It's been a while
Again. I keep forgetting this thing exists. Not like I have anything relevant to say anyway. :-P
So on a whim, I did a search for more Black Mages stuff on isohunt.com, and discovered that the More Friends Final Fantasy concert had not only been recorded (thankfully without the MC), but someone was nice enough to share it, too. The More Friends concert was performed by the World Festival Symphony together with the CFU Fullerton University Singers and the Black Mages, on March 21, 2005, at Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA. This was the first time Nobuo Uematsu got to perform his own music in his own tribute concert with his own band. Needless to say, I snagged it.
For starters, the concert didn't open with the typical "Liberi Fatali" like all the past Final Fantasy concerts have. Instead, they opened it with "Bombing Run," the opening sequence to FFVII. I've never heard the tune before, but it was very fitting as a replacement opener for an FF concert. The rest of the playlist carried other tunes performed at other FF concerts to date, with the exception of two. The rendition of "Zanarkand" in this performance was actually a very nice, mellow orchestral version which included the piano, but added to it. The other tracks included "Aerith's Theme" (FFVII), "Don't Be Afraid" (FFVIII battle theme), "Tina's Theme" (FFVI)--which was a lot shorter than I remembered--and of course, "Chocobo Swing" and "Final Fantasy."
Then it gets interesting. The Black Mages take the stage, with their Skies Above performances of "The Rocking Grounds" and "Maybe I'm a Lion." The first tune actually sounded pretty amazing live, and I imagine if they go on tour again this will be their concert opener. However, I was a little disappointed at the second; the killer riff that made me fall in love with the studio version was completely drowned out by the synth and lead guitar in the live version. The performance was good, and the tune redeemed itself halfway through with a couple of headbanging solos by Uematsu on the keys and Sekito on guitar. I was impressed at this point, as Uematsu's organ sounded a lot dirtier, but less "in-your-face" than in the studio version...it seemed to feel a little more in-place with this performance. Sekito's playing was actually close to flawless this time around, compared to some of his solos in the first Black Mages Live DVD.
Following the Mages were three more songs, live performances of "Suteki da Ne," "Melodies of Life" (both in Japanese), and to my surprise, an English rendition of the opera sequence from FFVI. While the vocal and orchestral performances were incredible, rivaling that of Orchestral Game Concert, the lyrics were the original U.S. translation in FFIII (for SNES), and despite the operatic singing, you can understand almost every word. But, being the man of the ear I am, I prefer the quality of the performance over the lyrics, so I was overall pleased with the performance in general. The only other minor disappointment was that most of the musical interludes that were in the OST and the Orchestral Game Concert were cut short, and the battle with Ultros was removed completely. Other than that, I liked it.
Now, the closing track was something I was expecting, "One Winged Angel" performed by the orchestra with full choral accompaniment's. However, this version was performed with the Mages. Upon hearing the first few bars, I melted in my seat. There's something to be said about a heavy metal performance being backed by full orchestra and choir, though the balance between the two was so perfect that you couldn't tell which it was supposed to be...very TSO-like in my opinion, at least in the beginning. What really blew me away was halfway in--the tempo slips into double time, and the guitar riff comes right out in front of the choir, which completely changes the feel and attitude of the song. Now all of a sudden it's an Iron Maiden-esque rhythm with an incredibly heavy headbanger worthy crunch being blown over with a very satanic-sounding Latin chant. (Considering who the song's about, it's fitting.) Then comes the guitar solo, at which point the audience can no longer keep quiet (damn kids)...as if the first part of the song weren't enough to get me going, Sekito just had to bust in with the Hammet-style finger tapping. I could go on about the rest of the track, but I'd be saying the same thing over and over again for each part. I'm pretty sure it got a standing ovation, and I almost feel sorry for the crowd having to sit through that performance and then having to go home.
If you like FF music (chances are, if you're on my friends list, you do), and you have either a bittorrent client or a credit card, I highly recommend acquiring this performance and giving it a listen. By now it's highly unlikely that it'll be resurrected and performed again, but then again they managed to bring Dear Friends to Detroit for two sold-out performances over a year after the debut in Disneyland...so I'm praying it'll make another appearance in the U.S. in the future. If it does, I'm so totally there.
So on a whim, I did a search for more Black Mages stuff on isohunt.com, and discovered that the More Friends Final Fantasy concert had not only been recorded (thankfully without the MC), but someone was nice enough to share it, too. The More Friends concert was performed by the World Festival Symphony together with the CFU Fullerton University Singers and the Black Mages, on March 21, 2005, at Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, CA. This was the first time Nobuo Uematsu got to perform his own music in his own tribute concert with his own band. Needless to say, I snagged it.
For starters, the concert didn't open with the typical "Liberi Fatali" like all the past Final Fantasy concerts have. Instead, they opened it with "Bombing Run," the opening sequence to FFVII. I've never heard the tune before, but it was very fitting as a replacement opener for an FF concert. The rest of the playlist carried other tunes performed at other FF concerts to date, with the exception of two. The rendition of "Zanarkand" in this performance was actually a very nice, mellow orchestral version which included the piano, but added to it. The other tracks included "Aerith's Theme" (FFVII), "Don't Be Afraid" (FFVIII battle theme), "Tina's Theme" (FFVI)--which was a lot shorter than I remembered--and of course, "Chocobo Swing" and "Final Fantasy."
Then it gets interesting. The Black Mages take the stage, with their Skies Above performances of "The Rocking Grounds" and "Maybe I'm a Lion." The first tune actually sounded pretty amazing live, and I imagine if they go on tour again this will be their concert opener. However, I was a little disappointed at the second; the killer riff that made me fall in love with the studio version was completely drowned out by the synth and lead guitar in the live version. The performance was good, and the tune redeemed itself halfway through with a couple of headbanging solos by Uematsu on the keys and Sekito on guitar. I was impressed at this point, as Uematsu's organ sounded a lot dirtier, but less "in-your-face" than in the studio version...it seemed to feel a little more in-place with this performance. Sekito's playing was actually close to flawless this time around, compared to some of his solos in the first Black Mages Live DVD.
Following the Mages were three more songs, live performances of "Suteki da Ne," "Melodies of Life" (both in Japanese), and to my surprise, an English rendition of the opera sequence from FFVI. While the vocal and orchestral performances were incredible, rivaling that of Orchestral Game Concert, the lyrics were the original U.S. translation in FFIII (for SNES), and despite the operatic singing, you can understand almost every word. But, being the man of the ear I am, I prefer the quality of the performance over the lyrics, so I was overall pleased with the performance in general. The only other minor disappointment was that most of the musical interludes that were in the OST and the Orchestral Game Concert were cut short, and the battle with Ultros was removed completely. Other than that, I liked it.
Now, the closing track was something I was expecting, "One Winged Angel" performed by the orchestra with full choral accompaniment's. However, this version was performed with the Mages. Upon hearing the first few bars, I melted in my seat. There's something to be said about a heavy metal performance being backed by full orchestra and choir, though the balance between the two was so perfect that you couldn't tell which it was supposed to be...very TSO-like in my opinion, at least in the beginning. What really blew me away was halfway in--the tempo slips into double time, and the guitar riff comes right out in front of the choir, which completely changes the feel and attitude of the song. Now all of a sudden it's an Iron Maiden-esque rhythm with an incredibly heavy headbanger worthy crunch being blown over with a very satanic-sounding Latin chant. (Considering who the song's about, it's fitting.) Then comes the guitar solo, at which point the audience can no longer keep quiet (damn kids)...as if the first part of the song weren't enough to get me going, Sekito just had to bust in with the Hammet-style finger tapping. I could go on about the rest of the track, but I'd be saying the same thing over and over again for each part. I'm pretty sure it got a standing ovation, and I almost feel sorry for the crowd having to sit through that performance and then having to go home.
If you like FF music (chances are, if you're on my friends list, you do), and you have either a bittorrent client or a credit card, I highly recommend acquiring this performance and giving it a listen. By now it's highly unlikely that it'll be resurrected and performed again, but then again they managed to bring Dear Friends to Detroit for two sold-out performances over a year after the debut in Disneyland...so I'm praying it'll make another appearance in the U.S. in the future. If it does, I'm so totally there.