Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour 2018 (Detroit): A Review

Saturday July 14, 2018, Vince and I attended the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour at the Fisher Theater in Detroit. As I have historically done when attending game music performances, I wanted to write a review of the concert while the event is still fresh in my mind.  And while I’m tougher on these events than most fans, I’m also more fair than the reviewers who immediately disdain these performances because they aren’t Beethoven.  Before I go further, here’s my usual caveat that I’m not the normal concert goer for this kind of event.  The audience for these events seems to average even younger in age than I am, and many seem to be inexperienced with attending a concert with classical origins like this.  I’m a professor of music with a doctorate in performance.  This was the third game music concert I’ve attended, and if you’re interested, you can read my other reviews of A New World: Intimate Music from Final Fantasy and Symphony of the Goddess, both of which I’ve attended in the last couple of years in Southeast Michigan. 

This KH Orchestra shared many of the same features as the other game music performances I’ve seen: a young and enthusiastic audience that many classical or jazz concerts would kill for (an usher told us the concert was 80% presold), attendees in costumes— though notably few compared to the other game music concerts I’ve seen— with elaborate hairstyles, tee shirts, and game memorabilia in hand, particularly keyblades. Drinks and snacks were allowed into the venue; I saw numerous beers in adult sippy cups as we watched the performance.  And, of course, there was the largest, snaking line ever to get to merchandise, "merch" to this crowd, before the show, at intermission, and after.  In fact, the show start was held for at least 10 minutes, no doubt to allow as many patrons as possible to make their purchases. 

One difference between this and the other game music concerts I’ve seen stood out immediately: the orchestra was not onstage warming up.  Instead, they walked out at 8:10, tuned, and began the concert promptly. The pianist walked out with the conductor for a solo bow, similar to how Benyamin Nuss was featured at A New World, though the piano never played a solo number at this event. But Simomura’s writing often features piano and oboe, so I was glad to see the pianist receive recognition.  I did think the pianist was quite expressive and one of the best players in the orchestra. (As a side note, considering how much piano is featured in this music, the piano could’ve been tuned much better, especially in the upper register.) Both the pianist and conductor put their earpieces in to hear the click track and the concert began.  

There was no printed program, and especially disappointing, no list of performing musicians, but pieces were announced on the projection screen as they began.  The program from the evening follows: 

Hikari Orchestral Version

Dearly Beloved KH 2 Version

Destati 

Organization XIII

Traverse Town

Treasured Memories

The World of Kingdom Hearts (medley)

-Spoken cutscene-

Fate of the Unknown

Threats of the Land: Battle Medley

(45 minutes)

Intermission (20 minutes)

Heroes and Heroines: Characters’ Medley

Lazy Afternoons... at dusk I will think of you 

Vector to the Heavens 

Wave of Darkness

Daybreak Town: The Heart of X

-Spoken cutscene-

The Other Promise

Let Darkness Assemble: Final Boss Medley

Passion - Kingdom Hearts Orchestra Version

(50 minutes)

Encores:

Toy Story Medley from Kingdom Hearts III

Fantasia Alla Marcia for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra (credits)

(10 minutes)

There were also some differences in this game music concert and the others I’ve been to. The most notable was that there was no speaking from stage, no MC to address the audience. An audience member beside us said she’d seen the concert in New York last year and that Yoko Shimomura came on stage and thanked people for attending and supporting her music. I didn’t expect that to happen in Detroit, but hoped for some spoken interaction from someone involved in the project, even a video message as Koji Kondo had in Symphony of the Goddess.  While I did appreciate the focus solely on the music, as Vince said when we were leaving, this made the event feel “cold.” It feels unusual to me for a concert these days to have no speaking to the audience, and I, too, felt the disconnect Vince referenced. Aside from two cutscenes with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles, there was no speaking at this event.  There were no lighting changes and the projection was always of scenes from the game, rather than ever focusing a live camera on the orchestra members and highlighting them on the big screen.  The micing was also very subtle and I never noticed that there were any sound effects from the game used.  

Another difference is that unlike the Video Games Live or Symphony of the Goddess model, where the creative team travels and “rents” a local orchestra to play the event, the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra is a touring group of musicians that travels playing together regularly. I thought this would lead to a better rehearsed sound and more passionate playing, but that wasn’t the case, at least not tonight. The brass was especially weak, missing notes often in the battle themes where they should’ve been the most climatic.  The choir was also very out of tune, particularly in Fate of the Unknown, and the micing of the choir was very off at the beginning of the concert, giving an unsuspecting tenor a near solo. While the conductor was commanding in his physical presence, the tempi in medleys took a while to settle from section to section, and the balance issues— drums often too loud throughout, cellos too soft at times when they had the melody— were never addressed. Of course, there’s a mixing team working live in the event, so the players onstage may be unaware of the sound in the auditorium; in this case those amplifying the sound should know better what to raise and lower. Aside from crouching down for some soft moments, since there was no addressing the audience, and only bows at the end of the first and second acts, Vince wondered why the concert had a conductor at all instead of just a click track; in essence, he was a metronome. The arrangements were either short themes or extended medleys; the former felt too abrupt and the latter dragged on at times. 

We were told by audience members beside us that the Traverse Town selection was a new addition to the concert from what they’d seen last year in New York. I knew as well to expect music from Kingdom Hearts III, and was incredibly disappointed that the footage was just edited down from the same D23 clip released a year ago.  My understanding was that one of the unique things about the Kingdom Hearts concert versus the Distant Worlds or Video Games Live! concerts is that there would be new music premiered from the upcoming game.  How disappointing then to see the same scene I’d already watched several times on social media promos in a shortened version for this “premiere” clip!

Overall, Vince and I enjoyed the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour the least of the game concerts we’ve attended. I can partially chalk this up from his viewpoint to his unfamiliarity with the music; KH is a series I’ve played extensively and he’s only watched part of my playthroughs. But honestly, the lack of dialogue with the audience was a big part of our feeling this way too. Also many of the arrangements felt simplistic and didn’t seem to have the same emotional range that the Symphony of the Goddess concert did. That said, most people don’t have the viewpoint I’m coming from and aren’t listening and expecting the same sound my critical ear is. And bringing in a new audience to an event like this is great outreach, even if only a small portion attend another concert.  If you follow any internet comments about this event, the fans loved this evening. So my bottom line is as usual: if you’re a fan of the series and its music, check out the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra when it comes to a place near you.