Flying in from Prague on 10th. I could join you guys for a while, but on the other hand I also have a big bunch of other friends I'd like to hang around with as much as possible.

So, maybe after the concert (not sure yet).

I will be arriving September 8th in the afternoon, so I'm also available before the 12th. I think the 11th is the only day I am unavailable though.

Put me on the list for before the concert. I'll be driving home to the Netherlands the same evening still.

While I will be making a news update at SEMO later (there's a server outage at our host at the moment), I can confirm that one of these songs is in the Final Fantasy suite.

Wasn't that one supposed to be released tomorrow?

My guess.

The news update as been posted.

http://www.squareenixmusic.com/music..._from=&ucat=2&

Titles to be featured are "Hand in Hand" from Kingdom Hearts, "Prophecy" from Secret of Mana, "Prisoners of Fate" from Chrono Cross, and "Phantom Forest" from Final Fantasy VI.

More titles will be featured but will not be announced prior to the concert. In addition, you can download a PDF of the concert program at the official website.

Expect another update on Thursday. Thomas has told me that it's a huge announcement!

Turns out I'm not even that bad at predictions. Great to have "Phantom Forest" updated, I found the GRAND FINALE version to be not innovative and "daring" enough.

My guess about the "huge announcement" is a press release for a DVD.

I still consider a CD release more predictable and less "huge" (no offense!), but that's probably it, along with a formal announcement of the radio broadcast.

Well, some two hours and we'll know.

Next sunday will be a small preview of the concert as part of an event held in Cologne by the WDR. At 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00 the WDR Rundfunkorchester performs music from Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger & Kingdom Hearts.
If anyone arrives in Cologne a bit earlier...get your info here :D

Dear community, I hate announcements of announcements.

It's still Thursday in Germany so this update was just in time!

Symphonic Fantasies

The big announcement was that for everyone NOT in attendance, there will be a live video stream of the concert on September 12th. The links found in the link above will not work until the day of the concert.

Well, the September 1st announcement that was put up at 12 a.m. CET on SEMO coupled with your earlier comment led some people to believe it would be the same time for that one...

Anyway, that's some great news for people not being able to attend the concert. The only concern I have is how much bandwidth pressure the stream will resist. Can we widely share this link? Will it break if I post it over at GAF for people to tune in?

I have this to relay from Thomas:

Btw, there should be no worries about traffic/the Video Streaming servers. The WDR is working with some high profile/reliable partners to make that work. Fingers crossed!

Kind Regards
Thomas

Okay, I'll go nuts and spread it widely one day prior. :3333:

Also, thanks Thomas for another innovation! :)

I just read that the show will be moderated by Daniel Hartwich. If there's one person on German television I cannot stand, it's him. Mathias Opdenhövel did a surpringly okay job last year but if the trend continues, next year we're going to get Thomas Gottschalk :x

Hans Ernst "Bildschirmspiele" Hanten won't appear, so someone has to fill the role of the gluttonous crétin.

Btw. Prime Blue, what about you regarding the meeting? ;)

Just got back from a long day at Funkhaus am Wallrafplatz (hey, that's where Symphonic Shades took place).
I attended the 4pm game music event. They started with the Fanfare we already know and then showed the top 3 videos of a contest by pupils to make a short movie to the Gem'X theme. Arnie Roth was the conductor by the way.

Then it started becoming really interesting because next up was a Kingdom Hearts medley, around 8 minutes. Of those few songs I know from the series they chose my favorite ones and it was really amazing. This was also the first time I saw Benyamin Nuss performing and he did a great job. I liked his performance much more than whoever played the piano last year at Symphonic Shades.
What I found to be a little annoying were all those crying babies (there were approx. 3 of them) who disturbed the performance. I hope we don't have too many of those next saturday.

Last was the Chrono Trigger / Chrono Cross medley. This had a couple of nice (and short) surprises - and one I was really disappointed with - but I'm not going to spoil anything. But counting the times I got goosebumps CT/CC certainly won the show :D
And this was mostly due to Ronny Barrak playing the percussions. This man is awesome.

The arrangements certainly felt fresh and I can't wait to see how Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana turn out.

As you can see most of the crew was already present and after the show I also saw Thomas Böcker and Jonne Valtonen exit the venue. Though I didn't approach them as I was standing in line to get back inside.

I watched a couple of other events and later was surprised to find Ronny Barrak going around the Funkhaus. I asked him whether what we saw today was already half of next Saturday's show and he said those were just short versions..I was already worrying about that!

So much for today, now I'm really counting the days till Saturday.

Hey guys, so I'm going to be in Stuttgart first, and I had planned on taking a train to Cologne, but I've heard it's very expensive (Roughly 200 US dollars one way). Is this true, and do you have any recommendations as far as travel between cities is concerned?

EDIT: On further research on my own, it looks like I can use the bahn.de website and the price is about 165 Euro's for a rountrip. That sound about right?

Uh...
 

Blargh! I'm going to be mountain climbing on the 12th! Is someone going to record the webcast for those of us who won't have internet access on sept 12?

Phatcorns: Just did a research and sounds right if you choose the normal price. If you have ICQ or MSN feel free to contact me and maybe we can get your drive a bit cheaper.

No offense, but these concert trips are very personal experiences to me. It's just the music and me, in a strange city. Sort of a joyful feeling of solitude. I wouldn't want to deviate from it by "dedicating" myself to anyone.



I'm once again recording the concert from the digital WDR4 channel, but won't release it if there's a CD release. I'm positive that other people will upload it, though.

I think I could take part both before and after the concert. We'll (me and my sister) be staying the night from Saturday to Sunday at one of my sister's friend's family's house (is this even correct grammar??). After that (on Sunday) I'm taking my train back to home :)

I dunno how long I can stay with you guys after the concert. Maybe I'll have to return just right away (I don't feel like ringing their bell at 2:00 in the morning...)

Prime Blue: No problem. :)

LiquidAcid: Of course, nobody is forced to stay with us all night.


EDIT: A friend of mine is offering three tickets for Saturday's concert! They're all in row 5 in the B block. Two are for the normal price and one for the (discounted) student price. If you have (more) friends or family who want to attend the concert, send me a PM with your messenger data and I forward it to my friend.