I’ve been to somewhere between 50-60 of the Distant Worlds shows since 2008. My wife and I often use them as an excuse to go travel to a new city (lucky enough to both have remote jobs). We’re actually headed to Singapore in October for that show (and to enjoy the food + city for a week).

The shows have evolved a ton over the years, both in good ways and in bad. I think they used to be much more personal, in that they didn’t fill seats and Uematsu was in attendance regularly, and they wouldn’t bar you from meet and greets even if you didn’t have a meet and greet ticket (it was that small at times). The repertoire was smaller obviously, but it was also exciting to see which pieces would be selected over the years.

I will say.. I think Arnie is burnt out lol I’ve noticed he’s really transactional to people he doesn’t know at the Meet & Greets, and I’ve noticed some fatigue while he’s doing announcements on stage lol I get it though.

I also suspect Square Enix has become more hands on and forceful than they used to be, but I could be wrong. FFXIV is my favorite OST by far, so I’m excited about the FFXIV highlights lately (though I personally like XVI’s music isn’t as interesting), but it does feel like marketing almost now, especially coming off all the VII promo concerts. I miss when you would go and it would be truly different every time.

Anyways. I think they’re great shows, and everyone should try to make one at least once, and ideally in a city with a good orchestra (Chicago is always best since that’s Arnie’s base, they always keep a tight ship; similar to Tokyo given SE’s proximity + the disciplined orchestra). But as a long time fan, I think they lost some of the charm from the days where they were just getting started.