I've been a big fan of Nobuo Uematsu since grade school when I started playing Final Fantasy. I adore his music, and when I found out an FF symphony was in the city, I had to go. The performance itself was AMAZING. Being there, hearing the music, sitting by Nobuo Uematsu - that's an experience I will never forget. It was wonderful to be there with so many other fans, and such a diverse age range too, music really does bring people together. I hope Distant Worlds returns to Toronto soon.
What I loved:
1. Nobuo Uematsu was RIGHT THERE - so awesome
2. Arnie Roth was personable, and I liked how he introduced every couple of songs
3. The quality of the music was fantastic, I am now a fan of Kitchener-Waterloo orchestra
4. Seeing game play footage brought back fond memories
What could have been better:
1.Venue complaints: leg room was cramped (and I'm short), poor crowd control to enter the auditorium and to buy souvenirs, not enough washroom stalls. The venue seat map was very inaccurate, the location of my seat was much different from what the map promised.
2. Dress code: before the performance, I checked the Sony Centre's website, the Distant Worlds website, and their FaceBook pages, but couldn't find any information on what standard dress was. In the lobby I heard several groups wondering the same thing. I felt bad for the people in jeans who looked uncomfortable with their choice, glad I stuck to dressy clothes.
3. Event was not advertised well. I only found out about it by chance.
4. Ticket prices were steep.
5. Camera policy - I read that no cameras were allowed, so I left mine at home, only to find hundreds of people brought theirs, and they were filming. Venue staff told some people near me to stop filming, other people weren't interrupted. Why? I wish camera policy had been more clear, I would have brought mine.
6. No concert program available, and what was advertised on Distant World's FaceBook page wasn't accurate, some songs were dropped, some were added - it was great to hear new music, but I wish they had played "Love theme " from FF IV.
7. The footage on the projector was not the best, there were times when no footage played at all, and other times where the same footage kept repeating, like the Chocobo song. There is enough FF game play footage to prevent this, it seems like whoever put the video together was lazy.