Surprises at San Francisco Symphony’s Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy concert of music from the famous video game written by the Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu:
1. The audience was full of game geeks, most of them under 35 and many of them Asian.
2. The composer processed through the hall flanked by two aides at the start of the concert before taking his seat with a bow to rapturous applause from his fans.
3. Thousands of people — maybe hundreds of thousands worldwide — are obsessed with Uematsu’s score for Final Fantasy. As soon as the orchestra struck up the first couple of notes, a whoop of delighted recognition rippled through the audience.
4. Fans don’t care about house rules regarding photography. I saw lots of cameras snapping throughout the event despite the loud warning against taking pictures or video.
P.S. Extended Absence Greeting: I will be at the Santa Fe Opera Festival for the rest of the week. Be back in the blogosphere starting next Monday.