it's yishan

Super Smash Opera

a.k.a. a bunch of Huge Fricking Nerds set Smash Bros. to classic opera pieces, because why the hell not? Have to say I was kind of skeptical about it at first - both the premise, as well as the fact that the orchestra would be having their first rehearsal together at Literally 8 AM The Day Of The Performance - but then it turned out that signing up to play for this was probably one of the best decisions I could’ve made for this MAGfest?? The writing was clever, the performers were excellent and the orchestra somehow held it together despite being a ragtag bunch of misfits thrown together in a pit. Overheard people talking about it in the hotel lobby later and it really seemed like people enjoyed it - a bonus!

It was super fun. Would I do it again if it happens next year? I’m gonna put that down as a pretty solid “UH YEAH???” 

Ninja Sex Party / Tupperware Remix Party

Basically everything I could’ve hoped for and more. Frankly, out of all the concerts I went to (with the possible exception of Journey Live?), I thought the TWRP/NSP one was the best mixed, sound-wise. Danny’s this incredibly thin, tall, lanky dude, but somehow he manages to fill the stage with his presence. It’s magical. Even the crowd was fantastic (there was a PHD chant at one point).

There’s nothing particularly profound about NSP/TWRP, but they’re just... good. They’re just fantastic! That’s about it. I was honestly not very familiar with TWRP’s work, but now I’m a fan. Dang.

Journey Live 

If you don’t know what Journey Live is - basically it’s this thing, where there’s this game, ok, called Journey?? You might have heard about it?? Grammy-nominated soundtrack and all??? a-hem.

anyway they’re going around doing a thing where someone plays Journey live on stage and it’s accompanied by live music. They had the debut performance at MAGfest, and let’s just say - it was seamless. It was phenomenal.

Also you might be thinking “but why don’t i just watch a LP of the game??” which, i admit, definitely came to mind a couple times. It’s kinda where the genius of Journey’s multiplayer system shows itself - tl;dr basically sometimes you can run into other strangers who are also playing the game at the same time you are. And that’s exactly what happened during the performance - another player just... showed up. It was a completely unrehearsed moment, an unwitting participant in the event, someone who had no idea they were being watched by a huge crowd of people. It was... kind of that feeling of serendipity, of being part of something greater than you are, that Journey kind of encapsulates, in my opinion, and that moment - just that other player showing up - kind of made the whole thing click for me. It was just... wow.

DiscoCactus

Went from “I’ll stick around because my friend’s in it” to “I’ll stick around because they’re ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD.” Journey Live is a tough act to follow but DiscoCactus delivered - my favorite was the part where they set one of the Stanley Parable endings to music. Yup. Kind of has to be heard to be believed, but it was really clever. 

DiscoCactus was super chill. I missed the Austin Wintory signing for it, but totally worth it tbh

Megaman Zero Concert

okay so first of all: holy shit, never expected to see the Inti Creates sound team at MAGfest, ever. 

Second: Megaman Zero has FANTASTIC music, and yet it’s not often covered - many of the songs go overlooked (it’s mostly Cannonball that gets covered). 

Third: They hit most - not all, but most - of my favorite songs. Cold Smile was one i REALLY wanted to hear, although I didn’t expect it, so when they played it i was all “holy shit. holy SHIt, are they actually PLAYING IT?!” They delivered in spades. They didn’t hit High Speed Lift or Volcano, but eh. The only song I’m kinda disappointed they didn’t play was Clash, but i think I’m kind of alone in liking that one, to be honest.

Fourth: Manami Matsumae came on stage?! and they played Cutman and Nitro Man’s themes?! with her on keys?!?! 

Fifth: they ended with Departure segued straight into Cannonball. That was pretty the point at which my head literally exploded.

Jammin’

I got to meet with and jam with a lot of people - mostly finally got to meet people from Materia, which was super great!! Got to do flute trio stuff too??? Man. I should really just spend more time jamming at future MAGFests, it’s so fun!!

actually. now that i think about it, i have plans. Cunning plans...

Stuff I Didn’t Do, People I Didn’t Meet

well... I mean. You can’t do everything. I missed the Austin Wintory panel and signings, but fortunately still got to meet him. I also had to skip out early on the Materia meetup, which was sad; although fitting, I suppose, given my aptitude for socializing. 

All in all - the previous MAGfest I went to 2 years ago exceeded all my expectations, which set a high bar for this year’s. And I’m glad to say that it completely blew past those expectations again. Thanks to the MAGfest staff, and everyone who I met, got to jam with, spoke to, etc., for making the con experience so great...