View Full Version : Mitsuda at the PLAY! concert in Chicago, US...
http://www.play-symphony.com/news.php?full=15
It looks like the people who are going to the show are going to get an extra special guest! Already confirmed composers that are going to attend/compose are: Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill, Shin Contra, beatmania), Yuzo Koshiro (Actraiser, Bare Knuckle, Shenmue), Marty O'Donnell (HALO), Jeremy Soule (Secret of Evermore, Morrowind)...
Man, this show is going to be AMAZING! I'm glad I'm taking the trip out to Chicago to see this awesome concert!
Fatigue
03-13-2006, 10:21 PM
It's times like these I wish I were American ;_;
Can't believe I'm missing out on this. I only hope he comes to Australia Play! concert (although it's unlikely).
Be sure to report your experience, Tommy! I can't wait to read what happens there. :)
Be sure to report your experience, Tommy! I can't wait to read what happens there. :)
Absolutely! I'll have my camera (although I probably won't be able to use it during the show), and I'll have a write-up of the concert. I have a feeling it's going to be like, "Well, there was some boring Western MMORPG music and then OMG! SILENT HILL! Then some Jeremy Soule stuff I almost fell asleep during and HOLY CRAP! MITSUDA!"
We'll see how this goes. :P
Rain Corale
03-15-2006, 04:40 AM
Absolutely! I'll have my camera (although I probably won't be able to use it during the show),
I'll be there too!
I would like to see them try and stop me from taking some pictures.
gamemusicfreak
03-15-2006, 05:51 PM
I too will be attending this concert. I am very excited! Everyone who is attending, don't forget to bring CDs to be autographed! I attended the first Dear Friends Final Fantasy Concert in America on May 10th, 2004 and got my FF VI OST signed by Mr. Uematsu himself. Now I'm taking all my Yuzo and Mitsuda CDs as well.
Other Game Music concerts I attended were two Dear Friends FF shows in Atlanta, Georgia my home town, and the More Friends FF Concert on May 16th, last year. This indeed is going to be awesome!
skitch_84
03-25-2006, 04:14 PM
Hey everyone. It's been a while since I've posted on these forums, due to a lack of activity in my personal niche of VGM. But, man! I can't believe Mitsuda is actually going to be in America. I just purchased my VIP tickets for the show in Chicago. $125.00 is a small price to pay to 1. Hear his music performed live by a full orchestra, and 2. Actually meet the man! Me and the drummer of my band (and newly converted Mitsuda fan) will be attending. Our seats are section 102, row G, seats 11 and 12. Let me know if any of you guys have seats close by, or are even just attending. Maybe we can meet up in the morning and hang out in Chicago. Hope to see some of you there.
In case anyone is interested in saying hello, I'm in Section 109, Row N, seat 11! :)
gamemusicfreak
03-26-2006, 06:15 AM
Section 103, Row A, Seat 1 for me!
I will be at the meet & greet as well, and I had this idea of making my avatar image into some kind of pin/badge. This would enable others I have met online who are attending to find me.
Did everyone see that Mr. Uematsu will be at the meet and geet for the May 27th show as well? This is great news indeed!
I'm in Section 103, Row F, Seat 6. I've been waiting so long for Mitsuda's arrival to the states so this is really something to look forward to. Although, I'm still looking for a place to stay or someone to go with. :(
I had purchased 2 regular tickets (me and my brother) BEFORE all these composers were added to the meet-and-greet, and then a whole month later Yasunori gets announced.... Section 109, Row N, Seats 5-6
I was debating if I should sell them off and spend $300 for 2 VIPs instead (mainly to see Mitsuda-san, secondary to see Koshiro-san), but now ticketmaster says the VIPs are already soldout.
I'm hoping they'll have him up on stage at some point during the show, so the rest of us "regular seats" could glimpse and wave then...
Wonder how they'll work the setup though, since so many composers are there, if you really get some face-time with ALL of them, or have to choose which line to wait in and only get to meet one of them.. Due to reasonable time constraints, who knows...
So this Chicago show is happening in May? Can't wait to hear some impressions. I wonder what Mitsuda will think of his fans in North America once he gets to meet them in person.
There is one show coming to a city near me in VA, but I doubt Mitsuda's going to attend...I might buy a ticket anyway. Gotta support game music in this country somehow.
gamemusicfreak
04-17-2006, 07:02 PM
Carl brings an interesting question to mind! If you had to choose only one of the composers you could meet, which one would it be? I would pick Yuzo Koshiro, I hope I can at least get to meet him and get some CDs signed.
In a perfect world, I envisioned a big room, with all of those great composers sitting at some tables, where you could approach any one of them at any time for a quick chat, and then move on to meet another one. That's what I'm hoping for.
Time is ticking away... I'm leaving for my trip tomorrow. I hope everyone is still excited for the show!!! =D
skitch_84
05-23-2006, 08:11 AM
Does anyone know if the meet-and-greet is before or after the show? Also, where will it take place. I hope there is some sort of direction given at the show. I can't wait to meet Mitsuda! I'm bringing my first editions of the Chrono Cross and Xenogears (limited edition) soundtracks to get signed. Yeah, I spent way too much on these but I figured that if I was going to meet him I might as well have some very nice editions to keep as memorabilia. Anyway, I'll see you all there.
-Chris-
Does anyone know if the meet-and-greet is before or after the show? Also, where will it take place. I hope there is some sort of direction given at the show. I can't wait to meet Mitsuda! I'm bringing my first editions of the Chrono Cross and Xenogears (limited edition) soundtracks to get signed. Yeah, I spent way too much on these but I figured that if I was going to meet him I might as well have some very nice editions to keep as memorabilia. Anyway, I'll see you all there.
-Chris-
The official Play! site confirms that the meet and greets will take place after the performance. But, I'd like to know if there's a specific dress code for the concert? I've read on other boards that you're not even allowed to wear casual clothing (ie: a t-shirt and jeans). Can anyone confirm this or inform us of what's suitable attire for the event? Thanks in advance guys.
Last year about 1/2 were dressed nicely, while the other half were casual.
(and the meet-and-greet was in the same building, Skitch, after the regular ticketholders got dismissed)
It's going to be about 87 degrees for the high on Saturday, so it'll be pretty warm.
Khaki pants and a lightweight button down the front shirt would be fine.
(I think jean shorts and plain t-shirt would be TOO casual).
I'll be wearing an ivory/bone colored, silk/cotton blend, lightweight suit by Bachrach.
skitch_84
05-28-2006, 08:56 PM
Last night was incredible!!! That's an understatement. When my friend Ben and I got there we were about 2 hours early. So, we just hung out in front of the building and talked to this guy Keith, a.k.a. "Gamemusicfreak". Guess who walks out the front door together? Yeah, Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu. Nobody said a word. We were just awe-struck. Anyway, the concert itself was amazing! The orchestra, led with much enthusiasm by Arnie Roth, played wonderfully. Highlights include: Akira Yamaoka's guitar performance with the orchestra, Koji Kondo playing a solo piano piece from the new Mario game, Angela Aki playing piano and singing "Kiss Me Goodbye" with orchestral accompaniment and her own jazzy piano and voice version of "Eyes on Me", and of course Mitsuda's "Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross Suite"! Amazing!!!!
After the concert was the meet-and-greet. I was able to shake the hand of (I'll try to remember the order) Rony Barrak (an incredible percussionist who played during the Battlefield 1942 piece and the "Time's Scar" portion of Mitsuda's Suite), Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Jason Hayes, Yuzo Koshiro, Akira Yamaoka, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Koji Kondo, Jeremy Soule, Marty O'Donnell & Micheal Salvatori (when I handed Marty my copy of Halo 2: volume 2 he turned to Michael and said "we got a volume 2 here". After they each signed it Marty said to me "You can probably sell this on Ebay tomorrow for a lot of money. This is the first copy of volume 2 with both of our signatures on it"), and Arnie Roth. I was even able to get a picture of myself with Mitsuda. We were told that we could take pictures of the composers but not individual pictures of ourselved with them. But, I really wanted one so I simply said: "Mitsuda-san" and pointed to the camera. He stood up and put an arm around my shoulder. SNAP! I got the picture. I'll post it when I get it from my friend's camera.
Well, it was an awesome night and I highly recommend checking Play! out if it comes near you. The meet-and-greet will be different for each performance but the music should stay basically the same. It was great.
gamemusicfreak
05-28-2006, 09:25 PM
Hah! I couldn't have said it better. Nice to see you again! I got a picture with Yuzo Koshiro! Probably my proudest moment in my life of collecting game music.
Here is my picture with Koshiro-san if anyone's interested:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gamemusicfreak/KeithYuzoresize.jpg
He was so nice and even signed all the Ys, Actraisers, Super Adventure Island, and the Scheme CDs I brought.
I got a ton of stuff signed by Uematsu, Mitsuda, and the Zelda Windwaker and Ocarina of Time signed by Mr. Koji Kondo!
Very Awesome of them all to stay late after such a long show to do that.
Fatigue
05-29-2006, 05:18 AM
That's great that everyone met their favorite composers! I'm just hoping that some composers come down to Australia for a quick visit.
Was anyone able to speak to the composers? Did they have translators?
Rain Corale
05-29-2006, 05:43 AM
I got a ton of stuff signed by Uematsu, Mitsuda, and the Zelda Windwaker and Ocarina of Time signed by Mr. Koji Kondo!
Very Awesome of them all to stay late after such a long show to do that.
You bastard! You are the reason we idiots at the end of the line didn't get to see these guys until 1:00 AM in the morning! GRRR! :)
EASILY, hands down, one of the greatest nights of my life...
Shaking hands with these guys and telling them how much their work meant to me was worth more than all the autographs in the world. I will never EVER forget that.
level99
05-29-2006, 05:45 AM
That's great that everyone met their favorite composers! I'm just hoping that some composers come down to Australia for a quick visit.
Was anyone able to speak to the composers? Did they have translators?
They did not have translators. Yuzo Koshiro and Uematsu seemed to speak English fairly well, but others such as Mitsuda seemed to not.
I also recommend everyone go to see "Play!". It was great. The meet and greet was fairly awkward due to the language barrier, and I regret pretty much everything I said and did, but when it comes down to it, I shook the hands of some of my absolute heroes, and that is nothing to regret. Plus, I found out that Marty O'Donnell, one of the composers for Halo, went to my High School... and that one of my friend's fathers was in his graduating class!! Crazy!!
Did anyone else get the impression that Koji Kondo seemed slightly upset? Like he seemed reluctant to shake my and my friend's hands...
gamemusicfreak
05-29-2006, 03:24 PM
I thought Mr. Kondo looked very shy, like he was nervous or something.
I got my picture at 1:08 am! I was very close to the end of the line myself. I watched in envy as skitch_84 showed me his picture with Mitsuda and I was barely halfway up the stairs. I was thinking, I'm gonna cry if I can't get a similar picture.
level99
05-29-2006, 04:01 PM
Hey we must've been right by each other. I didn't get out of there until about 1:25. What a long line that was..!
gamemusicfreak
05-29-2006, 06:07 PM
Hey we must've been right by each other. I didn't get out of there until about 1:25. What a long line that was..!
That's funny, sorry I didn't get to meet you in person! I was thankful everyone was so nice and stayed the whole time. Mr. Koshiro asked me how I got all those old CDs of his. There's all these pictures of him in the liner notes when he was younger. He said he was 22 when he did Actraiser. I thought that was amazing. Very nice to be able to relive the event with you all here!
Now they must produce a full 3 CD set of the event or I will be very disappointed...
skitch_84
05-29-2006, 08:48 PM
Yeah, they MUST release a recording of the event! At least a CD, if not a DVD too. This was the best live music performance I've ever been to, hands down. Nice meeting you Keith (a.k.a. Gamemusicfreak). I'm glad you were able to get that bag full of treasures autographed. I was only able to get my Xenogears OST signed. The producer said that we could only have one item signed per composer. So I got Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori to sign my Halo 2 and the rest of the guys I had sign my poster. Then again, he also said that there could be no pictures taken with the composers, only of them. Well, I was getting my picture with Mitsuda regardless. Check it out here: http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/pilotofthestorms/ChristopherMitsuda.jpg. Here's a pic of Mitsuda signing my Xenogears OST: http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/pilotofthestorms/autograph.jpg. My only regret of the entire night: I didn't bring a copy of my own compositions to give to Mitsuda. I really wish I would have done that, you know, with contact info. It would have been worth a shot. Oh well. Maybe next time, if there ever is one.
The PLAY Symphony at Chicago was fantastic, and was much better than Dear Friends, so this really is the best USA performance yet.
Loved it when Koji Kondo was playing his special piano solo, that was great.
Awesome new arrangements for both Mario and Zelda suites, different than what's on the Big Band Live, so that was a major plus!
Of course the new Chrono Suite was superbly fantastic, that was a real treat!!
Mitsuda should also be happy about most of his Procyon merchandise CDs and Piano/Guitar scores were good selling.
Hearing the Metal Gear Solid Main Theme live was powerful and majestic as expected. Yuzo Koshiro did a fantastic Arrangement job on that new Sonic 1 suite, that was a big highlight for me as well.
Overall a completely enjoyable show, and anyone who doesn't yet have tickets for the other PLAY! symphony shows yet needs to get tickets and GO SEE IT!! It's very appealing to experience the music live!
gamemusicfreak
05-30-2006, 12:27 AM
Carl's right! Don't miss it! Even though it means shelling out more money, I think I may just attend the Detroit show. Haven't decided yet, but who knows when this will happen again? Getting to meet Sakimoto and Shimomura would also be awesome.
level99
05-30-2006, 03:58 AM
Carl's right! Don't miss it! Even though it means shelling out more money, I think I may just attend the Detroit show. Haven't decided yet, but who knows when this will happen again? Getting to meet Sakimoto and Shimomura would also be awesome.
I am trying to decide about making the journey to Detroit as well. Yeah, everyone, THAT's how good the show was. I'm debating if it's worth adventuring TWICE for.
If they announce that Motoi Sakuraba will be there... I will not be able to resist.
Eniosus
06-06-2006, 01:50 PM
Does anyone know when Mr. Mitsuda will be back in the states? I'm interested in attending the next Play, but schedule is very busy, so I can only risk making time if I know Mitsuda will be there for sure.
Fatigue
06-06-2006, 06:05 PM
Does anyone know when Mr. Mitsuda will be back in the states? I'm interested in attending the next Play, but schedule is very busy, so I can only risk making time if I know Mitsuda will be there for sure.
Mitsuda's schedule is very busy, and we have not received any news if he will be returning to another Play! concert. However, we will inform you here if he will return. :)
Eniosus
06-07-2006, 12:50 AM
Neat, thanks a lot for your reply. I'll keep an eye out for any news.
Finally had the chance to put down my video games and slack off at work and write this:
http://pulsephaze.blogspot.com
skitch_84
06-12-2006, 11:38 PM
Hey guys,
I just wanted to let you all know that I've recently completed my own arrangement of "June Mermaid" from the Xenogears OST and I'd love for you to hear it. If anyone is interested, check it out here: www.myspace.com/cjpmusic. There are also two other completely original compositions of mine posted there. Any comments/feedback/criticism would be appreciated. Thanks.
gamemusicfreak
06-23-2006, 04:14 PM
Well done!! I hope you got my pm, really excellent work man. Keep it up! The piece titled "An Afterthought" is awesome, I started visualizing a lake town, like one you would see in an RPG.
I had to buy a ticket for the Detroit Play concert as well. I was putting it off, then they announced that music from Shadow of the Colossus will performed there, and I immediately bought a ticket! I may go broke, but it will be worth it!
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