Tour de Japon

Tour de JAPON music from FINAL FANTASY is a concert tour featuring music from the "Final Fantasy" video game series that toured Japan from March 12 to April 16, 2004. The concert was built upon the success of 20020220 music from FINAL FANTASY and featured numerous unreleased tracks during its tour.

"Tour de JAPON" badly translates from French as "Tour of Japan" (see Franponais).

Description

The series of concerts features music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi. Uematsu is well known for his work on the music in the "Final Fantasy" series. The concert tour was conducted by Taizō Takemoto. The concert begins with the opening theme from Final Fantasy VII before leading into "Bombing Mission". Different from other Final Fantasy concert tours, this one did not include a choir. The only vocal performances are found during "Opera 'Maria and Draco'" from Final Fantasy VI. A new medley of the NES installments was performed and included songs "Prelude", "Town", "Main Theme" (Final Fantasy II), "Eternal Wind", "Battle 2" (Final Fantasy II), and "Cute Little Tozas".

The Yokohama performance was recorded and released exclusively on DVD to fanclub members residing in Japan. It introduced previously unreleased arrangements, "Bombing Mission" (Final Fantasy VII), "At Zanarkand" (Final Fantasy X), "Ronfaure", "Not Alone", "Main Theme" (Final Fantasy V), and "Opera 'Maria and Draco'" (Final Fantasy VI). During the final piece, "Final Fantasy", Uematsu comes onstage and is applauded. Takemoto offers Uematsu the conductor's baton but he hesitantly refuses. Uematsu then pulls his own baton from his shirt pocket and then takes his place conducting the remainder of the piece.

Setlist

"Intermission is after "Not Alone" and before "Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII"."

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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
# Ronfaure ("Final Fantasy XI")
#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
# The Oath ("Final Fantasy VIII")
#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
# Final Fantasy I-III Medley 2004 ("Final Fantasy", "Final Fantasy II", "Final Fantasy III")
#:Music: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi)
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#:Lyrics: Yoshinori Kitase, Nobuo Uematsu, Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi
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#:Music Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, Music Arranger: Shiro Hamaguchi

Tour locations

* March 12, 2004 — Yokohama at the Minato Mirai Hall by the New Japan Philharmonic
* March 14, 2004 — Tokyo at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall by the Tokyo City Philharmonic (noon and evening performances)
* March 19, 2004 — Sapporo at the Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara by the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra
* April 2, 2004 — Nagoya at the Aichi Prefectural Art Theater The Concert Hall by the Nagoya Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
* April 11, 2004 — Fukuoka, Japan at the ACROS Fukuoka Symphony Hall by the Kyushu Symphony
* April 16, 2004 — Osaka at the Festival Hall by the Osaka Symphoniker Orchestra

See also

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* Eminence Symphony Orchestra
* PLAY! A Video Game Symphony
* Symphonic Game Music Concert
* Orchestral Game Concert
* Piano by Wagner Anderson

External links

* [http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/uematsu/tour/ Tour de Japon Official Site (Japanese)] : Homepage for the Tour de Japon concert series.
* [http://www.square-enix-usa.com/uematsu/diary/march04.html N's Diary March 2004] : Diary entries by Nobuo Uematsu covering the tour during March.
* [http://www.square-enix-usa.com/uematsu/diary/april04.html N's Diary April 2004] : Diary entries by Nobuo Uematsu covering the tour during April.