care for in particular. I go for the emotion rush, and Uematsu's music gives just that to me. I grew up with his music and the games that came as a side bonus to his music (heh), so it's only natural. And The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is one of (if not the) best orchestra I've witnessed live.

Of course I could write down a "dream concert" of my own that would of course include music outside of Final Fantasy too, but DW is currently the best thing the vgm world has to offer to me these days in terms of live concerts (VGL and Play! are both a bit multi-faced and all-praising to me).

Or I could just arrange my own concert where the orchestra would play just what I want.

Anyway, I approve of the Distant Worlds, so awesome. <3 And the recording done by TRSPO sold at the venues is by far the best orchestral arrangement/performance cd I've heard inside the vgm circles.

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

I perosonally believe it's an absolute travesty that some game concerts out there are changing people $125 - $150 to meet game composers. I can see if the industry was established so much that tens of thousands of people were selling out every show... then obviously you would need to somehow limit the number of people willing to attend the meet & greet (although when we played VGL at the Hollywood Bowl twice to over 11,000 people... we didn't).

I agree. Even though the charge was only 25 USD in Distant Worlds, I didn't plan on paying to see Nobuo Uematsu (since I've already met him in a more "intimate" surrounding than a cold, impersonal, paid-for meet&greet could ever offer). It's outrageous, but there are (a lot of) stupid enough people to pay for it. And the concert organizers sure could use every extra penny they get from cd sales and other collateral stuff.

The free meet&greet with Yamaoka & co earlier this year was great. How come Arnie gave up on that. =/