Date: 11 May 2004
Posted by: Summoner Yuna

Advent Children Music

One previously un-released piece of music was performed during the concert. In my own opinion, the music sounds much like maybe an ending or opening theme to the movie. One of the significant things I noticed about the piece, is the striking similarity to "Aerith's Theme" in the opening and closing parts of the composition. Much of the song had a harmonic feel too it, but not too slow. And although I am no expert on musical composition, there appeared to be a prelevance of stringed instruments in parts of the piece. Just before the end of the piece, the music changed tempo and displayed a more upbeat tempo, something that might be reminicent of a major or important event taking place.


What the Tour Program has to say about Advent Children

The official tour program featured a brief overview of each of the games in the Final Fantasy series, including Advent Children. Although the information is nothing new, here is what it had to say:

Two years after the Advented Armageddon, the city of Midgar stands in ruins, but the world has survived and continues on in peace. However the people of Gaia now face a new menance. Cloud, who fought for the sake of his world once before has rejected society to live in solitude, must step forward yet again.

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children presents a CG animated sequel to Final Fantasy VII, the seminal 1997 PlayStation title. The story continues not in a game but in a motion picture DVD format. Revisiting the central characters two years after the epic conflict of Final Fantasy VII, technological advancements allow a visually stunning update to the city of Midgar and it's residents.

Fans have yearned for a sequel to this beloved story, and because of the overwhelming demand, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was born.


My recollection of the Concert

I started out today at 3pm in the hope to obtain a ticket, as I still had had no luck in obtaining one. But to cut a long story short, luck was on my side and I managed to obtain a wonderful seat in the orchestra section, row A, right in the center. This particular seat would also allow me to do something that many Final Fantasy music fans only can dream of, which is to shake the hand of the great man himself, Nobuo Uematsu.

Although I am jumping ahead of myself here, and as the concert drew closer, I had tears in my eyes. Dreaming of attending this event for so long, it was finally a reality. And what a reality it was. The sound of hearing this music live played by an orchestra is something that words cannot describe. Try to listen to one of the orchestrated soundtracks on the best brand hi-fi system, and it still would not do it justice. The whole event was extremely emotional for me. From the uplifting Liberi Fatali, to the emotional Aerith's Theme. Every song bought out what it was really about. Every sound, every experience. One could almost say that you were living the music. Other compositions were simply interesting to listen to, as they were new to orchestrated performances. One such piece was "Not Alone", which is a piece that is not usually associated with orchestration, yet it sounded effective and wonderful at the same time.

Almost 2 hours later, it was drawing to an end. With the finale being "Final Fantasy", the theme we all know and love from many endings. After this was when I had a chance to shake Uematsu's hand. As he came down from his seat, he walked along the walkway in front of my seat. And he shook some of the fans hands as he went along, while other's he slapped them as he passed. I was lucky enough for him to shake my hand with both of his, as I was one of the first. He then went to the stage and and was given a standing ovation. Later he candidly talked about the music and the fans.

Just when we thought the performance was over, the orchestra striked up one last song. That was One Winged Angel. At this point, I think the entire concert hall erupted, as many fans were looking forward to this being played. This was not listed in the program, and therefore performed as a bonus track. And like many of the other pieces, it was simply stunning and uplifting.

After the show, I happened to meet James Arnold Taylor in the foyer. James [who is also the voice actor for Tidus] was the compare of the performance. He also told me that he knew of AdventChildren.net which was something that I didn't think I would hear!


The Performance

The following is a list of what pieces were performed during the show:

Liberi Fatali
Zanarkand
Terra's Theme
Theme of Love
Dear Friends
Vamo' Alla Flamenco
Love Grows

INTERMISSION

Aeris's Theme
Not Alone
Ronfaure
Final Fantasy I-III Meledy
New Melody from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
Final Fantasy

UEMATSU TAKES THE STAGE

One Winged Angel