This week, Final Fantasy fans in the San Francisco area will get a unique concert experience.
After a sold-out performance with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra last summer, the "Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy" tour is returning this year with a special concept: Two nights, two very different performances of orchestral game music.
Composer Nobuo Uematsu will be on hand again to preside over the shows on Thursday and Friday evenings at the Davies Symphony Hall. Thursday's performance will include fan-favorite pieces like the opera sequence from Final Fantasy VI and a medley of songs from the classic 8-bit Final Fantasy games. Friday's set list will feature some deeper cuts, like the end-boss music "Dancing Mad" from VI and the vocal theme songs to the ninth and tenth games in the series.
Vocalist Susan Calloway will be on hand to perform those signature songs. Calloway, Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth will meet fans at $75-a-head meet-and-greet parties following each night's show.
If you're not in the Bay area, other tour dates this summer include Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston and Washington, D.C.
For a glimpse at what the concert experience is like, check out my story on last year's show.
The full set lists (minus the "surprise" encore which is always "One Winged Angel") are below.
Thursday, July 15
Opening~Bombing Mission (FINAL FANTASY VII)
Don't be Afraid (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
Memoro de la Stono~Distant Worlds (FINAL FANTASY XI)
Medley 2002 (FINAL FANTASY I-III)
Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII (FINAL FANTASY VII)
Prima Vista Orchestra (FINAL FANTASY IX)
Kiss Me Goodbye (FINAL FANTASY XII)
Zanarkand (FINAL FANTASY X)
FINAL FANTASY series: Main Theme
The Man with the Machine Gun (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
Theme of Love (FINAL FANTASY IV)
JENOVA (FINAL FANTASY VII)
Ronfaure (FINAL FANTASY XI)
FINAL FANTASY XIII medley
FINAL FANTASY XIV medley
Opera "Maria and Draco" (FINAL FANTASY VI)
Terra’s Theme (FINAL FANTASY VI)
Friday, July 16
Opening~Bombing Mission (FINAL FANTASY VII)
Don't be Afraid (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
Distant Worlds (FINAL FANTASY XI)
Dear Friends (FINAL FANTASY V)
Vamo' alla Flamenco (FINAL FANTASY IX)
Aerith's Theme (FINAL FANTASY VII)
Prima Vista Orchestra (FINAL FANTASY IX)
Suteki da ne (FINAL FANTASY X)
JENOVA (FINAL FANTASY VII)
The Man with the Machine Gun (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
A Place to Call Home - Melodies of Life (FINAL FANTASY IX)
Dancing Mad (FINAL FANTASY VI)
Swing de Chocobo (FINAL FANTASY SERIES)
Love Grows (FINAL FANTASY VIII)
FINAL FANTASY XIII medley
FINAL FANTASY XIV medley
Kiss Me Goodbye (FINAL FANTASY XII)
Terra’s Theme (FINAL FANTASY VI)
