Roth would interrupt the concert to introduce a video featuring a composer who worked on the original or remake after every four or five songs. Even though the projections occasionally distracted from the music, it was a fresh way of revisiting a game some players might not have touched in nearly two years. Some members of the orchestra were even completely blocked from view by the screen.
While it makes perfect sense that a musical performance for a videogame’s soundtrack would feature the game’s visuals, just as a live scoring for a film or TV show would, it was occasionally jarring. When they returned to the music, the projection screen didn’t go up, and continued to show footage from the game. Roth spoke a few opening remarks, giving a brief speech where he thanked Square Enix and the composers who worked on Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake. The moment the harpist plucked their first note, the audience briefly erupted in applause before going almost completely silent to soak in the near-angelic tune that everyone in attendance surely knew intimately. The concert opened with the Prelude as a brief video celebrating 25 years of Final Fantasy VII played on a projection screen. Ironically, the Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour wasn’t supposed to line up with Final Fantasy VII’s 25th anniversary perfectly, but Square Enix made sure to capitalize on that regardless. A world tour featuring orchestral performances and re-arrangements of pieces from a game is an entirely different level of reverence. It’s rare for a game to receive any special treatment beyond a celebratory Tweet and a sale on digital storefronts. Lately it seems like every other day marks another celebrated videogame’s anniversary, with every year after a game or franchise’s release treated as a marketing opportunity. Songs that weren’t originally written to be performed by an orchestra didn’t quite hit the mark, but otherwise, the cheekily-dubbed Shinra Symphony Orchestra and conductor Arnie Roth delivered an exciting performance at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra earlier this month. It only makes sense that Square Enix would want to proudly put such a masterfully-written collection of music on display to its fans in orchestra halls across the world.Ĭoming 25 years after the release of the original game, the Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour largely lives up to the high expectations that come with such a prestigious soundtrack. But with intricate rearrangements and new compositions that sampled the original’s music, 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake outdid its 25-year-old predecessor.
The Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour didn’t just transport me back to Midgar, it brought me back to one of the most thrilling gaming experiences I’ve ever had: sitting in my parents’ basement, escaping the fervor around a pandemic I naively expected not to consume a tenth of my life two years ago.įinal Fantasy VII’s soundtrack has long been one of the most celebrated and iconic in the pantheon of videogames. It’s almost empty, except for a comically large sword buried in the ground and the words, “PRESS ANY BUTTON TO CONTINUE.” I almost wanted to reach for my controller, before the dizzying six-floor difference between myself and that harp I just heard snaps me back to reality. A light drum roll interrupts a heavenly harp solo as horns and strings creep in, introducing a stark title screen.