Xenogears 20th Anniversary Concert -The Beginning and the End-

The Xenogears 20th Anniversary Concert -The Beginning and the End- was a concert held in April 2018, featuring orchestral arrangements of the Xenogears Original Soundtrack, as well as performances of certain tracks from the Xenogears Original Soundtrack Revival Disc -the first and the last- and CREID. Arrangements were done by Yasunori Mitsuda, Sachiko Miyano, Mariam Abounnasr, and Youki Yamamoto, with vocals by ANÚNA and Joanne Hogg. A Blu-ray disc recording of the concert was released in 2019.
==Track List==
# Dark Dawn
# Bond of Sea and Flame
# Village Pride
# Wind from the Valley - A Distant Promise
# Steel Giants
# Where Dreams Hatch
# Grahf, Ruler of Darkness - Fuse
# Dreams of the Brave - Deadly Dance
# Small Two of Pieces (Piano Version)
# Memories Left Behind
# We, the Wounded Shall Advance into the Light
# Windy Song
# Lost... -Screeching Shards-
# The End of Childhood
# Blazing Knights
# October Mermaid
# Shevat -The Wind Calls-
# Soaring - Wings
# Foreboding
# Awakening - Fangs Bared at God
# The Beginning and the End
# Small Two of Pieces -Screeching Shards-
# Stars of Tears
# Bartholomew & Lahan
# A Distant Promise (Music Box Version)
==Album notes==
===Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda===
====Creating the Blu-ray™====
: We had heard that you were not going to release the video as a product.
Yes, I wasn't planning to! (laugh) As I've mentioned before on my blog and other places, I
believe that a live concert is a place to enjoy
the heat, the atmosphere, and the tension of
other audience members sitting next to you.
You can't feel these things if you're not
actually there. It's a great thing to go to an
event that you can't truly experience without
actually being there. I've seen live videos of
various performances myself and just thought
"Wow, I wish I was there..." Haven't you? I feel
like that when I watch the work of other artists,
and it always feels like I can't truly immerse
myself in the moment. That was why I
originally didn't want to release it. My job is to
create a perfect product, with perfect performances and mixing. So, I always felt that if I
were to release a Blu-ray™, it would have to be
perfect. That's what I always told Square Enix,
too. So then I told me, "Let's put aside the
question of whether we're releasing a Blu-ray™
or not. There's the recording and the Niconico
broadcast, and we have the videos as recordings for now. If you're still interested in the
Blu-ray™ later, let's think about it then." (laugh)
Square Enix is clever, I'll give them that!
:It sounds like they had it all thought out!
Exactly! (laugh) 80% of me didn't want to
release it. But if, by chance, the show went
really well and I was able to unify the whole
audience on top of that, and if a video could
precisely convey the heat... then I could think
about it.
:By "heat," do you mean the temperature?
Right, right! You could say that it doesn't convey well on screen... Like the sense of isolation
you feel when watching a fireworks display on
a screen. (laugh) With thoughts like these, I
just didn't even consider releasing a live show
as a product.
:But that changed later when you watched the recording, right?
That's right. The concert itself was just as I'd
imagined. All of the staff gave it their all, and I
think it turned out to be a fantastic concert.
However, I can't really give an objective point
of view because I'm in it. I was enjoying being
on stage myself! (laugh) I was on stage all the
way through the rehearsal, too. You know how
you could only watch the first song on
Niconico? I watched that.
:I heard that you were hesitant about installing cameras.
Yes, I always told them that I'd rather open up
the seats to let more people in rather than
dedicating space just for cameras. But, you see,
there were comments from people who really
wanted to attend, but just couldn't come
because they live too far away or because they
have children. Hearing those comments, we
decided on doing a live broadcast on Niconico that anyone could watch.
When I watched the video back objectively for
the first time, it was even greater than I'd
imagined. The camera work and the lighting
were amazing too. As for lighting, there was
this lighting provider that I really wanted to
use no matter what... So I thought it might be a
waste not to record it in some form.
:Like some kind of sense of duty?
No one does concerts like this, even in the
game industry, so it crossed my mind that
maybe we should record it after all. But still,
knowing that the concert had to be done
properly, I told Square Enix that if all four performances were recorded, then I'd give it a
listen and consider it once more. And then,
they recorded all four of the performances
perfectly using top-of-the-line microphones.
(laugh)
:That was quite the trick... Or strategy, should I say? (laugh)
Exactly. I knew exactly what they'd done when
the data came in. (laugh) So I gave it a try and
edited the first song, then I suddenly became
completely absorbed in it. (laugh) I got completely carried away and thought, “Huh?!
What's going on?" (laugh) The things I was
originally apprehensive about were no longer
an issue, and I began to feel more and more
okay about releasing it.
:What were you most apprehensive about?
I guess the performance was my biggest
worry. The video, too. With video, visual information becomes particularly important, so I
was worried about the video quality and the
camerawork. They recorded both the afternoon and evening shows on the second day,
but in the end, the way they thought carefully
and prepared for this release was a great help
for me in terms of my ability to edit it. My
honest impression was that even the rough
edit was really cool, and I wouldn't be able to
help but release it once it was edited into a
really good live concert video. But of course
they wouldn't let me do that. (laugh) Also,
feedback from fans was another big worry.
Someone once wrote a comment that struck
me: "I don't want to forget this concert, but I
hate the fact that, as humans, our memories
gradually fade away." I myself realized, hearing this, that I'll slowly forget how much I
enjoyed this concert. It saddened me.
It was these various elements coming together
that made me want to create this product.
====Memories of the Concert====
:The variety of stage performances, guests, videos on Niconico - how do you think they all influenced you?
I talked with Square Enix about the final music
box, how it has to be the real thing. They went
to all the trouble to make it from scratch...
:When did they start making it?
Since some time at the beginning of the year.
In the end, I decided it had to be a music box.
It's sometimes good to make absurd requests,
right? (laugh) However, I think everyone was
deeply moved by that final scene. I've never
heard of a standing ovation happening at the
sound of a music box like that, especially in a
concert hall! (laugh) It's because everyone was
listening so intimately. I think it's proof that
we could immerse the audience in the world
of Xenogears, which made me glad that I did
the concert. I thought it ended really well.
Despite the hard specifications and time
limitations, everyone gave their utmost. I am
truly grateful to everyone who helped make
this happen.
:There were people who entered the hall crying, right?
Ah... (laugh) Well, speaking of things that left
an impression on me, when I was mixing for
this release, there is an announcement that
plays at the end. The microphone picked up a
lady crying nearby who said "That was so
amazing!" (laugh) She was probably sitting
apart from a friend and went to talk to them
after it finished. The sound of her crying and
saying it was so good, unable to suppress her
emotions... When I heard that I was truly glad
that we had held the concert. (laugh) That
doesn't often happen when you go to watch a
concert, right?
:So how was the production at the venue?
The moment I set foot into the venue, I
decided that I wanted to make it feel like the
world of Xenogears. My original plan was to
make the lobby look like the Eldridge, so I told
them that I wanted a mechanical-looking
setting, for the whole of one wall to look like
the inside of a ship, and a starlit sky like a
planetarium on the ceiling of the hall. (laugh) |
wanted people to get excited just entering the
venue. We couldn't do those things due to the
budget and mechanics, but luckily, they
created a similar atmosphere with lighting
production. And then, Kunihiko Tanaka
brought one of his own original pictures. In the
end, that display was made possible thanks to
everyone's great ideas and Kunihiko's
kindness. Even with that, I think everyone was
focused on creating an atmosphere that really said "Xenogears."
:Is there anything that you can tell us now?
To tell you the truth, the Bouzouki microphone
that I was performing with broke after the
afternoon show on the first day. They set up a
replacement microphone for me for that day's
evening performance, and the audio engineer
provided a different microphone for the next
day. I was originally using a wired microphone,
but then they replaced it with a wireless
microphone... And because it was wireless, I
could move around the stage. And that ended
up changing the performance! (laugh) There
were a few complications like that, but it all
worked out well. I'm glad that everyone could
enjoy it even with the issues.
:Are there any particular comments that you remember from after the show?
Each of the musicians said that they wanted to
perform more! (laugh) It's as if they all enjoyed
it so much it didn't feel like work anymore!
(laugh) It struck me how they all, staff and
musicians included, commented that they had
never been part of such an enjoyable concert
before. It was also memorable how the word
"Xenoloss" originated from fans on social
media. I guess the audience could see that we
were enjoying it ourselves. While it is work,
you also have to think about how to enjoy it.
I'm really glad that it was fun despite the
complications we had, and that there was no
awkward nervousness or negative atmosphere. It's nice to forget that work is work!
(laugh)
====Highlights of the Blu-Ray™====
:What would you say are the highlights of the Blu-ray™ ?
All of it! (laugh) From start to finish, it's packed
full of highlights. I always watch it to the very
end... Haruka Sakamoto's guitar solo is so cool,
and I could cry no matter how many times I
watch Joanne's entrance... It impresses me
that, during the encore, all of the musicians are
playing energetically and everyone in the hall
is smiling. There are too many highlights, I
can't choose just one! (laugh)
:Which particular parts of the video left an impression on you?
Probably the scene showing the game screen. I
originally didn't want the game screen to play
at all. But Yumura, the stage director, asked
me, "Are you completely against using video
from the game, then?" It's not that I hated the
idea, but there were so many possible factors,
like making the video editing more difficult
and the bright stage lighting being a problem,
so I was worried that it might negatively affect
the video itself. That idea just didn't really click
with me, to be honest. However, watching
through the edited video helped me realize
that it wasn't a matter of whether to include
footage of the game or not, but what was
important was figuring out how to show it.
Especially the scene in which Joanne sings at
the end of the show. In that scene, the screen
is showing important points in the game, then
at the end it just shows the game's logo. You
get to the end... And it's just the logo! I
suddenly got goose bumps... It was mesmerizing. (laugh) Because if there's a video, you just
end up watching that. It's okay if it links well
with the show, but if it plays continuously like
a music video in combination with the music, it
just doesn't evoke the scene in the same way.
Like in the title sequence of a TV show; I think
that's okay if the music and the video fit perfectly well, or if the scene itself isn't particularly memorable. For example, it's amazing the
moment the shape of the Nisan pendant is
shown. And, instead of using the screen, there
are also scenes that were supplemented using
lighting production. There may be a lot of
factors coming into play here, but I was
completely into the video when I saw it. I
guess it's important to find a way of
presenting it as a whole.
====The definitive concert Blu-Ray™!====
:I heard you took charge of the production of this Blu-ray release, from editing to mixing.
It took four months... Not good! (laugh) I
sometimes asked myself if I was being too
picky. (laugh) But I made it to the very end. It
was an extremely fulfilling task for me. It was
just several days ago that we finished editing.
The engineers told me that, to begin with, four
performances is a huge amount of content.
"The performances were really good and it's
been edited beautifully. It's the perfect live
video; it'll be just like listening to a CD," they
said. They told me that it was going to take a
long time. (laugh) So, I think we overdid it.
(laugh) It took a significantly long time, but I
think it's become a product that everyone will
want to own. Even those who aren't aware of
Xenogears should watch it. This concert Blu-ray™ is exactly what I wanted it to be. It's perfect! That's how confident I am. The current
video is just patched together as a draft, but
the video is even greater in its fully-edited
form!
:Finally, do you have a message for everyone?
I couldn't be happier now that I've released
this Blu-ray™, the culmination of the
Xenogears 20th Anniversary Concert, to the
world in such an exceptional state. I want
everyone to watch, listen, and feel the "heat."
Also, if your memory of the concert starts to
fade, I want you to watch this Blu-ray™ again
and be reminded of how you felt the first time.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold concerts of a
similar caliber as this for future anniversaries
(laugh), but it would make me truly happy if
fans watch this Blu-ray™ and thoroughly
entertain themselves over and over again. I
hope to receive comments from enthusiastic
fans (laugh), saying "Your position and the
lights are different!," as if I'd held the same
concert again.
==External Links==
* VGMdb Article
* (Unofficial) English translation of the concert pamphlet
Category:Music (XG)