Hey Duders! Last night my fiancee and I attended the performance of Final Fantasy: A New World in Ann Arbor, MI. In case you're unfamiliar with it, A New World is a spinoff of sorts from Final Fantasy: Distand Worlds, the touring orchestral production of music from the series. A New World is this but on a smaller scale- last night it was an eleven piece band.

I'm going to run through some of the highlights of the night (and I'll link to some songs from their album to give you a feel for the performance).

The Red Wings (FFIV)

This is what they opened the concert with. It's a great piece, and this performance typifies what I felt more and more as the night went on: The players did a fantastic job of having an ebb and flow across the various instruments, moving back and forth from having emphasis on the strings and the wind sections.

The Promise/Blinded By Light (FFXIII)

I enjoyed XIII more than your average person did, but I have an especially deep love for the music from the game. The Promise is my favorite piece from the soundtrack, and here it was performed as a duet between conductor Arnie Roth on violin and pianist Benyamin Nuss. It was exceptionally beautiful. At the end, they transitioned into Blinded By Light (which is the main battle theme from XIII). It was really cool to hear that arranged as a duet.

Chocobo Medley

This was probably one of the more fun takes on the Chocobo theme that I've heard, incorporating things like ukulele, slide whistle, and marimba.

March of the Dreadnoughts (FFXIII)

Benyamin Nuss performed three solo pieces on piano throughout the night. March of the Dreadnoughts is a fun piece that translates well to a solo performance on piano. Nuss was phenomenal throughout the night (more on this later), and I felt he did a great job capturing the feel of this one.

Zanarkand (FFX)

Conductor Arnie Roth spent some time talking about how he and Nobou Uematsu wanted A New World to have a different feel than Distant Worlds. They try to stay away from having the same setlist between the productions, and so A New World stays away from some of the most well known pieces. However, they felt they couldn't do a FF concert without Zanarkand. I'm glad they made that decision. It was one of the most memorable pieces from the night, and the band came together for an incredible performance of this classic.

The Decisive Battle (FFVI)

This was another really great, energetic performance. They even played it again for the encore!

Troia (FFIV)

Troia was probably my favorite new arrangement from the night. This was performed as a duet between the cello and the classical guitar. It created a more personal feel to the piece that I felt fit the theme of the concert well.

Those Who Fight (FFVII)

This was the final solo that pianist Benyamin Nuss played. He performed the piece in the style of the track from the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The first time I heard that version of the piece, it blew me away. It's an intensely complex piano piece, and one of my favorites from all Final Fantasy. Nuss knocked it out of the park with this one. This was one of my true hightlights of the night.

One-Winged Angel (FFVII)

My other biggest highlight of the night, this was the other classic that Roth and Uematsu felt they needed to carry over to A New World. They used a fun bit of audience participation for this one as well: Every time the "SEPHI-ROTH" part would come up, Roth would turn to the audience and have everyone shout it out. It was a fun way to do the piece, and the performance that went along with it was incredible.

I had a great time at the concert. It's a really good set of music played by some fantastic musicians. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy music and this comes to your area, you owe it to yourself to attend.