More Friends Concert..!

[Mi-Chan]

I'm sure most of you guys are aware of the new "More Friends" concert up here in LA...

Final Fantasy - More Friends, More Music
Tidus, The Black Mages, and others descend upon Los Angeles.

April 28, 2005 - It's no secret that the Dear Friends - Music of Final Fantasy concerts that have been popping up sporadically around the country in the past year have been a huge hit with fans. So much so that they have spawned More Friends - Music From Final Fantasy, the newest installment of live orchestral performances featuring the music of Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu.


On Monday May 16th, the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles will open its doors and play host to the latest performance of the popular videogame score. More Friends will meld footage from the videogame series with live orchestral, rock and pop music. In addition, the original soundtracks Dear Friends - Music from Final Fantasy and More Friends - Music from Final Fantasy will be available for purchase at the performance. This marks the first time they have been in the U.S.

While the music of Final Fantasy is the centerpiece of the concert, the Los Angeles performance of More Friends will be extra special thanks to the inclusion of a number of guest artists.

For starters, the concert will present the U.S. debut of "Maria and Draco," an opera from Final Fantasy VI. It will be sung by Stephanie Woodling (Mezzo-Soprano), Chad Berlinghieri (Tenor) and Todd Robinson (Bass-Baritone). The concert will alsp unveil the worldwide debut of "Swing de Chocobo," newly arranged by Arnie Roth, who will be conducting the entire concert performed by the World Festival Symphony Orchestra, the CSUF University Singers and the Nobuo Uematsu's band, The Black Mages.

As for extra special guests, attendees will be treated to a performance by Emiko Shiratori, vocalist for "Melodies of Life," the theme song from Final Fantasy IX and
Japanese vocal sensation RIKKI will sing "Suteki Da Ne," the theme song from Final Fantasy X. Also on tap will be performances by The Black Mages, best known for delivering the epic battle music for the series. The band, which was created by Uemetsu, will lend their rock n' roll element to the proceedings. And finally, James Arnold Taylor, best known as the voice of Tidus in Final Fantasy X will be the special guest MC.

Tickets for "More Friends -- Music from FINAL FANTASY" are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, charge by phone at 213.252.8497, on the Internet at http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/73787 or at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Citywalk box offices.
-- IGN Music

eeee!! *blisses out*..

I'm going with a couple of friends. :D

Anyone else planning to attend? There's tickets still on sale, last time I checked. ($40-90+service fees)

Other then that, anybody know any information that is not posted elsewhere?

sanks!<3

[Necronopticous]

I'll be there, and guess what, I'm goddamn excited right now. La Aria di Mezzo Carattere live is like... my dream. Plus Rikki and Shiratori singing Suteki Da Ne and Melodies of Life...

After Monday, I can die a happy guy.

[Mi-Chan]

hahaha.. I was turned cartwheels, yelled in public, and almost danced on a table. seriously. heh.


It's a dream come true.. *sparkle sparkle rawr.*

do u think he will give autographs like he did for the first Dear Friends concert..?




If so.. better start making the homemade pasta..

[Necronopticous]

I didn't know he gave autographs for the first concert, I was there but I never saw him giving autographs. I always miss out on stuff like that.

[Mi-Chan]

unfortunately I wasn't there. *sobs* .. I read it off of some guy's website. At this point I suppose I wanna believe that its true eh? Wishful thinking and the such.

who knows?

In any case its nice to expect the unexpected.

[Miriel]

That was fun. :)

Nobuo Uematsu was so cute! I just wanted to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair.

Swing de Chocobo and One Winged Angel were my favorites tonight, and the Black Mages were great too.

A question to anyone else who was there, was there a reason they kept starting up and stopping before playing One Winged Angel?

[Vortigar]

Yeah the show itself was very good, minus the few technical difficulties they had during the performance. The Black Mages were extremely good live, I only wish they would have played more than two songs.

As for why they kept restarting, if you noticed the conductor was wearing headphones during One Winged Angel. They were meant to make it so that he would hear the drum beats of the drummer, which were his cue for when to come in with the orchestra. However, they were out of sync which caused the whole mess up. Basically, you had The Black mages and the orchestra playing at completely different times.

One thing that kind of ticked me off is the fact that the More Friends album is all original music from the games. i wouldn't have dropped $20 on it had I known it was music I already have on my comp...

[Raven Nox]

I really wish I could've gone... but I had school, and my mom didn't want me to miss any more school... I live in Northern California so yeah... she's letting me go to the San Deigo one instead, which isn't the same, but I got prenium tickets (damn expensive to, my grandpa ordered them and he got those 'cause he likes buying the most expensive thing, we go to Disneyland like once a year, yet he still buys those cards that cost 300 that work year round... do we need them, no, but he does it anyway. I told him to get section 2 or something, they were much cheaper.) So yeah... I really wish I could've gone to this one... *sniff* But hey... I'm still going to one! I shouldn't complain.

Can anyone who was there tell me how it was in detail? Lot's of detail!

[Lon611]

i went. it was incredible. fav song was def "don't be afraid"

only sad part about the whole thing was that i bought the "more friends" album they were selling for $20, and the program for $25. but with the cd, my friends and i were expecting the orchestrated versions of the songs listed, just as we had heard in the concert. but, when i got home, i realized square had just taken the songs that they played from soundtracks and pieced them to make this one. hearing the songs played by an orchestra and live is so much better.

my eyes starting "watering" when aeris's theme started playing. on the screen, they were playing the fmv of aeris getting murdered by sephiroth, but "censored" the actual masamune(?) going into her back. :(

[Raven Nox]

They censored it...? How, and why? Stupid thing to censor, pretty much everyone there has seen it.

[Lon611]

there are two reasons i thot of at the time.

1)people who hadn't played the game and just came because they had heard there was a final fantasy concert in town might have not expected that intense scene, especially during sucha sad song. than fans. thats how i understood it. especially cuz the "black screen" only showed for about a brief second.

2) another thing that i thot might've happend was a slight technical difficulty. from the beginning to the intermission of the concert, there were speratic(?) technically difficulties, like the occasional "popping" of the speakers, microphones going out, etc.

[Vortigar]

Well i wouldn't really consider what they did censorship. And it wasn't a technical difficulty. Basically (i'm sure you all know the scene), when the camera closes in on Aeris and then looks up into that white sphere of light (the point at which you see Sephiroth decend to impale Aeris) they cut it and fused it to when Aeris is falling with the materia floating from her ribbon.

They probably did it just in case some people there had not beaten the game (for whatever reason). And yeah I was pretty annoyed when I got home and realised i dropped $20 on an album I thought was orchestrated only to find out that it was just the originals put onto one CD.

My favorite performance of the night was BY FAR The Black Mages. I really hope that they go on tour in the US sometime soon by themselves, since it was kind of disappointing to only get two songs out of them before going back to the orchestral pieces.

All in all it was a very fun event, even though i wasted $40 on the two albums only to find they were nothing but game music. I'm glad I caught this show and not Dear Friends, because my main reason for being there was to hear The Black mages live. Howeve, if i didn't catch this one i would have gone to the Dear Friends in San Diego most likely. (closer to me anyways, had to drive 2.5 hours from San Diego to LA for More Friends). Only wish there had been fewer technical difficulties, but oh well despite that it was a wonderful performance.

[Necronopticous]

Sorry I haven't posted yet, yes the concert was unbelievable. Seeing the full Maria & Draco opera was my favorite part and it was a dream come true for me. The new English lyrics they wrote for La Aria di Mezzo Carattere were poetic and beautiful and the singers were perfect for the parts.

The technical difficulties were embarrassing for the performers but not really annoying since I was so overrun with excitement it didn't bother me one bit. I felt SO BAD FOR UEMATSU when they kept synching incorrectly, he actually left the stage in embarrassment!

One of the things that REALLY FRUSTRATED ME were the amount of inconsiderate assholes there were at this show. The popping noise was NOT technical difficulties in the sound equipment it was someone with poppers just trying to be clever. Luckily they either ran out or stopped after the first half of the show but it was making me want to kill that jerk. On another occasion, when they were having the syncing trouble someone yelled out the most idiotic, disrespectful and just downright horrible thing they could have mustered

"You'll never play here again!"

As if to rub it in Uematsu's and the Japanese guest's face that our American amphitheatre was ruining their performance. I wanted that guy to get dragged out of the show and beaten to a pulp.

Anyway, more notable things were Rikki's and Emiko Shiyatori's performances, they were both amazing and wonderful. I loved how Shiyatori mixed the Japanese and English versions of Melodies of Life together, and when Rikki was up there singing Suteki Da Ne from her heart in those traditional Japanese garbs she was the most beautiful person in the world at that moment.

Great Show, the Black Mages were amazing and I absolutely LOVED the energetic bass player, I wish I could spend time with that guy he seemed so cool.

[Mi-Chan]

I don't know what to say, still in shock.

I cried during the first half of the concert. Pretty much sums up my feelings about it. Goregous. Laughed at the old school chocobos, theyre sooo cute...!! ^_^

EDDITTT.. I had something here, but I realized it shouldnt. ehh.. If you saw what it said, it's true, just didnt seem right to have it here. sooo...

Black Mages kicked ass, Rikki and Emiko's voices were breathtaking. Loved the opera, of course. hehee, One Winged Angel brought the house down, but not before some tech issues. Uematsu actually went on the ground and bowed down. The bass player was so adorable when he started bouncing off stage to help. I thought Uematsu had to go to the restroom. Now thinking of it, I doubt the bass player would have to help him. :D heh.

Ohhh.. this concert is LOVE!! I think in about 5 weeks or so I will be out of my shock phase, and out of denial that this isnt a dream.

oh ohohhh.. I found it interesting that most of the people who attended were like 20+ year old males with very few women. Maybe a handfull of cosplayers. I saw a mini Aeris and a Black Mage, that's it. I was one of the few teenage girl fans I saw there. (one in the leather flair coat and the pink/tan beanie hat, didja see me, i doubt it!)

I was just hoping there would be more people my age to talk to there. O well, maybe I'm just a bad judge of age.


anyways, i wish i could provide you with a better idea of the concert, but i'm totally blinded by utter bliss.


Going to San Diego's Dear Friends concert is a must! Unfortunately, I don't think anything will ever beat this experience.

[epifania]

hey everyone! I finally decided to register into the forum after years of being a big big fan of this page... its basically where i get my basic FF info =)

So YES! I was at the concert! I was (if you happenned to see me), the long-haired guy with a green dream theater shirt who stood up to clap after every song and stayed 2 hours after the concert to see if he could meet uematsu (his god)... but no.. unfortunately luck descended too early for me and gave me 2 gold tickets (2 rows in front of where i was originally) but not gave me the chance to meet my hero..

I travelled all the way from Mexico just to see this show, and wasted loooots of my savings.. but it was weeel worth it... I still can't believe though that the albums they sold me were just original OST music... :mad:

In any case.. I have to disagree (sadly in any case) to the referral of black mages playing... I personally disliked it.. And do not confuse my words.. I am a HUGE black mages fan! (i actually learned all their songs on guitar and almost all on keyboards) But the sound was crappy as hell, the guitarists messed on several harmonizations, the bass wasnt hearable at all.. and uematsu even got some parts wrong in rocking grounds... other than that it was cool.. and their appearance with the orchesta and choral in one winged angel is by far the most exciting moment in a concert for me...
ANyway, if any of you guys have clips, photos or whatever media of the concert, pleeease share! and likewise ill do so... =)

Mi-chan.. how old are you anyway? I saw a loooot of young people IMO.. personally i'm 19.. and well.. yeah people weren't as open as i expected and they really didnt seem as energetic as i wanted them to be (specially during black mages.. I just felt like getting up and headbanging hehe).. But i'm glad you were there.. i SOO wanted to share the feeling with someone else who was there =D

[Mi-Chan]

Same here. I was excited at the thought of meeting others with a similar interest. but nooooo.. Everyone kept to themselves, so boring! bleghh... next time i shall bring a stick. poke everyone into some sort of verbal communication. muwah!


o hey, I'm 15 btw, to answer ur question. And without any pics/media/ect. boo to the electronic shake down!


Question: Did you socialize at the concert?.. if so, how'd it go?

[epifania]

oh great! well I "did".. i met the guys from some webpage and they gave me their gold tickets =P .. other than that.. NOT AT ALL! there were three girls in front of me, a couple on the left side and some media guys at the right... and the girls seemed to think I was hitting on them when I tried to make conversation, and kinda ignored me or something... anyway, they wish! :p

Ohh! I got my more friends poster framed today! =D I gotta put it tomorrow together with my new katana sword! :cool:

Well nice to say hi! =) I'm gonna try and get pics and stuff to put them up here

[Big D]

I'm so dearly hoping that a CD of this concert will be prepared, like they did with the February '02 concert.
Sounds like they'd have to do some digital clean-up to get it up to record quality, but it'd be worth it.

A DVD would be ideal, but that's less likely.

[DancingOnigiri]

I am a dorkus. This is like years after the concert but I just want to say darn it, I wish I could have seen some of you forum people there! If only I'd known who was going. Then we could have spazzed together.

ALSO!!! I share the major disappointment of the More Friends CD let down. Why didn't anybody notice? (until it was too late, of course.) Maybe we were all just too excited. I almost cried from disappointment. XD We shall cry together!

Random fact: I went with Mi-chan! ^o^ She joined this forum just so she could ramble about it. XD

It was an amazing experience! We are definitely going again before we die, eh?

...Oh... she's not here anymore...

[Sefie1999AD]

I really wish Uematsu and the Black Mages came to Europe too. This More Friends concert sounded so awesome, and I'd like to be in one of Uematsu's concerts one day too.


I'm so dearly hoping that a CD of this concert will be prepared, like they did with the February '02 concert.
Sounds like they'd have to do some digital clean-up to get it up to record quality, but it'd be worth it.

A DVD would be ideal, but that's less likely.

Agreed. Though for the record, Square Enix was selling Uematsu's More Friends CD in the concert. However, it was just a collection of songs from the game soundtracks, not the concert versions or not even arranged or orchestrated, just the original synth versions.

[Necronopticous]

Agreed. Though for the record, Square Enix was selling Uematsu's More Friends CD in the concert. However, it was just a collection of songs from the game soundtracks, not the concert versions or not even arranged or orchestrated, just the original synth versions.Yeah, as unfortunate as it is, I bought both CDs: Dear Friends and More Friends. All they are is the playlist of the concert with the songs being ripped straight from the OSTs. I was looking SO forward to a recorded version of the new English lyrics for Maria & Draco too ;(