CoN 25th Anniversary: 1997-2022
Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour

Posted: 7th March 2018 23:53

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(Feel free to move this thread if it belongs in another section!.)

So I follow Yoko Shimomura, the composer of Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts, on Twitter mostly out of respect, because I can't read anything she posts as it's all in Japanese. But then the other day one of her posts actual had as bit of English in it, and those words were KINGDOM HEARTS ORCHESTRA WORLD TOUR!

Her tweet linked to a page, again all in Japanese, but the venues were in English. One of the venues was the Auditorium Theater. I immediately got very, very excited because we have such a venue here in Chicago!

A bit more digging and I found the English site which indeed confirmed that it's coming to Chicago, woohoo! I told my mom, and it sounds like we're going to go! *happy dance*

Here's the venue lineup, for those too lazy to click through to the site:

Los Angeles (USA) – June 9, 2018 – Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Sydney (Australia) – July 7, 2018 – Sydney Opera House
Chicago (USA) – July 13, 2018 – Auditorium Theatre
Detroit (USA) – July 14, 2018 – Fisher Theatre
Pittsburgh (USA) – July 16, 2018 – Heinz Hall
Boston (USA) – July 19, 2018 - Wang Theatre
Toronto (Canada) – July 21, 2018 – Sony Centre
Atlanta (USA) – July 26, 2018 – Fox Theatre
Dallas (USA) – July 28, 2018 - Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
Philadelphia (USA) – August 2, 2018 – Mann Centre
Phoenix (USA) – August 4, 2018 – Symphony Hall
Las Vegas (USA) – August 5, 2018 - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Honolulu (USA) – August 12, 2018 - Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall
Sao Paolo (Brazil) – September 8-9, 2018 – Teatro Bradesco
Munich (Germany) – September 15, 2018 - The Gasteig
Milan (Italy) – September 22, 2018 – Teatro Dal Verme
Seoul (South Korea) – October 6, 2018 – KBS Hall
Mexico City (Mexico) – October 20, 2018 – Auditorium Blackberry


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Posted: 8th March 2018 03:38

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I’ve had the announcement in my inbox for two days and have been too busy to post it. Thank you for sharing!

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Post #214578
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Posted: 14th July 2018 17:54

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Last night was the Chicago concert, and here is my review!

I went with my mom, who's not as familiar with the Kingdom Hearts music as she is with Final Fantasy music. Even though, she said she was looking forward to it because "it was a night out".

We both enjoyed the concert, but mom said she didn't think she'd go see another. She complained that the songs sounded similar to each other. Now, I found this interesting. It made me think of the first time I listened to the Final Fantasy XII OST, as I had the same complaint then. I had listened to it before I played the game, however; once I played the game I could hear the differences in the songs, because I had an emotional connection to them from having played the game.

I also think that mom is not wrong. They did repeat some musical themes several times. For example, one of the early songs was Destati, and it later showed up in a medley of songs. Additionally... well, at a Distant Worlds concert you hear all songs of different music because you've got 15 games to pull from, all with different feels to their worlds, so it's natural that songs would have differences. For the Kingdom Hearts concert, you have songs from one franchise, which yeah covers multiple games but each game is similar thematically. So it makes sense that the songs would have a sameness to them.

When we arrived I checked out the merchandise, but it was expensive. They were asking $39 for a CD! Today it occurs to me that the CD might have had multiple discs to it, which I suppose wouldn't be too bad then. Still, it was too rich for our blood, so we didn't buy anything.

I had gotten an email from the theater the day before the concert, saying there would be heightened security. It listed a bunch of things not allowed, including large bags and *gasp* costumes. I was a bit sad to read this; I didn't plan on wearing a costume but I love seeing others in theirs. Also, I had thought about bringing my Moogle that I made and carrying him in a bag, but I didn't want to risk it being confiscated because I heart.gif my Moogle. So instead I brought a Heartless I had made, as I didn't care if something happened to it. I shouldn't have worried; there were plenty of folks in costume and nothing was said. The wigs were impressive!

I had hoped to hear two songs. The first wasDestiny Islands, which I quite like. They didn't play it, though. It occurs to me that it wouldn't transfer well to full orchestra, so it made sense that it wasn't played. The second song was Hollow Bastion, which I love so much it made it onto my Calming playlist. Again, it wasn't played, alas.

I've only played about half the games in the series: KH 1 & 2, Chains of Memories, and 358/2 Days. Since I haven't played the others, there were songs in the concert I wasn't familiar with. I did enjoy them, but since I was lacking the emotional connection I got a bit impatient at times. I was ready for the songs to end quite before they were finished. The whole concert felt LONG. It started a bit late and went longer than it said it would, so by the time we got out of there and made it home, it was midnight.

As usual, I brought pen and paper so I could write down which songs they performed. It was dark in the theater and it was hard to right in my little notebook, so my notes came out chicken scratch. I think I can make them out, though... I really missed having Arnie Roth from the Distant Worlds concerts announcing the songs. The conductor didn't speak at all. They did put the song titles on the projector screen, but some were hard to read.



There were big cheers when Toy Story was played, as that's from KH3 so we got to see some footage from the game. Also, I wanted to say that Traverse Town isn't my favorite track, but I liked the orchestra arrangement. It felt more whimsical, which was a nice touch. Also, I was pleased to see Union Cross represented with "Daybreak Town".

I'm glad we went. Would I go again? I'm not sure. It was a good time, but I got antsy during the performance because songs felt like they went on forever. It did make me want to play the games I've missed so far. I just bought Final Mix 1.5 + 2.5 about a month ago, and I hope to get 2.8 soon.

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
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7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts
Post #215063
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Posted: 14th July 2018 21:03

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Cool write up! I can't see myself going to the KH concert (although I have been to Distant Worlds and it was awesome), but I'm glad it was generally a good time. I'm also shocked they didn't play Hollow Bastion, that's one of the best tracks of the first game

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Posted: 17th July 2018 21:45

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Yeah, I'm still sad they didn't play Hollow Bastion.

I guess I enjoyed the concert more than I previously thought, because I've listened to the CD on YouTube three times the past few days while knitting and crocheting. It's a pretty solid CD.

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays & Thursdays: Final Fantasy XVI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV MSQ & Side Quests
7:30pm - 10:30pm Central or thereabouts
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