Concert Rant: two dramatically different nights of video game music
Okay, sure. This blog post isnât specifically about TTRPGs, but I see this as a part 1 in a series of posts on using music and other audio to elevate your game sessions. A first step would be having knowledge of what makes game music great and yâknow, what kind of music is out there which suits your campaign. So, you can skip this post if you donât care about concert reviews â but yâknow keep reading if you like video game music c:
The second half of August was a rollercoaster for video game music fans here in The Netherlands, with two big concerts back-to-back. The first, held at Amsterdamâs Concertgebouw, saw EĂmear Noone and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra drop the symphonic beat with their charisma and fun selection of songs. Fast forward a week to Rotterdamâs Ahoy, and the vibe couldnât have been more different. The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour seemed to have all the right elements but missed the mark completely. But I do mean - absolutely, totally, utterly completely missed the mark by several miles.
What made one night unforgettable and the other forgettable?
Unforgettable Videogames in Concert
On August 23rd EĂmear Noone, leading the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra with soprano Aisling McGlynn, turned my first visit to the Concertgebouw into an unforgettable night full of those musical notes I listen to daily. And also, finally swapping Londonâs Royal Albert Hall in for my home country; it started to get pretty miserable lurking from the other side of the North Sea all the time.
It really was just fucking awesome to hear my favs played live through the interpretation of these world-class musicians. Itâs debatable if I had the best or the worst seat in the venue, as I could like almost touch EĂmearâs absolutely awesome tailcoat straight outta Azeroth. I could not see the full orchestra though.
Nooneâs charisma was on full display throughout the night âher witty remark, "Oh, the pageantry of it all!" when she came back for an encore, had me rolling. The music itself included some bangers like pieces from Chrono Cross, Fallout, World of Warcraft (WoD), some Super Mario, lots of Zelda, God of War and⌠well the following needs some explanation.
She joked, "If you donât know the next track, what are you even doing here?" and told us to listen closely to the percussion, saying weâd recognize it instantly. Well, it sounded exactly like pickaxes hitting stone, and I was sure it had to be Minecraft. There was no other possibility. Maybe it was from a recent update, because I thought I knew every Minecraft track, even though orchestral versions can throw you off. But noâit turned out to be Fortnite for some reason (not that I ever heard that piece in-game).
I take this injustice very seriously, so Iâve decided I will never attend one of her concerts or listen to her music ever again.
At one point in the concert, she joked about the unique ways they create sounds for different games, both as sound effect and as musical instrument, saying that for Resident Evil, they couldâve just used a garbage bin for percussion, and it would still (or especially) sound terrifying. So, for "Resident Evil 5: Wind of Madness" they brought out an actual (Dutch!) garbage bin they found on a street somewhere.
10/10 best game concert
Forgettable Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour
Goddamn they missed the beat at this one. And neither did they find it in the encore because there wasnât one. On August 30th at Rotterdamâs Ahoy, Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour (yes, a tour of the music from FFVIIR which was released in 2024 and is part 2 of the 2020 remake thatâs in turn based on the 1997 original) had its first European venue.
The lineup included conductor Eric Roth, the Noordpool Orchestra, and the PA'dam Choir (15+ chorists), and the briefest appearances of composer Masashi Hamauzu.
I already paid three times more for this concert than I did for Videogames in Concert, so I was expecting something really epic and cool, that was totally worth my money.
Well, it wasnât.
Unlike in Amsterdam, this concert struggled to connect big-time. From the moment the concert started, something felt⌠off. It was as if the entire event was on autopilot, scripted to the point where it felt robotic. They had this huge screen playing game footageâHUD and all, but only sometimesâwhich didnât sync with the music in most instances; so whatâs the point of having a big fuck-off screen then anyway?
And oh God, there were these awkward pauses between tracks as we waited for the next gameplay clip or cinematic to start. Cue the big "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth World Tour" screen, and only after that faded away could they start playing again. The whole thing felt disjointed and unnatural.
The conductor? Charisma level: zero (heâd be dead in most TTRPG systems, the poor man). Heâd occasionally tell us what they were going to play next, but even that was hit or miss. If we were lucky, heâd throw in a quip, but honestly I canât remember any of them (I really tried). He did all the conductoring and stuff perfectly fine (as far as I would know) so I canât blame him for stuff thatâs technically not his job, especially after being blown away by maestro EĂmear, who put all her points in Charisma (and still had a bunch to spare). But they couldâve done something, yâknowâŚlike having the composer doing some announcements.
Indeed, Masashi Hamauzu, the composer (of just some of the music they played) was backstage. He came out at the start, did a quick bow, and then disappeared. Thatâs it. Poof! Gone. I thought he might come back for something more, but nope (there were a limited number of VIP-tickets available however - which were still available on the day of the concert - which included a meet-and-greet with Hamauzu-san. So, good on him for keeping busy, I guess).
He teased us like the entire concert teased âOne-Winged Angelâ. They hinted at it so many times, which was â and Iâll give them this one - just like the game where youâre constantly chasing one-winged Sephiroth. I felt like being blue-balled for over 50 hours by the game was bad enough, now they had to do us like that during the concert as well. Thanks.
Oh, and the choir. Let me tell you about the choir. They were there, standing on stage, and for half an hour, they did nothing. Just stood there. It was mind-boggling. There were parts of the concert where a choir wouldâve seriously elevated the music, like during the performance of the Golden Saucer suite, including "Loveless," but no, they werenât used. I canât fathom this. Loveless is this epic fantasy performance during the game, which really shouldâve had a choir during the sequence originally (itâs beautifully animated, albeit just an extended quick-time event, which was still a quick-time event during the concert btw, couldâve brought my controller and press awayyyy). Now, you have a professional choir, they are standing RIGHT THERE. Why did they not rearrange this piece; are the producers stopping them to mess with the partiture? Does the composer (WHOâS RIGHT HERE AS WELL) not have any say about his own music? Why have a choir if youâre not going to use them? It keeps me awake at night.
But it getâs worse, Iâm so sorry to say.
The worst moment, was the finale of the Golden Saucer sequence. They closed with "No Promises To Keep," a heartfelt song that Aerith composes and performs in-universe in the game (which is especially poignant if you consider her faith in the final act of the story). But guess what? No vocalist. They just played an instrumental version. Iâm sitting there, staring at the choir, thinking, "There are people on this stage who can sing, and theyâre not using them. Why???" It was so infuriating.
They also only played music from FFVIIR. Nothing from any other Final Fantasy games. I thought they might throw in some classics and fan favorites, but no. They stuck strictly to that one game, and while the music was fine, it didnât feel like anything special. It seemed like they just needed to fill the two-hour slot and didnât bother adding anything that would really make the night stand out. Once again, there was no room for spontaneityâno fun allowed. It was all about sticking to the script, or you're out I guess.
Wait!!! I have some positive things to say. They had me get all bouncy and happy when they finally stopped teasing to play One-Winged-Angel (or Sephiroth Reborn as itâs called on the official FFVIIR OST. Hearing this iconic piece live was fucking awesome. It really was, and they took their sweet time playing it as well (which is hard to avoid, as the final boss fight of the game has so many stages that it takes like a full hour to beat). So, hell yeah! Letâs go!!!!! What else youâve got!?!?!? I was pumped for more as it felt like they had just gotten started.
They played 1 more song and the credits rolled⌠yâknow, literally, as they had that big screen remember?
âŚ
Fuck this concert.
Final Thoughts
The contrast between these two nights could not have been starker. In Amsterdam, EĂmear Noone showed how much personality and connection matter in a live performance. She made the music come alive, she share its backstory and significance, and engaged with everyone in the room, which made the night just fucking stellar.
Rotterdam, on the other hand, felt cold and distant (I was sitting further away from the stage too). Live performance is not just about playing notes in the right order; itâs about making people feel something. I only felt shoulder-shrugging disappointment that evening in Rotterdam. And a bit of anger, I suppose (Iâm writing all this rn ainât I?)
Long story short, if youâre thinking about going to the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth World Tour, maybe wait until theyâve worked out the kinks. If they donât, well, save your money. Youâre better off replaying the soundtrack (altleast you couldâve done that right now if SQUARE ENIX had released the official OST on streaming).
Oh, by the way, you probably arenât even able to check if they improved the concert, as you werenât allowed to take photos or record anything during the concert. Fuck that shit, man.
You canât stop me heheheeeeeeeeeeee