Distant Worlds Concert - Salt Lake 2017

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Something that I have wanted to do for years is to attend a Distant Worlds concert. Distant Worlds has been around for 10 years. This concert is dedicated to the music from the Final Fantasy franchise. A full symphony orchestra and choir plays various arrangements from the Final Fantasy series of games, played in front of a huge screen showing scenes and artwork from the games. It's conducted by Arnie Roth since the beginning, who is a Grammy Award winner by the way, and a funny guy.

The other great thing you will find at concerts are fans.... and with video game fans comes COSPLAY!!!. I had a great time meeting people that were dressed up as their favorite characters.




The concert was on June 3, 2017. The venue for this concert was Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was an awesome place to have a Final Fantasy concert, and I loved the decor inside.



Who could this be walking by inconspicuously?


The Orchestra, Choir, and Arnie Roth take the stage and the crowd cheers. With a house full of Final Fantasy fans ready to hear the music they love playing live, they is no shortage of enthusiasm.  

The selection was fantastic. In the Distant Worlds concerts, I think they have some variance in each show to keep things fresh for the audience and for the artists. I didn't write down the list of songs that they played but here are a few notables:
  • FINAL FANTASY VII: Opening Bombing Mission
  • FINAL FANTASY VIII: Don’t Be Afraid
  • FINAL FANTASY IX: Not Alone
  • FINAL FANTASY X: Zanarkand
  • FINAL FANTASY XV: Apocalypsis Noctis
Here is the full list of songs they had prepared. This picture is from a Distant Worlds book that I bought:

Arnie Roth may have been the conductor, but these songs were originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu and Masashi Hamauzu. Nobuo has contributed most of the songs for Final Fantasy. He was the sole composer for the first 9 but contributed to the first 12 (or should I say XII).
  • Final Fantasy
  • Final Fantasy II
  • Final Fantasy III
  • Final Fantasy IV
  • Final Fantasy V
  • Final Fantasy VI
  • Final Fantasy VII
  • Final Fantasy VIII
  • Final Fantasy IX
  • Final Fantasy X (composed with Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano)
  • Final Fantasy XI (composed with Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka)
  • Final Fantasy XII (composed theme "Kiss Me Good-Bye")
In addition, he worked on many other games such as Final Fantasy Legend games, Romancing Saga, Chrono Trigger, etc.

Masashi Hamauzu was the composer for Final Fantasy XIII.



The sound quality was fantastic in our seats. I didn't have any trouble seeing the visuals, even though from the pictures it looks pretty far away, it sure didn't feel that way during the concert. The song selections and arrangements were fantastic. It was such a lively and magical feeling to hear these songs that you have grown up hearing in your games, and now you are hearing them in full measure. The symphony orchestra did an amazing job and I was truly moved.



Oh, and at intermission, we saw more... YEP, you guessed it: COSPLAY!!!



After a standing ovation at the end, Arnie came back out the directed the orchestra, choir, and the AUDIENCE in a very fun song, One Winged Angel. In this version, he directed the audience to join in with the choir to say "Sephiroth" each time it came up in the song. It was very fun to be involved it that way. 

This concern was a fantastic experience. I am so glad I went and would encourage any Final Fantasy fan to check it out. Those that appreciate a good symphony orchestra and choir would enjoy it as well. I plan to go again next year during their the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Celebration. I hear the event will be a little different to make it special for the 30th anniversary.

Happy Game Nights!



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