San Diego Distant Worlds Final Fantasy Concert 2013 Review
Distant Worlds Final Fantasy Concert: San Diego
Thursday, July 18, 2013 8:00 PM PDT
Embarcadero Marina Park South San Diego, CA
Ugh. I missed a lot of the beginning. I was late because I couldn't find the place. I don't like that the convention center is just one long building. I had to go around that stupid thing to get to the concert.
The last Distant Worlds concert I went to was in 2009 at San Francisco Davies Symphony Hall. Oh man, what a transition to San Diego's Embarcadero Marina Park South. Outside venues are not meant for orchestra concerts. The quality was terrible. I suppose it depends on where you sit. I was in the Grandstand bleachers, so maybe it was too far. Still, I didn't expect it to be that bad. There was a lot of noise outside that you can hear during the concert. I mean, this was during San Diego Comic Con. I guess they didn't think about all the parties and fireworks that would happen during the concert. Ugh, the fireworks. Seriously? It was super distracting. Everyone around me was feeling the same thing. Even Arnie stopped and looked at the fireworks during a pause in a song. That gave the audience a little laugh though.
The orchestra itself seem to have its flaws as well. They weren't as smooth as other orchestras I've heard played. Well, this is me comparing to the prestigious San Francisco Symphony. But I've also watched tons of videos on FF concerts from different symphonies. This performance just didn't impress me. Again, it could be due to the quality of the venue. But I feel that the orchestra didn't deliver the music well and was pretty weak in some areas of a few music pieces.
Post meet and greet was fun. I got to chat with a few people. One of them was a girl that cosplayed as Sazh. She even had a chocobo chick in her hair! <3
The meet and greet itself was pretty quick. I was near the end of the line, so they were trying to wrap things up quickly. I basically got my signatures, took a few quick pics with my crappy phone camera, and left. I didn't even say anything. I wouldn't have done so anyways even if I wasn't rushed since it would just be the basic "oh my gosh, I love your music, I'm a fan" type of stuff.
They did comment on the vinyls I got signed. I brought the Final Fantasy Vinyls box cover, Final Fantasy Orchestral Blu-ray LE vinyl album, and a FFIV OSV booklet to be signed. They liked that I brought the vinyls and was thankful that I purchased them. Arnie was like, "Hey, there I am!" while pointing at himself on the vinyl.
I'm glad that the signature limit was three and that you can choose what to get signed from who. From past concerts, it seems like the limit would only be one and they would usually have everyone at the table sign it even when some of them aren't related to the thing you're getting signed. I would've asked other people to get some other soundtracks to get signed for me, but I was too shy. Most people met the limit anyways.
As I was walking back to my car and passing the Hall H camping line along the convention center, a guy saw me holding the vinyls and asked to take a picture of it to make his friend that likes the FF series jealous. I thought that was funny. It was a nice way to end the night.
Pictures to make you jealous:
Thursday, July 18, 2013 8:00 PM PDT
Embarcadero Marina Park South San Diego, CA
Ugh. I missed a lot of the beginning. I was late because I couldn't find the place. I don't like that the convention center is just one long building. I had to go around that stupid thing to get to the concert.
The last Distant Worlds concert I went to was in 2009 at San Francisco Davies Symphony Hall. Oh man, what a transition to San Diego's Embarcadero Marina Park South. Outside venues are not meant for orchestra concerts. The quality was terrible. I suppose it depends on where you sit. I was in the Grandstand bleachers, so maybe it was too far. Still, I didn't expect it to be that bad. There was a lot of noise outside that you can hear during the concert. I mean, this was during San Diego Comic Con. I guess they didn't think about all the parties and fireworks that would happen during the concert. Ugh, the fireworks. Seriously? It was super distracting. Everyone around me was feeling the same thing. Even Arnie stopped and looked at the fireworks during a pause in a song. That gave the audience a little laugh though.
The orchestra itself seem to have its flaws as well. They weren't as smooth as other orchestras I've heard played. Well, this is me comparing to the prestigious San Francisco Symphony. But I've also watched tons of videos on FF concerts from different symphonies. This performance just didn't impress me. Again, it could be due to the quality of the venue. But I feel that the orchestra didn't deliver the music well and was pretty weak in some areas of a few music pieces.
Post meet and greet was fun. I got to chat with a few people. One of them was a girl that cosplayed as Sazh. She even had a chocobo chick in her hair! <3
The meet and greet itself was pretty quick. I was near the end of the line, so they were trying to wrap things up quickly. I basically got my signatures, took a few quick pics with my crappy phone camera, and left. I didn't even say anything. I wouldn't have done so anyways even if I wasn't rushed since it would just be the basic "oh my gosh, I love your music, I'm a fan" type of stuff.
They did comment on the vinyls I got signed. I brought the Final Fantasy Vinyls box cover, Final Fantasy Orchestral Blu-ray LE vinyl album, and a FFIV OSV booklet to be signed. They liked that I brought the vinyls and was thankful that I purchased them. Arnie was like, "Hey, there I am!" while pointing at himself on the vinyl.
I'm glad that the signature limit was three and that you can choose what to get signed from who. From past concerts, it seems like the limit would only be one and they would usually have everyone at the table sign it even when some of them aren't related to the thing you're getting signed. I would've asked other people to get some other soundtracks to get signed for me, but I was too shy. Most people met the limit anyways.
As I was walking back to my car and passing the Hall H camping line along the convention center, a guy saw me holding the vinyls and asked to take a picture of it to make his friend that likes the FF series jealous. I thought that was funny. It was a nice way to end the night.
Pictures to make you jealous: