You can check out Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY at their official website, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on X.
You can also find out more about AWR Music at their official website, on Instagram, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, and on X.
Finally, you can read my 2024 interview with Conductor Arnie Roth in a two-part interview (Part One/Part Two).
Tickets for Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY are on sale now.
Spoiler-Free Review
Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY is an amazing, incredibly well-oiled concert that pulls music from the mainline FINAL FANTASY games dating from the very beginning in 1987 to the most recent entry, FINAL FANTASY XVI. On the night I attended in Toronto, Canada, it was part of the latest iteration that honors Masayoshi Soken’s contributions to FINAL FANTASY XIV Online and FINAL FANTASY XVI. Even with that focus, however, there are a lot of songs from other FINAL FANTASY games present – both expected and unexpected.
If you haven’t been to Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY before, or even if you have, this is a concert worth attending. The basic concept is simple: play FINAL FANTASY music you love while having it set against video clips from that particular game on a giant projected screen. It is a simple concept that has been honed to perfection with Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY. I’m already thinking about when I can see it again. The show, with intermission, runs just a bit more than two hours, and it absolutely does not seem that long whatsoever.
For a full review, please scroll below the picture.
Full Review
It is no mean feat to fit 19 compositions and an intermission of a series beloved by people all over the world into a two-hour block of time that will leave people satisfied and happy, but Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY somehow manages to make it happen.
Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY continues to reinvent itself by introducing and removing various pieces from the setlist. There are some evergreen pieces, such as To Zanarkand from FINAL FANTASY X, but songs such as Dancing Mad from FINAL FANTASY VI and Ronfaure from FINAL FANTASY XI Online have been removed (at least for now!) to make way for other songs like FINAL FANTASY IV’s Battle With The Four Fiends and FINAL FANTASY XIII’s Blinded By Light. No one will hear everything they dream of hearing at any given Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY concert, but you will hear a lot of songs you love. As I flipped through my notes I took during the Toronto concert, I think the only game that did not get any individual love was FINAL FANTASY XI Online – but there was an extended segment of chocobo raising being shown from that game during the Chocobo Medley that closed out the performance’s first half.
As I stated in the spoiler-free section of this review, the Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY performance in Toronto, Canada is part of a current iteration that pays homage to Masayoshi Soken and his contributions to FINAL FANTASY XIV Online and FINAL FANTASY XVI. There are four songs from FINAL FANTASY XIV Online in the first half of the concert and four songs from FINAL FANTASY XVI in the second half performed as a block of music.
The wonderful Amanda Achen, who I last saw perform at Eorzean Symphony – FINAL FANTASY XIV Orchestra Concert 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, (Review) takes the stage multiple times to perform different songs from both games – and yes, Flow is one of the songs she performs. Ms. Achen has an amazing, clear, and incredibly distinct voice that resonated well throughout Meridian Hall all the way up to where I was sitting in the far back balcony, and she will sweep you away into her vocals and leave you wanting more. If you ever have a chance to see Ms. Achen perform live, you should take it.
I was also glad there was a variety of music from FINAL FANTASY XIV Online and FINAL FANTASY XVI being selected for this. Yes, there is My Star and Flow, but there is also Songs of Salt and Suffering from the Stormblood expansion and Ascension from FINAL FANTASY XVI being included. These are far deeper cuts than you’d expect for a concert honoring Masayoshi Soken, and I was thrilled they were included. That said, I wished the orchestra played To Sail Forbidden Seas from FINAL FANTASY XVI, as that is my favorite work from that game.
The Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra comprised the orchestra, and the Elmer Iseler Singers made up the chorus at the Toronto performances. Both of these groups were excellent, and you could tell they took playing this music from video games quite seriously. I was especially impressed with the Elmer Iseler’s Singers’ performance of Liberi Fatali and how they went all in on bringing that opening song from FINAL FANTASY VIII to life. That song, more than any other besides FINAL FANTASY VII’s One-Winged Angel, relies upon a powerfully amazing chorus to truly work, and Elmer Iseler Singers delivers it in an S-tier performance. You can also tell conductor Arnie Roth absolutely loves what he does for a living and that he gets to continuously bring FINAL FANTASY music to the public all over the world, and he does a great job conducting this orchestra.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I don’t talk about the merchandising situation. It was actually handled really, really well. I joined the merchandise line late, and on the far side of the lobby. The employees handling the merchandise were quick and efficient, and they kept things moving. I have been to concerts before where the merchandise line simply does not move, and I was happy to see this wasn’t the case here. Almost all of the merchandise can be found on the online SQUARE ENIX Store, the online Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY store, and the (intermittently available) SQUARE ENIX POP-UP SHOP in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. However, there is also some exclusive tour merchandise, such as the tour t-shirts and the tour’s program, that make it worthwhile to stop by and buy something. And surprisingly, there was a large quantity of those products available for purchase!
Additionally, in what turned out to be a smart decision, the FINAL FANTASY-themed Magic: The Gathering playmats were sold in a separate spot in the lobby. This helped break up both lines, and I thought that was a really smart merchandising decision by AWR Music.
There were really two things I was put off by during this performance of DISTANT WORLDS: Music from FINAL FANTASY, and together they were enough to knock this concert off from a perfect score.
The first one is the text language used in some of the cutscenes used to accompany the music is solely in Japanese, and the most egregious example of this was during Battle With The Four Fiends from FINAL FANTASY IV. That game, if you haven’t played it, is a text-heavy Super Nintendo/Super Famicom title from 1991. In a country that has English and French as the official languages, it makes an incredibly questionable choice to present the text for that text heavy game entirely in Japanese. I’ve played FINAL FANTASY IV before, and I had no idea what was happening story wise on the screen, and so I unfortunately could not really follow along because of that. It is surprising it isn’t localized to the audience currently viewing the performance so they could at least follow along.
The other issue I had was how the concert handled spoilers. I know, you’re at a FINAL FANTASY concert, and you should expect the games to be spoiled for you. What is actually remarkable is that you really aren’t spoiled for any of the FINAL FANTASY games’ biggest twists, turns, and endings in this concert. It is no mean feat to play To Zanarkand, for example, and not spoil all the secrets of FINAL FANTASY X while doing it. However, this wasn’t the case for the FINAL FANTASY XIV Online and FINAL FANTASY XVI segments. There were multiple, heavy, story spoilers for both games in these segments, and I was honestly surprised by that happening after how deftly the concert handled the other FINAL FANTASY games. Of course, that shouldn’t be too much a surprise with the song selections and how the concert is advertised, but you will walk away being clued in to major plot points in both of those games if you go to the current tour.
Overall, is Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY worth going to?
If you’re a fan of FINAL FANTASY, then absolutely yes. Alternatively, if you’re a fan of Masayoshi Soken’s works, then this current tour is perfect for you. Also, if you want to hear a Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY concert focused on Nobuo Uematsu, there are two performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 12, 2026, and on June 13, 2026. Additionally, there is the U.S. debut of Nobuo Uematsu’s con TIKI show on June 14, 2026, to check out, too.
I waited almost 18 years to hear this particular video game concert series again, and I feel like I waited far too long for that to happen.
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Overall |   |
Tickets for Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY are on sale now.
Have you attended a Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY concert?
What is one FINAL FANTASY song that you wish would be played at a show?
Let us know in the comments below!
