All About FF Distant Worlds Atlanta!!

I had such an awesome time at the FF Distant Worlds Concerts over the weekend! Lots of cool things happened. The performances were great, especially on Saturday, when Symphony Hall was packed!

Mr. Arnie Roth conducted, and Mr. Nobuo Uematsu attended as well! It was wonderful to see him again. Not only that, but I got to meet the awesome Mr. Larry Oji from Overclocked Remix on Friday. On Saturday I got to attend with a longtime friend from Ancient Land of Ys message boards. (You rule SkyeWelse! Thanks so much!)

THE PERFORMANCE - Featuring the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Georgia Tech Chamber Choir (Approx. 2 hours)

Liberi Fatali (VIII)
FF Victory Fanfare (Series)
Don't Be Afraid (VIII)
FF I-III Medley 2010
Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds (Featuring Beverly Blouin) (XI)
To Zanarkand (X)
J-E-N-O-V-A (VII)
Dear Friends (V)
Vamo' alla Flamenco (IX)
The Man With the Machine Gun (VIII)

SECOND HALF

Opening - Bombing Mission (VII)
Fisherman's Horizon (VIII)

Fabula Nova Crystallis (XIII)
Blinded By Light (XIII)
- The two pieces above were my first time hearing any of Mr. Masashi Hamauzu's music for FF XIII, and I must say they were incredible. I will get a next gen system besides a Wii soon so I can play it!

Navigator's Glory - The Theme of Limsa Lominsa (XIV)
At a previous Distant Worlds Concert, I heard some of Mr. Uematsu's FF XIV work, and this piece was new to me. I loved it!

Chocobo Medley 2010 - Now features an intro from FF XIV, and it was wonderful, the other half of it was Swing de Chocobo from FF X!

Opera "Maria and Draco" (VI)
Featured Beverly Blouin, Bradley Howard, and Michael Arens. I've seen this performed a few times now, and while I like Susan Calloway over Beverly Blouin, this had to be one of the best performances I've ever heard of the legendary scene from FF VI. Bradley Howard even sounded like the SNES synth!

Terra's Theme (VI) - Final Piece
Encore - One Winged Angel (VII) - Mr. Uematsu joined in with the Choir on this one! I could even see him dancing along with the music!

I was surprised by the number of pieces from FF VIII, and the absence of favorites like "Aeris" and FF IV's "Theme of Love." I thought the performance was fantastic on both nights! Thank you Distant Worlds and Mr. Uematsu for traveling so far south!

Lot's of cool Merchandise was on sale, so I got FF XIV Battle Tracks, Distant Worlds II, and the Distant Worlds "Returning Home" CD/DVD set:


My Chrono Trigger OST that I've had for over 15 years now, which was autographed by Mr. Mitsuda at Play! now features Mr. Uematsu's signature as well!


I got the Earthbound Papas CD autographed! (I'm sending it to a friend)

Mr. Uematsu was very pleased to see that I had bought the album, and he thanked me for purchasing it. He and his assistant also inquired as to where I got it.

I knew Larry Oji from Overclocked Remix was going to be there, and it was so great to meet him! He is one of the coolest guys I've ever met. We talked after the concert on Friday and during the meeting/autograph session.


It was my seventh time meeting Mr. Nobuo Uematsu!



Thanks for reading, maybe I'll be in Chicago next month!

-GMF