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On Friday September 18, I went to see The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses: Master Quest concert with my mom. It was freakin' awesome. Here's the official description:
We arrived at the Mann early, in time to get dinner and not rush. (I did have some complications in taking the train and walking to the Mann, which I will duly note for future reference in case I ever go back there - notably, that there may be better ways to go than by taking the regional rail Cynwyd line to Wynnefield Avenue station, and that if doing so, it's best to keep in mind that this will result in a 20-minute walk down a road through an empty park in the city, and that you'll arrive at the literal back door to the venue where there's a gate but it's the one the event staff use, and so if you need to meet someone in the parking lot this may not be the route to take. Luckily the lady at the gate was really really nice and helped me figure out how to meet up with my mom.)
We ate up on a hill with a great view of the city in front of us. Below us, many nerds in costumes and Zelda shirts flowed in through the gates. These nerds are our people; we were also wearing our Zelda shirts. The costumes were really fun to see. At one point I saw a dude literally playing an ocarina. My mom, who's never actually been to a con, and who would totally identify Zelda as her primary fandom, was loving it.
The music was great. I remember that they started with Gerudo Valley, which makes sense because how can you have a Zelda concert and leave out literally the most awesome piece of video game music ever composed. They also did medleys from several of the games, including Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and the most recent one where you ride a bird, plus the SuperNES one (which I remember but am less familiar with) and one of the handhelds (which I didn't know at all but totally want to play now). I also remember they did the goddess music from Ocarina (appropriate given the theme), the great fairy's theme, and some dungeony themes. While the orchestra played, a giant screen behind them showed scenes from the game in question, all perfectly timed to the music. And there was a choir too. Now that'd be a dream gig. The conductor, Amy Andersson, was really funny (she wasn't mic'ed, just physical movement) and she got the crowd going, which is probably not part of a conductor's usual job description. The first chair violinist was surprisingly young and extremely kickass.
We talked to a guy and his mom sitting in front of us. He had a really cool Zelda watch, told us all about the Nintendo 3DS (I know nothing about the handheld systems but sudden possibilities opened before me: Zelda on the train!!! I could actually play again!!). He was taking his mom to the concert as a birthday present, like me (and, like me, had splurged on good seats). His mom had introduced him to gaming by playing the original Zelda with him in the room as an 18-month-old, which she got away with by using the time-honored method of giving him an unconnected controller and letting him play along with her. I need to start implementing that (which I can say here because F doesn't read LJ anymore).
In summary, it was freakin' great and I loved it.
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses concert series is back with a third installment: "Master Quest". Audiences can expect to experience awesome new inclusions from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and new music from the recently announced remake of fan favorite The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. A four-movement symphony, recounting the classic storylines from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, A Link to the Past and more. Performed by the Zelda Symphony Orchestra and Choir with video from the Zelda series on a giant screen.
We arrived at the Mann early, in time to get dinner and not rush. (I did have some complications in taking the train and walking to the Mann, which I will duly note for future reference in case I ever go back there - notably, that there may be better ways to go than by taking the regional rail Cynwyd line to Wynnefield Avenue station, and that if doing so, it's best to keep in mind that this will result in a 20-minute walk down a road through an empty park in the city, and that you'll arrive at the literal back door to the venue where there's a gate but it's the one the event staff use, and so if you need to meet someone in the parking lot this may not be the route to take. Luckily the lady at the gate was really really nice and helped me figure out how to meet up with my mom.)
We ate up on a hill with a great view of the city in front of us. Below us, many nerds in costumes and Zelda shirts flowed in through the gates. These nerds are our people; we were also wearing our Zelda shirts. The costumes were really fun to see. At one point I saw a dude literally playing an ocarina. My mom, who's never actually been to a con, and who would totally identify Zelda as her primary fandom, was loving it.
The music was great. I remember that they started with Gerudo Valley, which makes sense because how can you have a Zelda concert and leave out literally the most awesome piece of video game music ever composed. They also did medleys from several of the games, including Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and the most recent one where you ride a bird, plus the SuperNES one (which I remember but am less familiar with) and one of the handhelds (which I didn't know at all but totally want to play now). I also remember they did the goddess music from Ocarina (appropriate given the theme), the great fairy's theme, and some dungeony themes. While the orchestra played, a giant screen behind them showed scenes from the game in question, all perfectly timed to the music. And there was a choir too. Now that'd be a dream gig. The conductor, Amy Andersson, was really funny (she wasn't mic'ed, just physical movement) and she got the crowd going, which is probably not part of a conductor's usual job description. The first chair violinist was surprisingly young and extremely kickass.
We talked to a guy and his mom sitting in front of us. He had a really cool Zelda watch, told us all about the Nintendo 3DS (I know nothing about the handheld systems but sudden possibilities opened before me: Zelda on the train!!! I could actually play again!!). He was taking his mom to the concert as a birthday present, like me (and, like me, had splurged on good seats). His mom had introduced him to gaming by playing the original Zelda with him in the room as an 18-month-old, which she got away with by using the time-honored method of giving him an unconnected controller and letting him play along with her. I need to start implementing that (which I can say here because F doesn't read LJ anymore).
In summary, it was freakin' great and I loved it.
