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Nobuo Uematsu and Earthbound Papas rocked MAGFest hard
Face? Rocked off. Heart? Still beating. Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu and his band, Earthbound Papas, headlined the concert Saturday night at the 10th MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival), held this year at National Harbor, MD. The crew traveled directly from Japan to the Washington D.C. area to bring live prog rock versions of gaming's best songs to the show's main stage, including Final Fantasy VII's "Still More Fighting," Final Fantasy V's "Clash on the Bridge" and the ultimate version of Final Fantasy VI's boss battle, "Dancing Mad." About 2,500 fans packed the hall in what the convention center says was their biggest concert ever. Uematsu followers, lifelong MAGFest attendees and new guests packed the floor so tightly that it was hard to move. Stationed to the right of the stage in a roped off area was a Uematsu fan with his two children, both of which are named after the composer in some way. The energy of Uematsu and his band was infectious. Fans screamed, cried and I even saw one swoon, nearly falling backwards. This energy was present through the entire set, leading up to the ovation performance, where I saw Uematsu pounding on his Hammond organ with clawed hands, hitting the lower half of the keyboard with his butt as he bounced up and down. I've seen a lot of live performances in my time, but I've never seen a show this great. I'm still buzzing. In the middle of the show I heard someone behind me say, "I'm never missing another MAGFest ever again." Be sure to check out the work of our photographer Chris Serani in the gallery below. Did you know? You can now get daily or weekly email notifications when humans reply to your comments.
Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)Man, that's so cool. Uematsu is one my my favs, wish I could have been there for that. Missed a chance to see Akira Yamaoka 5 or 6 years ago, and I've never lived it down. I heard Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was there, fuck I have to make it to one of these someday. The concert rocked my socks off and then so. Just incredible. When I was waiting in line for the AVGN Q&A, I saw Uematsu and the band lurk around. https://twitter.com/#!/ssj_chris/status/155779294130475008 Was pretty cool spotting them. Might upload a few videos of the concert on YouTube later but I was wayyyyyy in the back. This was amazing, and they were all absolutely wonderful sports. I swear at one point Uematsu busted out with a Colossus scream. MAGfest was an absolute blast, seeing Uematsu, McLain and Jon st. John was a fantastic expierience. It was cool to finally see the dtoid staff too, but next time bring J Ho!!!!
Thanks for coming guys! Closest I'll ever get was seeing the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra a few years back. That was awesome, but this is something else entirely. Ah well, sucks being broke. Really, really wish I went to this. But alas I was at my cousin's wedding, so no can do. There is no way I can miss this next year. With that said, I love the Earthbound Papas but I really miss The Black Mages, it's a shame they disbanded. Man I really wanted to go this year. I didn't know Uematsu was going!! If I had known, I would likely have sold a kidney to go...DAMN! Hope he comes again next year...when I have money...hopefully. Man, hearing Uematsu play live is one of my Top 3 geek dreams,up there with getting Shiggy to autograph my copy of Alltp and owning a life-sized Varia Suit (hot blonde is optional). I love when people were all crowd surfing, then Rinoa's theme starting playing and everyone became so chill that we all started swaying, the crowd surfers were put down, and some lighters were pulled out. 1:30 PM on 05.08.2013 Microsoft returns to gamescom this yearI'm still kind of mad about Microsoft not showing up to gamescom or Tokyo Game Show last year. It was like going to a party where you expected one of the regulars to show up, but the whole experience just ended up being awkwa...
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