last night i was lucky enough to be in the audience at the nob hill masonic center in san francisco to see a live performance of "dear friends", music from the final fantasy series by nobou uematsu. wow, what an experience. uematsu san is definitely my single biggest musical influence in the game music sphere, and to see his works performed live by a full orchestra - with him in attendence no less! - was unreal. afterwards, he spoke to the sold-out crowd through an interpreter. he's gracious, funny, and charismatic. he has acheived a kind of super-stardom in this field that i feel no shame in wanting to emulate. the crowd was intense, responsive, and held nothing back in letting uematsu know that they not only appreciated his contributions to game music but ranked him at the top of the game score pantheon. probably the most notable thing about his speach afterward was that he lamented the fact that most japanese children don't have the opportunity to experience live orchestral music, and that if more children are able to experience orchestral music at all through the final fantasy games and others like them, he feels like he's given something back. clearly his success has not touched his integrity, and he is still gracious and humble despite being world-renowned. did anyone else see the concert and have any comments?

Jay, I was at the Chicago debut, and I can only echo what you have said. A true experience. I'll echo something I said on the AudioGANG forums, pertaining to the audience and the music. This music is our music too. We're connected to it in a way that noone is connected to Mozart. It is intertwined to an shared experience, and that made the concert all the more powerful.


How was the dress code there? I've had a bone to pick with the Chicago audience, 90% of everyone in tshirts and jeans, and some in ridiculous cosplay. As a friend pointed out "ACEN continued."
I had someone on another board tell me "If youre complaining about the dress at the concert, you obviously dont know what kind of people are into this stuff."
That just set me off. I, and my friends, -are- the kind of people into this stuff, and I dont want to be associated with the kind of people that can't greet a momentous occasion with a little class and dignity. We need to raise the bar a little bit on ourselves if we're so keen on having our music taken seriously by the general public. Theres a time and place for being a grungy teen in an anime tshirt, but theres a time for being dignified and, god help us, dressed up. A landmark symphonic concert is that time and place.
Performers come in suits because that is what is warranted by their craft. The audience should too for the same reason. It has nothing to do with the "kind of people" that usually go see concerts. It's not snobbery, its culture.

Quote: Original post by krikkit
How was the dress code there?

i was rather impressed by the dress code people exhibited. i think people held themselves with an overwhelming sense of dignity overall. there were exceptions, of course, but even the quintessential "anime kids" at least wore nice pants and shoes w/ a polo or something. most of the people there were in nice shirts and ties or sweaters, dresses, etc.

i also agree that this is our music. the energy in the room was unreal. it's not something that can be duplicated.

Only a fool would associate class and dignity with a style of dress.

Quote: Original post by chad_420
Only a fool would associate class and dignity with a style of dress.

Only a fool would disregard them out of hand. Oh, and just for reference, while dignity can easily be considered completely seperate from dress-code, social class must by defintion take this into account.

Quote: Original post by chad_420
Only a fool would associate class and dignity with a style of dress.

Only a slob doesnt realize that decorum and personal presentation are vested components of personable and professional behavior.

And someone without class would fail to recognize an occasion which calls for it.

Now now, this isn't really the time or place for an argument on such an issue. People may still have input on the original topic without getting caught up in an argument about dress-code, class, and style.