The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony - Impressions

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linkyshinks

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#1 linkyshinks
Member since 2006 • 1332 Posts

When Nintendo announced a series of orchestral concerts to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Zelda series at this years E3, I was majorly stoked about the prospect of being able to celebrate such a momentous occasion with other fans in this way. As a life-long fan of the series, I know that it's great music has played a pivotal role in it's success.

Hammersmith, Central London, 25th October 2012

You can almost hear Ocarina Morning...

You can almost hear Ocarina Morning. I know, it's creepy.

The concert was taking place in the evening at the Hammersmith Apollo, an old London venue designed by Robert Cromie in the Art Deco forms of the 1930's. It's what we call a Grade B listed building over here. It's an "English Heritage" award, which results in a building having to retain period architectural features. Anyway, this worked well for the whole affair, so I think the venue was chosen well by Nintendo.

I arrived with my girlfriend to find thousands of fans waiting outside in jovial mood, and it was soon apparent that many had come from all parts of Europe. I pulled out my 3DS to bag a few trophies in Street Fighter IV, and then noticed the StreetPasses were coming in thick and fast. In the end I got about 70 or so hits last night, a number which meant absolutely nothing to me, but from my 3DS waiting in the queue I was able to see just how important this event was to everyone. It was clear that many had travelled from all parts of the world and were very happy to be there on the evidence of their welcome messages. I dread to think how much money some of them may have paid to get the opportunity though, one Austrian couple we spoke to told us they paid about a grand in pounds sterling, and this after the dude recently lost a job working for a mobile games developer in Vienna.

It was nicely laid out inside, the decor looked elegant and the bars were oozing booze and people were happy. I was until I noticed the queue at the merchandise stall. if you can even call it that. Foreigners do not queue quite like we Britons do, the sheer amount of pushing and shoving going on was offensive and disgraceful. I ordered some drinks and asked my girlfriend to wait for me, I knew this was going to take a while.

I had only arrived near the till when the announcer came on to ask people to take their seats, It was at that point I mumbled a few obscenities and asked my girlfriend to bring me the double shot dark rum I'd ordered earlier. I gulped it down, got my Zelda T-Shirt and Wind Waker 25th poster, then we both ran upstairs to take to our seats.

The goal is in sight on the right, the goal is in sight on the right, the goal is in sight on the right

(£20 Pounds for a poster, and £25 for a T-shirt)

PART I

Having taken our seats, 1) Hyrule Castle Theme from Link to the Past begins to play with all the orchestral majesty you can imagine...

The atmosphere was electric, Eiji Aonuma took to the stage to talk about the importance of the event to both Nintendo and it's loyal Zelda fans, many of which couldn't be there to celebrate in person. He also talked about the importance of music in the Zelda series, and how in Skyward Sword the music would be taken to the next level using Wii Motion Plus. Apparently, the music in Skyward Sword will coordinate at times depending on your movements in battles and elsewhere in the game.

Aonuma san introduced us all to the symphony's conductor, Eímear Noone (below), and she in turn introduced us to her orchestra sections, who I should say all played awesome little Zelda jingles to show off their talent. She also introduced us to our guest presenter for the evening, the aptly named, Zelda Williams, who the crowd instantly warmed to after she proclaimed her love for Majora's Mask.

Here's a little Zelda mixing up her valleys and villages, before introducing - 5) Boss Battle Medley, played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with great venom:

http://youtu.be/o5KBaGuWrHo


2) Princess Zelda's Theme


The "Wind Waker Symphonic Movement" was one of the best moments for me. Wind Waker's music in full orchestral glory was always destined to sound incredibly good, and I found the gameplay footage that accompanied the music amusing and apt. I really liked the rendition of the chirpy music that plays when you're on Ms Tetra's ship. And boy did those violins sound good...

3) Wind Waker Symphonic Movement: (open in new tab with headphones - best bit comes at the end)

Wind Waker poster featuring a quack-nosed Rito girl = win

Wind Waker 25th poster featuring a quack-nosed Rito girl = Win

4) Ocarina of Time Melody Suite - This went down very well with the Ocarina fans.

5) Boss Battle Medley -Delivered with venom from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. I was really impressed by the precision.

6) Kakariko Village - I have no idea what instruments were playing, butI lovedwhat they were doing. One of the best.

7) Zelda 25th Anniversary Medley - This was so awesome, it really was the best way to take fans to the intermission, it spiked the excitement in all of us.

INTERMISSION- Got a burger, sank a bottle of beer and played The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword:

I came away very impressed with what I played of Skyward Sword, it's framerate was rock solid, and the art and full array of colour combinations are truly a feast for your eyes to behold. I don't think I've ever seen a game with bolder colour usage. The newly developed graphical effects have a wild and vivid dreamlike quality which further enhances the whole visual effect.

Motion controls require clean clinical swipes in all directions, they have a really nice bite to them once you work out your timing, only then does it begin to feel comfortable and satisfying. I really enjoyed the little things like being able to deflect Ghirahim's electro bolts he sends levitating your way in the boss battle. You can strike them back at him by slicing at them with exactly the same directional slice of the Wii Remote. Agility wise, Link feels great, he's certainly never felt so nimble to control in any previous Zelda games.

PART II


Eight) Gannon's Theme -I loved this, it was as dark as the Boss Medley which the orchestra had done so well with previously.

9) The Legend of Zelda: Selected Short's Suite - All the little sonic nuances fans have grown to love over the years, but never have they sounded this good (jaw dropped)...We all cheered.

10) Gerudo Valley - This was fantastic, my ears had never heard anything like it before, Recorded orchestral music simply doesn't sound as good as this.

11) Hyrule Field Theme - A huge crowd pleaser, this was the moment many had waited for on the evidence of the cheer that rang out.

12) Great Fairy's Fountain Theme - This was so lovely...

TranscendenceTranscendence

Special Guest: Nintendo's Koji Kondo takes to the stage. He sits down at the piano to play "Granny Theme" from Wind Waker. Listening to it I was reminded of the scene in Wind Wakerwhere Grandma's on the shore waving Link off on his adventure...

13)Twilight Princess Symphonic Movement- The fact this sounded so good wasn't a surprise to me.

14)The Legend of Zelda Main Theme Medley- A fitting end to a truly magical night for fans.

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bobcheeseball

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#2 bobcheeseball
Member since 2007 • 9316 Posts

Wow.

 Impressive! Thanks for the post. I wish I could go :/ 

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JukedSolid

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#3 JukedSolid
Member since 2006 • 991 Posts
So they didn't play The Ballad of the Goddess? That's surprising but maybe they didn't want to give away such an integral song for the game when it was still so new. 
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metroid_dragon

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#4 metroid_dragon
Member since 2003 • 1964 Posts

So they didn't play The Ballad of the Goddess? That's surprising but maybe they didn't want to give away such an integral song for the game when it was still so new. JukedSolid


They likely did not play Ballad of the Goddess because there is another Zelda themed orchestrated concery which was happening around the same time called "The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses". I went to that one when it was here, performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

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JukedSolid

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#5 JukedSolid
Member since 2006 • 991 Posts

I am definitely going to one of these someday. I'll wear a suit and everything. haha. Hopefully there will be one in the pacific northwest sometime in the future. I'll reserve my ticket like a year in advance if I can. How did you guys get your tickets? Was it difficult?

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waZelda

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#6 waZelda
Member since 2006 • 2956 Posts
Sounds like an amazing concert. I loved the 25th anniversary CD and can't imagine how great it must have been live. I'd have to be a lot richer before I could go to a concert like that though. I don't suppose there'll be a Zelda concert in Norway anytime soon.