Attended the LA concert for the Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour! Great experience as it's nice to be able to enjoy live music again. I give it a solid 7.(remake part)2 /out of 10
Takeaways as an FFVII music purist, starting with pros:
-choir was an excellent addition and added so much depth to Uematsu compositions/arrangements. They hit the ground running in the very first piece (Prelude/Reunion). They also played a huge part towards the end of the concert (not trying to spoil here, but read onwards)
-video gameplay/cut scenes made for very good eye candy, especially for people with little to no exposure to Final Fantasy
-really liked the inclusion of the Yuffie theme, "Descendant of Shinobi" even though I'm sure 99% of people there are still on the waiting list for the PS5 and the PS5 exclusive FF7 Remake Intergrade. The piece definitely grew on me after hearing it with the battle scenes
-glad they snuck in the victory fanfare at the end of one of the battle music arrangements
-second best thing after the choir was the arrangements/programming. After a live performance of "Hollow" by YOSH, it seemed like the concert was over due to the standing ovations. I thought they were going to end without playing the main theme or OWA (One-Winged Angel). Then as if queued to perform several encores, they performed the main theme on its own (no medleys), a non medley Aerith's theme, and then One-Winged Angel, to fit the lore of the OG game, I guess.
Cons:
-the strings, mainly violins, nailed some gnarly passages in the "Hurry" performance (in the OST, the runs in "Hurry" are synthesized), but overpowered the winds and brass at too many important points in the concert. Because Tifa's theme was passed among instruments, the violins often drowned out the melody.
-there were also parts of the arrangement that pussied out on the difficulty, compared to the OST (me just being nitpicky, as I had spent time transcribing it myself and learning that passage on the violin)
-videos during the music were generally good but scene selection was very ??? They were showing gameplay vs Crab Warden and Airbuster when music was from Scorpion Sentinel track. Another "offense" was showing Jenova Dreamweaver gameplay when playing the track for "Arsenal." 4 minutes into "J-E-N-O-V-A Quickening" is one of the most catchy boss tunes among fans. I think showing the wrong boss/not playing the Jenova track was kind of an insult. One last tiny remark was during "Arbiter of Fate - Singularity" (track for fighting Whisper Harbinger and Co. in Chapter 18), they kept showing prior scenes of whispers.
-at the end of the One-Winged Angel performance, I wish they showed the scene in space with Cloud and Sephiroth instead of the dream/destruction sequence with their backs to each other (that scene was used before in the concert already)
-I wish they performed some different tracks. Here are ones I notably missed:
"On Our Way" (featured in one of the music boxes) (and honestly would have preferred this to Jessie's theme)
"Airbuster" theme (mainly for the electric guitar)
"The Turks: Reno" (too many electric instruments)
"Wall Market" (iconic as there are so many great scenes in this area of the game)
"Hell House" (would need full symphony to create the proper depth)
"The Day Midgar Stood Still" (the eye candy during this chapter, 15, would have been perfect as it makes for great wallpapers)
"Fires of Resistance" (same as ^)
"Valkyrie" theme (would have loved to hear excellent string playing on more battle themes)
