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A New World, the chamber ensemble version that offers Final Fantasy fans a chance to enjoy the music in a more intimate setting than the orchestral Distant Worlds, has announced a flurry of concerts this November. Without further ado, here are the dates:

* Saturday, November 1 – Phoenix, AZ – 7:30 PM @ The Madison Center
* Sunday, November 2 – Albuquerque, NM – 7:00 PM @ KiMo Theatre
* Friday, November 14 – Chicago, IL – 8:00 PM @ Studebaker Theater
* Sunday, November 16 – Miramar, FL – 6:00 PM @ Miramar Cultural Center
* Saturday, November 22 – Oklahoma City, OK – 8:00 PM @ Rose State Performing Arts Center

No particular songs have been announced yet, but the email blast did say the concert would feature music by composers Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Yoko Shimomura, and Masayoshi Soken.

Tickets are now on sale for all shows.

Source: A New World

Finally bought a ticket for the Miramar concert! Would be my first time at a Final Fantasy concert, ever.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 18th September 2025 13:57

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

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Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 18th September 2025 08:56)

Finally bought a ticket for the Miramar concert! Would be my first time at a Final Fantasy concert, ever.

That's great! I've never gotten to go to ANW, I hope you enjoy it!

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

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Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 18th September 2025 07:56)

Finally bought a ticket for the Miramar concert! Would be my first time at a Final Fantasy concert, ever.

Oh, you're in for a treat! I love A New World because they will play lesser known tracks, or ones you do know but just won't hear at Distant Worlds. ENJOY!



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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Kingdom Hearts
Fridays: Final Fantasy XI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

Ironically, I basically don't know FF soundtracks beyond FF7, so I would fail to pick up on a good number of them.

But I hope I'll enjoy the music nevertheless.

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

The Chicago concert was last night! Here is my set-list and review.

First: I chose to go to this one alone. It was an okay experience, doing that. While I greatly enjoyed being out of the house and hearing some fantastic music, I missed having people to squee with. I brought my Alisaie doll and thought she might get some attention, but except for a lady who obviously wasn't familiar with the character, just commenting on the doll itself, no one said anything. So I just sat in silence by myself, and it was a bit boring.

I also arrived WAY early as I planned to. I was so early, they hadn't opened the doors yet. They finally did open them at 7pm sharp, an hour before concert start. I immediately got in the merch line, but that took a while to get moving because they had just started setting up. I'm guessing there were about 40 people ahead of me in line; by the time I got to the merch table, they had already sold out of cactuar plushies.

Anyway, merch! They had the usually CDs of Distant Worlds and A New World, along with some vinyl records for some of them. They had a two music boxes, one from Remake (or that franchise anyway; not sure which song it was because I wasn't intersted) and "Mortal Instants" from FFXIV, which I bought even though I couldn't place the tune; I figured from FFXIV, it'd be good. I also bought a tote bag, which was only $5 (or free, if you bought $75 in merch). There were T-shirts but I am a larger lady so didn't even attempt to get one. And finally, I believe they had some compilation discs of music from the games, but I didn't take a closer look because I have most of the music already.

It was my first time at this venue. I expected it to be small, because these are supposed to be "intimate" concerts. I had a good view of the stage from my seat, and I was near the back on the main floor. Happily enough, no one bought the seat next to me so I was pretty comfortable throughout the concert.

One bad thing about the small venue: sound travels. So each time someone dropped their phone, or cracked open their can of water, or coughed, was quite distracting. I don't recall as much of random noise from Distant Worlds.

The concert is directed by Eric Roth (Arnie's son) and boy is he an energetic conductor! Was fun to watch him sort of dance while conducting. He stamped his feet at times (and that sound traveled) and I felt like this must be how he stays in shape, lol.

But anyway, on to the music!

Besaid (Final Fantasy X)

This one's on one of their CDs (third ANW, I think?) so I'm well familiar with the arrangement, but was still happy to hear it. It's a cheerful theme for me, and they played it well.

A New World (Final Fantasy V)

So, I've heard this before at several concerts, both DW and ANW, and am well familiar with the song from playing FFV so much, therefore you can BET I noticed when the brass player wobbled on a few notes. I do think that's part of the charm of chamber music - it's a bit more raw than a full orchestra -- and I didn't think it was BAD, just noticeable for me. Still, it was a lovely rendition.

The Gold Saucer (Final Fantasy VII)

What's this? A version of this song that I don't actively hate? Yeah, I dislike this song most of the time because of how earwormy it is, and the version of it in FFXIV is enough to mostly keep me away from the Gold Saucer there (I don't even play giant Cactpot anymore) but this rendition that the chamber ensemble did was light and airy and fun. Well done, Eric and musicians!

The Airship Blackjack (Final Fantasy VI)

Hmm, I'm sitting here and you know, I don't have much to say about this one. It was faithful to the in-game version, and is a good theme. I'm not sure I've ever heard it at a concert before so it might be relatively new to their repertoire, or I could just have bad memory.

Dark World (Final Fantasy VI)

Before they started this one, I heard the pianist softly say something to Eric, and I thought I caught the words "I didn't bring it", which led me to thinking she hadn't brought the sheet music for this and thus played from memory which, is true, is pretty impressive. The piano part for this sort IS easy (I might be able to play it) but remembering when to change chords would be tricky. But now that I'm thinking of it more, she probably forgot the wind machine they use for this song, to add to the atmosphere.

Anyway, I really like this one. It really does feel like a dark world, with no hope left. The lack of wind machine didn't ruin the song, though it would have added a nice touch to it.

(I feel I must say that the first time I heard this one in concert was at a DW where Uematsu-san played the keyboard for it, so THAT was a treat!)

Valse di Fantastico (Final Fantasy XV)

Eric remarked that this is one of Shimomura-san's favorite pieces she wrote, and why wouldn't it be? It is, indeed, a fantastic tune, and always a delight to hear, even if just on CD but a real treat live.

The Greatwood (Final Fantasy XVI)

So I bring pen and paper to scribble set notes in the dark, and for this one, they started it without introducing it so I was sitting there going, "I *know* this song! I know I know it! It's... from FFXVI, yes?" But I couldn't place WHERE in FFXVI I heard it. So when he announced the song after they played it, I was like "AHA! Of course!". This was a nice version of this song, but I admit to being distracted during most of it because I was trying to name it. (I don't have the FFXVI OSTs yet and have only listed to them once or twice with SEM's YouTube channel.)

Haunted (Final Fantasy VII Remake)

They announced this song before they played it. Now, I *have* played Remake and Rebirth but have never listened to the OSTs, not even on YouTube, so I am less familiar with it. What I thought when listening to this one is that the song didn't give a "haunted" feeling, but was still a pretty decent song. I can't hum it as I sit here, so that's all I have to say about this one.

A Broken World (Final Fantasy VII Remake)

I have nothing to say about this one, because again, can't hum it so can't remember anything about it in concert. I think I enjoyed it?

One-Winged Angel (Final Fantasy VII)

Y-A-W-N.

Okay, look: I've been to so many Final Fantasy concerts that I've lost count of them. And this song has been played at, I think, every single one, often as the encore. I'm TIRED of it. I understand why they must play it, and yeah okay I did like it, but that doesn't mean I wish they had played a different song in its place instead.

Close in the Distance (Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker)

Every FF concert has at least one song that made it worth buying a ticket for; for me, that was definitely Close in the Distance. No vocals on this version, just instrumental, but then the song does have an instrumental version. For those that haven't played FFXIV, I'll explain this song in a SPOILER:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

So you're heading to the end of the universe, right, to stop the Big Bad, and when you get there, there's like... nothing. No air to breathe, even. The Big Bad even takes away the air in your airship, and you're all fighting to catch a breathe when you see Thancred, one of the Scions, moving towards Meteion (she's the Big Bad of Endwalker), slowly, but with determination to cut her down.

He doesn't manage to cut her down, but when you all come to after fainting, you're on solid ground and there's air to breathe.... but Thancred is missing. And then Urianger says that he could hear Thancred muttering "Live. Breathe." before he passed out. So you come to the conclusion that Thancred somehow sacrificed himself to create the air and the very ground you walk on.

And then the first strains of "Close in the Distance" kick in, just some sustained chords at first, and the party travels on in this place called Ultima Thule... but you keep finding barriers stopping you from going forward, and each time, a Scion sacrifices themselves so that you, the Warrior of Light, can continue. Their sacrifices literally build bridges, or stop a windstorm.

And as you make your way, the song becomes more and more tangible, just like your surroundings. It culminates in The Walk (as called by the fans); the Scions have all sacrificed themselves and you see images of people you once knew urging you up this last bridge of light, and they force you to WALK IT, not run, and the vocals kick in and folks, well, I cried for three hours straight while playing through this zone, it was so emotionally hearbreaking.

So yeah, Close in the Distance means a lot to me, and it was a thrill to hear it in concert, even the non-vocalized part.

Chaos Shrine (Final Fantasy I)

I remember playing FFI for the first time, having already been familiar with its music from various concert CDs, and how I often just... stopped... in a place to let the music play. Chaos Shrine was one of those songs i stopped to listen to, so it was really good to hear. Though I didn't quite appreciate Eric's joke that "Surely some of you are old enough to remember when it first came out?" I happen to be that old! Though I didn't get into the series until my 20s, but I was definitely born when the first game came out.

Zanarkand (Final Fantasy X)

I have a love-hate affair with this song. This was the one that got me hooked on FF (no really, we fired up FFX and it was love at first sound) so it means a lot to me, but after hearing it in concert so often, well, I got a bit tired. I've come around to appreciate it again, but one of the things I liked about my first ANW concert was how Eric said it gave them a chance to do some lesser-known songs, and well, this one is played often at DW, so +shrug+ I enjoyed hearing it again, but wonder what could have been if they played a different one in its place?

(Eric also said its 25th anniversary is next year, and ouch my back hurts now.)

A Place to Call Home (Final Fantasy IX)

...but if FFX is celebrating its 25th next year, that means it's FFIX's 25th this year! Time for a FFIX song! This was was quite short, but I adored hearing it, especially because it then led directly to...

Insatiable (Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers)

The chamber ensemble tends to do slower songs, or at least it felt like this in this concert, so hearing battle music was a treat. This is one of my favorites from Shadowbringers because of how driving it is, and I really do enjoy this chamber arrangement of it.

Aerith's Theme/Return to the Planet (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth)

Eric then announced their "final" song would be from Rebirth, and again, I yawned. I'm just not much of a Final Fantasy VII fan, so there was too much of its compilation here for me tonight. Still, I do quite like this arrangement of Aerith's Theme.

But of course it wasn't actually over! It never is! ENCORE TIME!

Serah's Theme (Final Fantasy XIII)

Eric sang this one! He is no Amanda Achen or Susan Calloway, but he can sing in melody well and even hit some high notes without wavering (just can't hold the notes long). I've heard this arrangemnt on their third CD but didn't know it was Eric singing, so that was fun and the audience enjoyed it.

Victory Theme (Final Fantasy series)

And then we all laughed as this was played.

Chocobo Medley 2014 (Final Fantasy series)

And then this was the last one. I think this was a good one to end with, because it's a delightful arrangement that makes the audience giggle, which means we left on a high point.

OVERALL - I had a good time! I'm glad I went! But it was still too much FFVII for me. I was saddened by the absence of anything from FFVIII - the string version of "Fragments of Memory" is so lovely, I would have enjoyed hearing it again, and if not that, I think there are some other ones that could have been good.

As a FFXIV player, I was glad to hear two songs from it. I would have liked to hear something from FFXI, because I'm playing that game again. I also was really glad they did do something from FFXVI, but The Greatwood is a less iconic (or eikonic, eh? eh?) song than others from that game. It's a fitting song for a chamber ensemble to play, though, so I'm not sure what else they could have done.

I live in hope that some day, I will hear FFXIV: Endwalker's "Dynamis" in concert. It's such a breathtakingly beautiful song that makes me tear up when I hear it; I know hearing it live would be AWESOME. But "Close in the Distance" makes up for that.

Cosplay seen: Yuna, Tifa, Aerith (possible two? there was a child in a pink dress but I couldn't tell if she was Aerith or not), a possible Lunafreya spotted from across the theater, and a pretty kick-ass Clive. I did not cosplay, but I did have fun toting Alisaie along.

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Kingdom Hearts
Fridays: Final Fantasy XI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

What do you know, I just went to one too. It was the one this evening in Miramar, Florida.

I don't remember all of the tracks exactly, but here's the rough distribution of tracks:

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I didn't read the post above mine before writing this. lol

* FFI - one track, "Chaos Shrine"
* FFII, FFIII, FFIV - nothing
* FFV - literally "New World"
* FFVI - two pieces "The Airship Blackjack" (the World of Balance airship theme, which i was surprised that they chose since the core loop is kinda short), and then unexpectedly, "Dark World" (the World of Ruin first overworld theme and the theme in various WoR towns, minus the howling wind sound effects of course).
* FFVII and FFVII remake games - probably a plurality of the pieces, at least four or five of them. There were a couple from the remake games that I didn't recognize, and then there was one from "regular FF7" which somewhat disappointingly turned out to be One Winged Angel (which I guess is nice but is definitely overplayed IMO). They also had a piece that they said was from the remake but I instantly recognized it as Aeris's theme.
* FFVIII - nothing
* FFIX - one piece, "A Place to Call Home". The conductor pointed out that this is the 25th anniversary of its release.
* FFX - like two piece, one of which was "To Zanarkand" (again, nice track, but kinda overplayed).
* FFXI, FFXII - nothing
* FFXIII - only one piece, I think, and it was "Serah's Theme". The conductor unexpectly sang along to this.
* FFXIV - like two tracks, one from Shadow something and one from another title. I guess these are the various expansions of the game?
* FFXV - at least one piece.
* FFXVI - at least one piece.
* extras - the famed Victory Fanfare (only the initial fanfare, as something of a joke), and also a Chocobo theme medley (ft. the conductor on a slide whistle lol).

Overall, definitely a bias toward the newer games. Unfortunately, I know very little music from them.

That said I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of FF6's Dark World theme. It's not a particularly charismatic theme, but it definitely hits my tastes right. I didn't even pay that much attention to this track when I played the game but I definitely appreciated its inclusion.

Also, the Gold Saucer theme is surprisingly classical in its stylings. I think Uematsu might be the most classically-minded of the various composers the series has had, and the fact that the garishly glitzy Gold Saucer has an iconic theme that can also be remixed into something that sounds right at home with string quartet and friends is a testament to Uematsu's work.

The ensemble consisted of the following, roughly left to right on the stage: piano, two violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, trumpet, electric guitar, and miscellaneous percussion (drum set, bells, and at one of xylophone/marimba/glockenspiel/etc. which I forgot how to tell apart by sound).

The hall was reasonably full. I sat next to an aisle, and noticed that a lot of people came in late, heh. (They were let in even while the pieces were playing, which is not what I'm used to in classical music concerts, but I guess they wanted people to get their money's worth since tickets were like $60 or so and up.) Some people came wearing fandom merch -- even some that wasn't Final Fantasy related, such as one guy who wore a Togepi (i.e. Pokémon) pattern shirt. I think I might have seen a few cosplayers in passing.

There was a table selling merch. It sold some music -- soundtracks to some recent games (I remember noticing nothing from VI or earlier), plus the A New World and Distant Worlds concerts. It also sold t-shirts, as well $5 tote bags that can be yours for free if you buy $75 of merch. I didn't buy anything. Though I do already have the second A New World album at home. I could have brought it, but with 20/20 hindsight I doubt I could get it autographed.

Personally I would probably have preferred a different set list, one covering music that's more familiar to me (i.e. older games, as well as Tactics and Tactics Advance, but I can definitely do without hearing "One Winged Angel" and "To Zanarkand" for the umpteenth time), and also ending with a bigger bang than ...whatever that slide whistle action was. (It was funny I guess, but left me with a bit of "that's it?".) But overall pretty nice I guess.

---

Belatedly looking over the rest of AltheaValara's post, I realize they played exactly the same set list. And yes, the conductor was stepping in time.

I didn't notice any music boxes for sale at the merch table. At least, I don't remember seeing it in their inventory list.

I went by myself as well, but someone else had bought the seat next to mine. Still, I was pretty comfortable as I sat next to the aisle. The people going by early on were kinda distracting, but I just thought to accept that as the artifacts of experiencing a live performance.

Yes, the venue was...probably small by "giant pop concert venue" standards, but pretty typical for classical concerts. I sat near the back of the Orchestra section, i.e. on the first floor, and I still had a very nice view of the stage. Definitely appreciated this; I don't like going to giant arenas for concerts where I'm miles away from the performers and basically just hear artificially-amplified sound.

Well, they did use some artificial amplification (besides just the electric guitar), but it didn't feel too loud nor did it feel too intrusive on the music itself. (I'm coming to this from the perspective of someone who's been to a million classical concerts but relatively few non-classical concerts; this probably shows in my commentary.)

When the conductor announced the "final" piece, the audience expressed disappointment (as expected), but then he said it again, and the audience again expressed disappointment, and then he said that he was winking but it probably didn't carry across that well. I think he should have just let the audience think it was finishing and then done the "encores".

Anyway now I'm thinking about other Uematsu works. Like the surprisingly amazing title screen theme for Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on Yesterday at 04:02

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 16th November 2025 21:58)

Personally I would probably have preferred a different set list, one covering music that's more familiar to me (i.e. older games, as well as Tactics and Tactics Advance, but I can definitely do without hearing "One Winged Angel" and "To Zanarkand" for the umpteenth time),

Agreed! I was surprised there was no Tactics music given it was just released again. I know some themes from Tactics because they show up in FFXIV (there's an Ivalice raid, and the Bozja area is heavily inspired by Ivalice as well). It would have been nice to hear some of that music.

Also agreed on the overplaying of One-Winged Angel and Zanarkand. I've definitely heard the former at every concert I've been to (and I've been to a LOT of FF concerts), and the latter has been played at most of them as well.

Since I've played all of the mainline series, I wasn't disappointed so much with hearing songs from the latter games. Still, I did feel this concert was a bit too heavy on fan favorites and less on lesser-known gems. I distinctly recall at the first ANW I went to that Eric said one of the benefits of having a smaller ensemble was that they COULD do those lesser-known pieces. I would have liked it if they followed in that tradition.

I asked on both Mastodon and Bluesky what folks would have liked to hear, and got one response on Mastodon from my Twitch viewer, who suggested "world map themes and location themes that feel otherworldly", given the name of the concert. I really like that idea! He suggested FFIII's "Eternal Wind", FFVIII's "Blue Fields", FFIV's "Land of Summons" and FFVI's "Phantom Forest". Eternal Wind has been done in medley at DW, and Phantom Forest too, but those other two have not.

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Kingdom Hearts
Fridays: Final Fantasy XI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans