The Esplande: Theatres on the Bay (that’s the full name) has many names, it was supposed to look a bit like a pair of microphones, but the spikey appearance had got it a lot of nicknames, the most popular for locals is durium, (the disgusting fruit I tried a few days back), not because it smells, but because durium has a spikey shell. Another one is hedgehog which I can relate to more and prefer personally.
Exterior of the Esplanade at night
There is various entrances to the esplanade such as on the street, from the car park, the underground and a mall across the street. Going through the mall underground whilst passing break dancers practising or boy bands doing dance routines seems a regular occurance in this popular place to reherse. Also some nice art was on display:
Walkway connecting shopping mall to Esplanade
So what is there to do at an Opera house? Well the shops and library upstairs could answer that, but no the main reason I am here is to see a performance. I’ve not been one for opera, but I have been a big fan of the Final Fantasy video game series. Luckily in my passing through Singapore, the music of the past 20years of Final Fantasy games were being played for the first time in Asia outside of Japan! I just had to go. All tickets were sold out but after a lot of hunting I finally came up triumphant and managed to get one.
Characters from Final Fantasy 10
I managed to get one picture of the theatre during the intermission so you can see the scale of the show and where I was seated (it was a good view!).
The set list was:
FF8: Liberi Fatali*
FF10: To Zanarkand
FF8: Don’t be Afraid (Instrumental of Eyes on Me)
FF1-3: Medley 2002
FF5: Dear Friends
FF9: Vamo’ alla Flamenco
FF11: Ronfaure
FFseries: Main Theme
Intermission
FF7: Opening – Bombing Mission
FF8: Fishermans Horizon*
FF11: Distant Worlds* (with Anna Koor vocalist)
FF4: Theme of Love
FFseries: Swing de Chocobo
FF8: Love grows (instrumental of
FF6: Opera “Mario and Draco” (Vocalist: Anna Koor, Kee Loi Seng and William Lim)
* = with Choir
Inside the esplanade concert hall
That won’t mean much to most people, but any Final Fantasy fan I’m sure will be insanely jealous. The crowd was so happy, with a standing ovation, and demanding an encore. We got
FF6: Terras Theme
Despite pleas for One Winged Angel, but the screaming continued afterwards predictably maybe to the band. The composer of most of the music, decked out in traditional Japanese uniform Nobuo-Uematsu-san came on stage to say thanks, and agreed not only that the band should do the 2nd Encore but he would sing in the Choir himself! Indeed the second Encore was:
FF7: One Winged Angel*
Afterwards the Conductor Arnie Roth and composer of all the music Nobuo Uematsu-san signed autographs for the fans queing up. I didn’t queue, but I did get a picture of the celebrity in the house:
Music writer Nobuo Uematsu
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
A warsome update, totally warsome, wish I could have been there!
Oh dude, once in a lifetime opportunity! Fantastic!
It is a tour, so there will be more chances, of course it will never be in the same time, same place again though.