Dreams & Imagination: Final Fantasy Tribute Concert – Malaysia
Suddenly! Yea man that’s how i felt about it hearing the news of such a concert! Who is this organiser doing this kind of event? I’ve been a fan of video game music for a long time in which got me involved with every single production of Video Games Live! in Malaysia – 2010, 2012 & most recently 2016. But other than VGL, there hasn’t been any other acts who were directly involved in the works performed in video games. Yes, our skillful local talents have put on some great shows, but I am aiming higher will the ‘dreams & imagination’ of meeting the folks who have actually worked ON or IN the actual games that we loved so much. 
From what I remember here some video music hall of fame to have step foot in Malaysia for performances: Mr. Guinness Book of Records Video Games TOMMY TALLARICO aka Mr. Video Games Live, awarded nominated composer Mr. Jack Wall aka Mr. Mass Effect 1 & 2 or aka Mr. COD Black Ops 2 & 3, Mr. Norihiko Hibino aka Mr. Snake Eater from Metal Gear Solid 3 (MGS 2 – 4, Peace Walker, Portable Ops / Zone of Enders 1 & 2 / Bayonetta 1 & 2), Ms. Eimear Noone aka Ms. Blizzard! (WoW, Starcraft 2 & Diablo 3) aka Ms. Zelda Conductor! Any other video game music celebrity I missed out? Please share with me 🙂
So the folks to thank for organising this event is is none other than the 2nd largest ACG event in Malaysia…. the folks from Animangaki! Trying a hand at something new AMG Chief decided to take a shot at the severe lack in the ACG scene, which is the music arena of Japanese Pop culture or rather pop culture in general aka video game music.
Final Fantasy is a beloved franchise with a heart warming back story of how a last ditch effort by a gaming company, which was schedule to shut down, decided to release their FINAL game ever… rightly titled their FINAL Fantasy. And because of it’s enormous success is now a colossal gaming company in the world! 29 years later to date… we are just a few hours away from the released of the latest chapter – FINAL FANTASY XV in which it’s lead game designer is none other than Malaysia’s proudest Mr. Wan Hazmer!
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Now back to the concert! Well if you were hoping for a full orchestra, I’m sorry but this is not the concert you were expecting. Being true to the game, Final Fantasy 1 was created in 1987 & gaming capacity back then was only 8-bits. That was the entire capacity of of what the home console could deliver! You wanna talk about polyphonic… I think poly is too many…maybe the max 4 sounds could be played at one time xD I am just guessing, CITATION needed here hehe. Anyways game music back then couldnt be fully realized or recreated as how the composers envisioned it… but now! It can & has and will continue to be represented. So to have Final Fantasy music presented on a single grand piano is a very unique acoustic experience in itself.
So who are these folks – Nathan is multi-talented artist hailing from the land down under Australia. He is a singer, song writer, composer, photographer who also has a passion for cosplay photography which he calls his Real Time Story Project in which he “stars his friends in a real time story”! Just in this phrase alone I can imagine him being a very warm-buddy stylish lyricist! Being a Aussie musician & a Sydney local… and graduating from Sydney Uni… I can imagine it being a dream come to be able to perform to a sold out crowd at the Sydney Opera house!! 
Nathan’s FB page has 360,000 likes & has his own website + merchandise. Check out the links below.
His special guest for this very first Malaysian Concert is this lovely Japanese lady name Joelle Strother! She is an American born Japanese singer who is best known for her work on Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. She provided vocals for several Final Fantasy tracks including “Plains of Eterniry”, “Starting Over”, “Ruined Hometown Hometown” and “Yuel’s Theme”. If you’re a J-Rock fan you also might know her vocals on the Sound Horizon track Bravely Default! Huhu! She is gearing up for her big concert next year in her home town of Akita, Japan!
Follow her on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/joellevoice
Honestly, Bentley Auditorium is a very posh & high end location for a concert! Very nice! I have not been here in a long time but the last time I was… it was for a very nostalgic. Back in 2011, Bentley Auditorium was the venue for the return of the Malaysian made JROCK event – JROCK no Tamashii! Anyways, so this is a beautiful & apt venue for a rock concert or an up-close & personal Piano concerto!
There were 2 show, one at 3:30pm and the other at 8pm. I was fortunate to get an early look for the concert by attending the 3:30pm show. The concerts song list was very FF driven and Nathan actually divided them into Disc 1 – Disc 4 segments 😀 He also added his own flair to a piano concerto by having some fun & game stops like the “CHOICE MOMENTS” in the RPG haha Blue or Red Ball! On and off Joelle would come on stage in a radiant emerald green dress to provide the soulful vocals! All the world famous Final Fantasy themes were covered in this 2 hour concert! From the Prelude to Final Fantasy to Aerith’s Theme, Liberi Fatali, One Winged Angel… the first segment ended with Joelle serenating us with Suteki Da Ne (FFX).
The matinee was great but I heard the evening show was even better with a sold out crowd! I think it is a great effort by the folks behind Animangaki. A big thanks to you all who bought tickets, bought merchandise to support these artiste & the organisers. As I mentioned at the Iori Nomizu Voice Actor event, the fate of such future events weights on the success of this current one. This has so far been the motto of the Japanese organisers & ‘big boss’ whom I’ve met. I hope to see more exciting expansion from them in the future! Thank you for the invite & gambateh in 2017!!
#FinalFantasy #DreamsAndImagination #Nathankct #Joelle #JoelleVoice #JoellesingerJoelle #Malaysia #Jrock #JrocknoTamashii #TommyTallarico #JackWall #NorihikoHibino #EimearNoone
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