From Cosmo Canyon to Zanarkand: explore the new world of video game music concerts

Around ten or so years ago, I caught wind of a video game orchestra coming to perform at my local theatre, called A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY. It was love at first sound; it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the ensemble and their performance. To this day, I’ve been lucky enough to see them four times (so far), always making sure to grab my ticket the moment I hear they’re coming back to town.

The music of Final Fantasy has become one of the most synonymous components of the franchise. So, it’s no surprise that the works of Nobuo Uematsu would get the treat of being performed by orchestras around the world. As an avid Final Fantasy fan (for better and for worse), imagine my excitement when I discovered that there’s an orchestra playing the music from my favourite video game series. There’s almost a sense of legitimacy that comes with projects like this – that video games and their music are being taken seriously enough to have orchestra performances in theatres around the globe.

Ever since the first time I saw A New World, I always thought about the choice of words, or in this case, a word, added in front of “music from Final Fantasy” to their subtitle. They’re not just promising music from Final Fantasy, they’re performing intimate music from Final Fantasy. I don’t think you can find a more suitable or more appropriate word to describe the experience of sitting in that auditorium and hearing them perform: being surrounded by people who love Final Fantasy just as much as you do, and yet, it feels like the orchestra is playing only for you. The world around you falling away as if you’re being transported to another universe filled with mysticism and wonder – from the quiet beaches of Besaid to the bustling steampunk cities of Ivalice, or all the way back to a cozy campfire surrounded by your best buds in a middle of a bachelor party road trip that’s gone completely off rails. Oh, and there’s always a Chocobo medley and I challenge you to resist the urge to bop along to those bangers.

A New World is actually a sister project to Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy, which started back in 2007. While both projects are pulling from the same material for their performances, their interpretations differ wildly due to the difference in orchestra size. Distant Worlds is grandiose, loud and bombastic; battle themes like “Force Your Way” and “Battle at the Big Bridge” are appropriately epic and powerful, blasting you with a level of intensity fitting those fights that they accompany. While this level of energy makes for a very entertaining performance, I personally prefer A New World’s renditions. The smaller-sized orchestra makes every song feel a little stripped back and raw. Every subtle note echoes and lingers a little longer, instead of being drowned out by the rest of the orchestra. No fluff or flashy effects; the music speaks for itself.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to attend the Kingdom Hearts World Tour Orchestra back in 2018. While this also was a great performance to hear (I especially felt goosebumps hearing “Traverse Town” and “The Other Promise” fully orchestrated), this show was the first video game concert I attended that had the game footage and cutscenes projected on a screen behind the orchestra as they were playing. While I understand the intention behind this, it did take away something from the magic of the music. There was a strange dissonance between seeing a fully stacked orchestra with a stellar choir playing these beautifully nostalgic melodies while Mickey Mouse goes on a John Wick-style rampage, all because Goofy got bonked on the head by a boulder and everyone just assumed he died – though, I suppose that is standard for Kingdom Hearts. Even so, the game footage on a giant screen makes the whole experience feel a tad gimmicky, as if it’s trying to remind you that this is music from a video game, rather than just letting the music stand on its own merit, which it absolutely can.

Currently, A New World is touring America only, but they do travel internationally very frequently. So, check out their website and social media pages to see if they’re going to be close by, and do yourself a favour and grab a ticket. You can even listen to all their released music for free on their website and through Spotify – same goes for Distant Worlds and the Kingdom Hearts World Tour Orchestra.

And even if you’re not into Final Fantasy specifically, there’s plenty of other video game music concerts that have started making the rounds, such as the Stardew Valley: Symphony of Seasons and The Witcher in Concert, showing off the greatest hits from their respective games. Prices for attending a video game concert does vary depending on the scale of the performance, venue and the quality of the seats you get, but generally I’ve seen most tickets start from €40.00 and can go up to €120.00. So, no matter what your gaming or music tastes are, I think the future is looking bright for game music concerts and we’ll be seeing more of them become a mainstay at theatres near you.

Basic Information:

Performances mentioned in the article:

A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY: https://www.ffnewworld.com/

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy: https://ffdistantworlds.com/

Kingdom Hearts World Tour Orchestra: https://www.wildfaery.com/info/en/our-productions-en/kingdom-hearts-orchestra-world-tour-home-en

Stardew Valley: Symphony of Seasons: https://www.stardewvalleyconcert.com/

Witcher in Concert: https://www.thewitcher.com/fi/en/concert

Photos:

Photos taken from the social media pages of A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY: https://www.instagram.com/ffnewworld/

Promotional picture from FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH (Square Enix): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2909400/FINAL_FANTASY_VII_REBIRTH/

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