The official "I just saw an awesome concert" thread.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Good movie

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

On 18/09/2017 at 0:52 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

I didn't like the film

 

15 hours ago, Stefancos said:

You didn't like The Mummy?

 

I didn't like The Mummy.

[Jay 37,369]

I'm currently at Symphony Hall in Boston, for the first time since 2019, to see the Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour. I am so bloody pumped! 

[Bespin 8,483]

Have a good evening!

[rough cut 1,714]

I attended Mozart’s Requiem yesterday, Friday 12th, performed by orchestra and two choirs.

 

A couple of days before, Tuesday 9th, I had tickets to a small jazz club where a guy called Jay-Jay Johanson performed. Very good!

[crocodile 8,017]

9 hours ago, Jay said:

I'm currently at Symphony Hall in Boston, for the first time since 2019, to see the Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour. I am so bloody pumped! 

This was my last gig. At RAH in London a couple of months ago. Absolutely loved it. Make sure to share your thoughts. You are way more knowledgeable than me when it comes to FFVII music. 

 

Karol

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Last month, I scooped a last-minute ticket for the first gig I'd been to since before the first lockdown ... a relatively intimate (venue holds around 1800) acoustic show by Snow Patrol. Was an absolutely brilliant night. 

[Thor 7,508]

My last "gig", if you could call it that, was obviously Williams in Berlin in October. I'm trying to remember what my last non-orchestral gig was, though. Gets more tricky. Perhaps some performances at the Nordic Film Music Days in February-2020 (just prior to the covid lockdown), during the award ceremony at the Nordic embassies in Berlin.  It's been a while, I think.

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

My last three gigs, in reverse order:

 

• John Williams in Berlin
• Chamber concert at the Musikverein (Verklärte Nacht plus various Lieder)
• John Williams at the Musikverein

 

So counting just orchestral concerts, the bulk of the pandemic (unless we're at the start of a new major bulk, which sadly doesn't look unlikely) was bookmarked by Williams concerts.

 

Next up if all goes well: Carmina Burana at the Musikverein, but this time on the stage.

[Jay 37,369]

On 13/11/2021 at 4:40 AM, crocodile said:

This was my last gig. At RAH in London a couple of months ago. Absolutely loved it. Make sure to share your thoughts. You are way more knowledgeable than me when it comes to FFVII music. 

 

Karol

 

 

I LOVED IT!!

 

In fact, I liked it even more than I was expecting to!  Even if it was just 2 hours of highlights from the Remake OST album, I probably would have liked it a lot.  But instead, most of the selections played are actually all new arrangements that were perfectly suited for a concert like this.... and were all really really good!

 

I loved that none of the electronic elements that appear frequently throughout the Remake score are present at all, and none of the techno/electronica compositions are present at all either.  I like all that stuff fine in the actual game's score and am fine with them going that way, but it made the concert extra fun that everything was different!  

I also liked that only a handful of selections played are brand new compositions made for the remake game, most of the time it's like you're at a concert of music for Uematsu's original game, fully re-envisioned for full chorus and orchestra, which is awesome!  Who ever would have thought in the 90s that one day there'd be orchestras playing 2 hours of Final Fantasy VII music like this? It's so cool!

 

All of the arrangements were really well done, and in fact, for almost all the new ones I thought they were BETTER than what we got in the Remake game/OST!

 

So really very little complaints; There's a couple selections I would have dropped for others instead, but that's about it.

I was happy to find out that even though many of the pieces played share a name with a Remake OST album title, that didn't necessarily mean the music you would hear would be the same as the music in that OST track name.  For two quick examples, "Jessie's Theme" in concert is not the cool guitar-led rendition of her theme for her introduction that got released on the OST album as "Jessie's Theme", but a completely brand new orchestral arrangement of her theme, sort of based on the sad version of here theme from the OST track that got the name "The Look On Her Face"; and the concert track "Those Chosen By The Planet" is not the brief cue from chapter 2 that has a small amount of Sephiroth's theme in it yet oddly got the "Those Chosen By The Planet" name for the OST album, but rather an awesome, huge extended rendition of the full Sephiroth's theme using the entire orchestra and choir, largely based on the great cue that was left off the OST album but turned up on the Plus OST as "Those Chosen by the Planet - Destiny Comes"

 

A cool surprise I was not expecting was that they played the awesome blending of Yuffie's Theme with the Wutai theme ala the Intergrade OST track "Descendant of Shinobi", which was REALLY really good!!

 

The whole night was awesome, I'm super glad I went, and really hope we get a proper video release of the show at some point!

[crocodile 8,017]

I hope they will release a follow-up album with the entire programme.

 

Karol

[Edmilson 7,466]

The last "awesome concert" I've been to was in September 2019, when the local orchestra of my state performed on a John Williams concert with the usual suspects (Star Wars, Imperial March, Raiders March, E.T., Harry Potter, etc.). 

 

Then came this fucking virus  

[Jay 37,369]

It's been a very very long time since John Oliver did a non-political story I could actually talk about on JWFan, but this week they covered TICKETMASTER and their awful practice of artificially inflating ticket prices by only releasing a small portion of tickets to the actual public and letting "ticket brokers" get the rest, some of which might be Ticket Master themselves.

 

It's pretty interesting!  If you've given up on the show because of his politics, this is a nice completely politics-free story

 

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

Technically I haven’t seen it yet but very excited to hear Danny Elfman’s percussion concerto!

[Jay 37,369]

Wait wait wait....

 

"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for Symphony Orchestra and Chorus"!?  What is that!?

Oh, is it just the FOTR portion of the usual symphony?

[Thor 7,508]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Technically I haven’t seen it yet but very excited to hear Danny Elfman’s percussion concerto!

 

Haven't seen it live, but I've had the percussion concerto for a while, as a digital file. Hope it gets released commercially soon.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

45 minutes ago, Jay said:

Wait wait wait....

 

"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for Symphony Orchestra and Chorus"!?  What is that!?

Oh, is it just the FOTR portion of the usual symphony?

I believe it’s the FOTR section of the Lord of the Rings Symphony. And a superb performance it was too! 

[Omen II 1,235]

16 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Technically I haven’t seen it yet but very excited to hear Danny Elfman’s percussion concerto!

 

I went to this concert too.  It was great, wasn't it?  It is worth mentioning that Danny Elfman was in attendance too and came onto the stage at the end of the concerto and again at the end of the concert.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,534]

20 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Technically I haven’t seen it yet but very excited to hear Danny Elfman’s percussion concerto!

It's nothing to bang the drum, about.

See what I did, there? 

[ddddeeee 257]

19 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Haven't seen it live, but I've had the percussion concerto for a while, as a digital file. Hope it gets released commercially soon.

Do you mean his Percussion Quartet? That's being released this May.

 

The Percussion Concerto premiered last night in London. I was there and it was a blast.

[Thor 7,508]

Yes, sorry, the percussion quartet. It was an audio rip of the concert where also Philip Glass was present. He and Elfman had a Q&A just before or after said concert. A couple of years ago, I believe it was.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

I meant to write a few more comments just after the concert but I ended up hanging around the stage door for an autograph, but he never came out. Probably got whisked away via a separate entrance. He was indeed in the audience, in fact he was in my row! See photo… Disappointed not to have got an autograph and say hello but then I did meet him after Alice in Wonderland in concert a few years ago and got an autograph and a photo then so I can’t say I’m doing too badly!

 

The percussion concerto was excellent and a world premiere performance. Oddly, the program notes don’t actually say anything about the music beyond that it was written after a chance meeting with Colin Currie who was the superb soloist. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him before performing the world premiere of Michael Torke’s percussion concerto.

Elfman’s concerto is broken down into four movements, triangle, DSCH (that’s the four note motif Shostakovich used to use as his calling card and apparently was used by Elfman in his Dolores Claiborne score according to Wikipedia) down and syncopate.

 

Much like his other concert works it’s unmistakably Danny Elfman but with far more interesting development and precision than some of his film music. The scoring is for strings, percussion soloist, piano, celeste and four or five members of the percussion section who were positioned behind the strings so there was some brilliant interplay between them, the soloist and the orchestra.

 

The one thing about a percussion concerto is that it’s very theatrical compared to other instruments as the soloist has to dash round the stage as the wide range of mostly tuned percussion instruments were positioned either side of the conductor (Ludwig Wicki who did a great job with this as well as the other selections he was probably more familiar with… he’s the conductor on the recording of the LOTR symphony). 
 

Must be quite a challenge for a percussion soloist over and above the usual stresses of being a soloist. Essentially you have several different solo parts depending on which instrument you’re playing so have to be in the right place as well as playing the right notes! I’m sure there will be a recording at some point but it won’t quite convey the interplay between the soloist and the other percussionists which worked wonderfully well .

 

The Batman suite included (from what I recall - the programme notes by Jeff Bond no less, didn’t say) the opening titles, descent into mystery, waltz to the death, up the cathedral, and from Batman Returns, the music for Catwoman and Penguin, followed by finale from the first movie. There seemed to be a few places with either additional or more prominent choral contributions. I definitely got some chills when the Batman theme bursts through in the main titles, Wicki did a great job of milking those buildups for everything they were worth!

 

I think the “suite” from Alice in Wonderland was the opening track “Alice” from the sequel score which is about half the original Alice track but goes off in a slightly different direction in the middle and a different ending. It’s one of those scores I know the main theme but can never really remember much about the rest of it!

 

Alas there was no encore. I bet my other half a fiver they would play The Simpsons theme as a witty encore, sadly I was disappointed… That was probably the only disappointment, absolutely phenomenal concert.

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

By the way, the music from LotR was the first two movements from the symphony. It was even played as such, with a short pause between movements. Clearly Wicki knows the work well and it was a terrific performance. Oddly I enjoyed the epic bits less than the quieter parts. Some of the choral writing in the bigger passages is texturally kinda blocky at times, the whole ensemble moving at the same time. I far kite enjoyed the slithering Ring material, the carefree whimsy or Hobbiton and the gorgeous music for Rivendell. Dramatically the whole passage for the Bridge or Khazad Dum and the aftermath as everyone mourns Gandalf’s “death” and the finale were the most satisfying for me. 

[Jay 37,369]

I'm seeing Weird Al tonight in a venue 10 minutes from my house, can't wait

 

[rough cut 1,714]

Enjoy!

 

I saw him live in sept 2015. Great concert!

[Jay 37,369]

I've seen him live twice already in the past!

[Positivatee 327]

I saw him previously on this tour. I enjoyed the show. 

[Jay 37,369]

It was great!  I never would have in my wildest dreams guessed as a kid I'd get to one day see him to a show of entirely originals and no parodies (until the encore), and it was great.

 

The setlist was pretty great

 

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/weird-al-yankovic/2022/indian-ranch-webster-ma-4bb3b39a.html

 

I especially loved hearing Your Horoscope For Today live

 

And this was the second time I've seen him do Albuquerque live, and it was extended compared to the album version in a completely different way than the last time

[eitam 364]

Okay, not an awesome concert, but I just got out of one of those "Very best of John Williams" concerts. It was passable, fine even except for a problem with the brass (top weak at times, or with some undue discordance). But I got to hear Summon the Heroes live for the first time ! As well as Adventures of Mutt and A Whirl through Academe of all things (those were not on my bucket list).

More baffling, for Star Wars they played Throne Room, then Leia's Theme, then the usual Main Title arrangement. At least it got Leia's theme stuck in some people's head. 

[Jay 37,369]

Last week the wife and I saw ARCADE FIRE live.

 

They are not a favorite band of mine, they they are of my wife's.  I like their radio hits well enough, and can enjoy their albums too.  But I doubt I would have ever considered seeing them in concert on my own.

 

Well damn, color me turned because their live show was AWESOME.  They had 8 freaking people on stage the entire time, and only one of them (the drummer) stayed in the same place playing the same instrument the whole time.  The other 7 are all multi-instrumental, and would play different instruments based on the song.  There were 2 other drum stations, 2 pianos, 3 keyboard setups, plus different instruments the roadies would bring in based on the same - accordions, hurdy-gurdy, violin, guitars, bass, tribal drums, I don't even know what else.

 

But it wasn't just a cacophony of noise, these guys know what they're doing and sounded tight.  They also played the whole concert as almost one long song.  I think only 2 or 3 times they completely stopped to catch a breather and say a couple things to the audience.  Otherwise the end of one song would flow right into the next.  This allowed them to cover a ton of ground, as they played almost their entire new album plus just about every hit of theirs I knew.

 

Quite impressive!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I love Arcade Fire up through The Suburbs and think everything they've done since 2010 just really fell off a cliff. 

[Jay 37,369]

They played a lot of their old hits!

 

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/arcade-fire/2022/mohegan-sun-arena-uncasville-ct-7bbe6604.html

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

Just back from Joe Hisaishi conducting the Wiener Symphoniker at the Musikverein:

 

 

 

I know very little Hisaishi. All I have on CD are Mononoke (the "symphonic" version recorded by the City of Prague Philharmonic) and Spirited Away. I've had those for about twenty years, always really liked the former (though I keep forgetting about it and haven't played it in years), and never quite got into the latter (but I remember it working very well in the film). So I've always filed him away under "nice enough".

 

But wow have I underestimated him. The symphony reminded me of Austin Wintory's Journey in the beginning, but gradually morphed into a massive minimalistic extravaganza somewhere halfway between Nyman and Kernis!

 

First up after the intermission were three pieces from the Takeshi Kitano films, for string orchestra and piano (played by Hisaishi himself). This was followed by a first encore, Spirited Away - after the first few notes, you could hear a heartwarming collective sigh going through the audience.

 

The final part of the programme was an extensive suite (20+ minutes) from Mononoke for orchestra and solo soprano. It's really much better still than I gave it credit for in my memory; Hisaishi really draws an impressive spectrum of colours from the orchestra (and massive percussion) and melodically achieves a very convincing Morricone impression. Having the music presented as a full suite was also very welcome.

 

Lengthy standing ovations, followed by a perfect orchestral encore - I'd never heard if before, but there couldn't be any doubt that it was Totoro.

 

Now I really need to expand my Hisaishi collection - and it seems that very little is available on CD at affordable prices these days.

[Jay 37,369]

Sounds great!

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

All I have on CD are Mononoke (the "symphonic" version recorded by the City of Prague Philharmonic)

 

Correction: It's the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

[pete 907]

2 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I know very little Hisaishi.

 

You have a lot of wonderful music to discover! His score and suite (recorded by the LSO) from the movie Departures is one of my favorites. I've always wanted to see him live in concert... one day!

 

 

 

[Thor 7,508]

Isn't Hisaishi coming to this year's Hollywood in Vienna, Marian?

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Isn't Hisaishi coming to this year's Hollywood in Vienna, Marian?

 

They haven't announced a next Hollywood in Vienna so far, and last year they said they're not sure about the future of the series. This concert *was* (co-?) produced by Tomek Productions, who also created Hollywood in Vienna, so there is a connection. In fact it was a replacement for an announced Desplat concert (also with the Wiener Symphoniker) that had to be moved to 2024 for scheduling conflicts.

 

To be honest, if Tomek does more of this instead of Hollywood in Vienna, I won't complain, because it's an infinitely better presentation of the music than the over-produced gala. Although it seems they did add some extra lights to the Musikverein. They didn't do much, luckily, and no colourful effects, and nothing while the music was playing, but they did increase the light everytime the audience was applauding - even between the movements of the symphony, and even when people started clapping after the fake ending of the final movement, which convinced even me to join in because I thought the work was over (and I *hate* it when people start clapping before it's clear that the full work has ended). So I think there was a tiny remnant of Hollywood in Vienna in this that I can still complain about.

[Thor 7,508]

Ah, OK. The reason I ask is that I saw on Facebook that "Hollywood in Vienna" shared something about a Hisaishi concert, so I assumed it was the next edition. But it probably was for this event, since the same people were involved.

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

Good news everyone! The Hisaishi symphony will be released by DG!

[Marian Schedenig 8,199]

Here's a brief TV clip about the concert (in German):

https://tvthek.orf.at/profile/Wien-heute/70018/Wien-heute/14173699/Filmmusik-Star-im-Musikverein/15369088

[crocodile 8,017]

Just attended an amazing concert at one of UKs greatest venues - Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Fantastic experience and wonderful performance from CBSO (as always). Ben Parry (who might recognise from many soundtrack booklets as director of London Voices) conducted the group and really won the audience over with his sense of humour.

 

The LSO recording of this programme is one of my favourite albums released in the past decade and experiencing this live was truly orgasmic. The performance helped me to appreciate the intricacies of orchestrations and boosted my opinion of X piano concerto and the final movement of VII symphony. I loved every minute. Hope they will do the second one (and hoping for the album too).

 

The main bulk of the programme is identical to the LSO with the exception of different overture and two different encores. The first one was Clash on the Great Bridge from V. Not familiar with concert arrangements of that one but it felt considerably longer than the Distant Worlds one (with hilarious tuba solo in the middle). The final piece was Final Fantasy series theme and it felt like a more fitting finale than the album version.

 

 

Karol

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

2 hours ago, crocodile said:

Just attended an amazing concert at one of UKs greatest venues - Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Fantastic experience and wonderful performance from CBSO (as always). Ben Parry (who might recognise from many soundtrack booklets as director of London Voices) conducted the group and really won the audience over with his sense of humour.

 

The LSO recording of this programme is one of my favourite albums released in the past decade and experiencing this live was truly orgasmic. The performance helped me to appreciate the intricacies of orchestrations and boosted my opinion of X piano concerto and the final movement of VII symphony. I loved every minute. Hope they will do the second one (and hoping for the album too).

 

The main bulk of the programme is identical to the LSO with the exception of different overture and two different encores. The first one was Clash on the Great Bridge from V. Not familiar with concert arrangements of that one but it felt considerably longer than the Distant Worlds one (with hilarious tuba solo in the middle). The final piece was Final Fantasy series theme and it felt like a more fitting finale than the album version.

 

 

Karol

Oh cool. I have that album. Will need to give it another listen. Having been all over the U.K. the last couple of weeks it’s not been good for concerts where I’ve been (Manchester/Leeds/Liverpool) but clearly I should have gone to Brum! 

[crocodile 8,017]

4 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Oh cool. I have that album. Will need to give it another listen. Having been all over the U.K. the last couple of weeks it’s not been good for concerts where I’ve been (Manchester/Leeds/Liverpool) but clearly I should have gone to Brum! 

If nothing else, the album is worth the price for the FFVII symphony alone. It's probably a finest example of an arrangement that actually contributes something new. It's still Ueamatsu's material but treated with Goldenthal/Davis type of grandiosity. Absolutely spine-tingling.

 

Karol

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

I saw two big artists 2 days in a row. And I have to say, both were very incredible and both couldn't be more different.

 

I saw P!NK yesterday on Dutch pop festival Pinkpop, and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. So much passion and life on the stage. It was a joy to watch. When she flies over the crowd at the end was by far one of the most incredible things I've seen in a concert.

 

Tonight I saw Beyoncé, which was just something else entirely. A show with incredible production. Large screens with movie level effects. I was left speechless multiple times.

 

Both singers were pitch perfect. I had an incredible time at both concerts.

[Jay 37,369]

Wow, another Pink fan here!  There are two of us!

I've seen her live too, and it was great!  She's doing Fenway Park this summer, haven't decided if I want to go or not.  My wife has no interest!

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Oooh. Definitely a fan of P!nk. It was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

 

She's an incredible performer and such great ways of reacting with the crowd. She was on my list to see for such a long time. And honestly, I'll see her again in the future at some point.

 

Don't know how long ago it was that you saw her live, but I highly recommend seeing this show.

[Jay 37,369]

I saw her almost a decade ago for the Truth About Love tour. It was good, had all the hits from prior and all the best songs from that album, and some covers. I actually don't like her newest album much, and her two before then aren't my favorite either. Basically like Try This the most, the Misunderstood, then I'm Not Dead, then Funhouse and the new songs for Greatest Hits. 

 

You should check out the DVDs / blus of her older concert tours, they're totally worth it. I really like the one for the Try This tour, looks like such an awesome tour, from before her shows got to be these huge things (which are also very cool), with a lot more sexual energy on stage than she'd ever do again. 

 

And I like the way the older concerts turned every song into versions played entirely by live instruments. The touring bands are always really good! 

[fenrik 36]

Last big concert I went to was HANS ZIMMER LIVE last year. Second best concert I ever attended (his 2017 tour was even better).

Then in 2019 I went to a Spice Girls concert! lol!

 

It was good fun, but in two totally different ways!  

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Currently watching the reclrding of this years BBC Proms Fantasy Film music.

 

Music of Lord Of The Rings, Game Of Thrones, Good Omens and Harry Potter among others.

 

It's been a while since I listened to LotR and Harry Potter, so to hear them live again reminded me of how brilliant they both are. Incredible!

 

Lorne Balfe's suite from His Dark Materials was pretty great as well!