The Sonic Symphony - Your Thoughts

[Whatever the WhoCares]

So there was a birthday symphony for Sonic about which there are no threads apparently? Honestly I’m perplexed by that. 

Anyway, what did you think of this event? I personally loved it, and there are parts that I really hope Sonic Team is watching- particularly the Believe In Myself bit. Maybe they’ll start taking Tails seriously again. 

The Live and Learn performance was incredible, too. 

[Cuz]

24 minutes ago, Whatever the WhoCares said:

There are no threads apparently? Honestly I’m perplexed by that. 

Well, to be fair, the stadium community kind of gathered into the Motobug and live streamed it, and there were status updates flying by during the whole event. 

[Whatever the WhoCares]

1 minute ago, Cuz said:

Well, to be fair, the stadium community kind of gathered into the Motobug and live streamed it, and there were status updates flying by during the whole event. 

The what?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

1 minute ago, Whatever the WhoCares said:

The what?

Motobug. It's pretty much our go-to streaming channel where we hang out together and watch stuff like this concert, live.

[Whatever the WhoCares]

 

2 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Motobug. It's pretty much our go-to streaming channel where we hang out together and watch stuff like this concert, live.

Is it on Twitch or something?

[Cuz]

19 minutes ago, Whatever the WhoCares said:

The what?

From the Musical Event topic:

Quote

Q. What the heck is a Motobug?!

A. Other than a very charming and debonair badnik, Motobug is SSMB's long-running unofficial Streaming Channel, run by a team of SSMB members, providing exclusive streams for all SSMB members to watch, including gaming events, gaming announcements, weekly shows, and much more. It will also be where the Musical Spectacular will be streaming on July 24th/July 25th. 

Motobug (cytu.be)

I have no earthly idea what the framework for it is honestly, you'll have to talk to one of the folks that actually mans the thing for that, but getting back to the event It was good stuff! Love the orchestral half. Kind of wish CD got more to show from it then Crush 40's take on Sonic Boom. Oh and what was up with the editing in that one announcement, I think it was for Dream's Come True, but there was a jump cut every other second, and it was just hilarious to me. 

[Shadow Chaos Control]

Brillant! Positively brillant. I was moved to tears twice, “Green Hill Zone Suite,” and Crush 40’s “Sonic Heroes,” both of which transported me to my childhood and teen years caused major waterworks. I laughed so hard at the Prague orchestra playing Casino Zone from Sonic 2 and grinned till my face couldn’t bear it at Crush 40’s “Shadow The Hedgehog (I Am, All of Me).” 

I was surprised I wasn’t as moved by SA2 songs, “Escape From The City” and “Live and Learn.” Perhaps its because I had already had my feeling strings played so much prior to them. 

All in all, a masterful performance by all who participated in this epic and not to be surpassed celebration of Sonic’s legacy and life. 

[Rabbitearsblog]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

This was the first time that I have ever watched a Sonic Symphony.  I didn't even know they do these kind of things for Sonic's anniversaries until this year and man, was I so happy that this was my first experience with the symphony!  The music was just so beautiful and I especially loved Crush 40's music towards the end of the symphony, especially their rendition of "Sonic Boom" and of course, "Live and Learn!"  I was actually scared that they weren't going to do any music from Sonic Adventure 2.  But, I was pleasantly surprised that they saved that music for last.  If they have another Sonic Symphony in the near future, I'm definitely going to watch it!

[Jango]

Absolutely brilliant, it became clear that some Sonic songs felt like they were made to be played by an orchestra, like Sky Sanctuary or even Press Garden Act 2 and the Eggman's themes. Some of the songs played there also became my favorite version o' them, like Reach for the Stars, I Am All of Me and yes, even Live and Learn. Not to mention the great vocals from Nathan Sharp (which I already loved!) was an amazing surprise. Everything Ohtani's band and Crush 40 played was on point aswell.

But the lack of Sonic CD songs (aside from Sonic Boom by Crush 40) is still a sin, so 9.9 out of 10 because of that.

[JezMM]

Really was a wonderful set of music.  There were a few cockteases in there I admit - while I'm blessed that they included something from my first and beloved Sonic game, Sonic 2 8-bit - Underground Zone has been remixed several times now while the rest of the soundtrack is lacking in revisits, and they moved on to the next track just before the chorus.  In general, some medleys, Unleashed probably the worst for this, were just a bit too eager to cram a load of songs in without taking any time to really explore them, which is a shame.  I'd have rather had more fully featured 2-3 song medleys than teasing 30 second renditions of favourite tracks.  There were some songs that really didn't work for me in the slow-paced orchestral format too, such as Rooftop Run and Dragon Road.  Meanwhile though, some songs worked astonishingly well - Believe in Myself ~ It Doesn't Matter was outright beautiful (and kudos to Falk too - the first half was clearly a spiritual successor to when they first explored the concept of an orchestral Believe in Myself for Cloudy Crowd Zone in their work on the fangame Sonic Before the Sequel).  Another surprise for me was Titanic Monarch in the Sonic Mania medley - hot dang would that work as a fantastic cut-scene theme for Eggman.

My only other gripe is that the first two thirds of Crush 40's set really didn't do much to distinguish themselves from the originals.  The problem with a digital live event is that it's pretty much like listening to studio recorded music on the audience end - you need to do a little extra re-arrangement to make it special, and Jun doesn't seem to be eager to do that with his work that often it seems (see Emerald Coast, Egg Emperor, Speed Highway Act 2 and Seaside Hill Act 2 in Generations).  While this slightly comes from a place of privilege, having seen Crush 40 at two Summer of Sonics, I felt like I'd seen that first lot of songs before plenty of times.  When the orchestra came in for the last few songs though it was all better, glad they ended on that high (and I did find it the encore framing funny - like, c'mon, AS IF they wouldn't do both Escape from the City and Live & Learn).

Of course, the reason the lack of re-arrangement felt so lacking on the C40 songs is due to how hard Ohtani went on re-arranging his 3 songs - what an absolute treat.  Reach for the Stars was REBORN with that guitar solo the original sorely lacked, Speak with Your Heart was awesome with the orchestral backing but then threw a curveball with the pad remixing at the end.  And of course, the orchestral + rock Endless Possibility combo is so popular that we've already had fan musicians exploring the concept for years - finally getting an official one was sublime.  Just a personal taste thing - I know C40 has a fan-favourite legacy, but Ohtani's work is my personal favourite "sound" for Sonic now.  Even their aesthetics feel more true for the franchise - I wanna play a modern story-driven RPG adventure as these four, their looks were all so hip and fun!

 

But yeah, I sound too unappreciative - the above nitpicks are honest, but they're all pretty much personal issues where the concert momentarily didn't cater to my exact tastes and expectations, the overall product here was still utterly amazing, and what a triumph from everyone involved to provide it to the fans for free.  I hope they do release a soundtrack version because I'd LOVE to pay them for this.

[Iko]

I loved the concert, it was one of the best Sonic things in a long while, very well done and the music was all great.

The 8 Bit games, they played freaking Bridge Zone! And others! That was unbelievable.

The only thing that would have made me even happier would have been a GBA medley...

Spoiler

Starting with the mandatory Neo Green Hill zone as introduction (act 1+2 mix)

then going a bit more in depth with the more touching Ice Mountain act 1

Then a bit of fun with Music Plant (act 1+2 mix)

then a Sonic Battle mini-medley (just a few seconds for each song)

and finally, the grand finale with the epic Chaos Angel (can be a medley of all 3 acts)

Maybe if there's still room for something, you can put here one of the credits songs or even just one final boss clear jingle to finish it.

Hearing some of those tunes played by an orchestra would have been perfect (Chaos Angel!), though it was still a great event regardless.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

7 hours ago, Jango said:

Absolutely brilliant, it became clear that some Sonic songs felt like they were made to be played by an orchestra, like Sky Sanctuary or even Press Garden Act 2 and the Eggman's themes. Some of the songs played there also became my favorite version o' them, like Reach for the Stars, I Am All of Me and yes, even Live and Learn. Not to mention the great vocals from Nathan Sharp (which I already loved!) was an amazing surprise. Everything Ohtani's band and Crush 40 played was on point aswell.

But the lack of Sonic CD songs (aside from Sonic Boom by Crush 40) is still a sin, so 9.9 out of 10 because of that.

I agree about “Reach For the Stars,” that one suprised me in how moving (no tears that time) it was. I felt “I AM, All Me,” (Shadow The Hedgehog) by Crush 40 was amazing, better than in the game even! 

Honestly, except for Sonic Boom, I don’t really recall much of Sonic CD’s music. 

[Cuz]

CD's one of my all time favorite soundtracks from this franchise, and only getting Boom from it is like only getting Live and Learn for SA2. I mean I'll darn well take them both, don't get me wrong, but those games have so much more to offer then the first two songs that comes to everybody's mind. 

[Shadow Chaos Control]

Did anyone catch they played Escape From City twice? Once was just instrumental before Crush 40 and the other band. Then it happened with the vocals.  

[Dr. Mechano]

I'm honestly impressed that they included a few Game Gear songs. I was expecting them to hit the main Genesis trilogy (and maybe CD, which they surprisingly didn't do aside from "Sonic Boom") and that'd be it for the classic era. Tails Adventure of all games getting representation was a pleasant surprise.

[Johnster4]

Is was amazing to listen to, this was the second Symphony concert I watched from start to finish (the first one being a Zelda concert back in 2016) My favourite song played were Sonic 2, Mania, Believe in myself & It doesn't matter, Sonic 06, Crush 40, Endless Possibility and City Escape featuring Natewantstobattle, and the Encore with Live and Learn, the biggest surprise for me was when they played Nights into Dreams theme.

[Mr. Ion]

The symphony knocked it out of the park. Exactly what I would've liked to see, Sega didn't skip out on the budget for this. I think they had a good selection of songs (other than omissions from CD) and I was pleasantly surprised when they played selections from Sonic's 8-bit games. I would've liked a little more music from '06, surprisingly enough, since that has a lot of good songs, but other than that they had a good selection, and I really enjoyed hearing tracks from Unleashed, Sonic 1, etc. I think Ohtani's performance was a little overlooked in favor of Crush 40 but he also did a very good job as usual, and I also liked the little interview with Nakamura, who composed Sonic 1 and 2. in general it was a very enjoyable watch, they should do more fun live events like this in the future.

Oh yeah and Crush 40 also was amazing, live and learn is still the best vocal theme (in my opinion)

[caitash]

It was absolutely stunning. I never knew just how awesome ‘Speak with your Heart’ could become with the orchestral backing. I already liked the song but it had such a glow-up in the symphony. Likewise the re-arranged ‘Reach for the Stars’ was amazing as well. I really, really hope they release the re-arranged tracks on iTunes or whatever for the Colours Ultimate release because I need those tracks on my playlist. Heck I would pay for quite a big chunk of the 30th Anniversary Symphony soundtrack actually.

‘Believe in Myself ~ It Doesn’t Matter’ was beautiful. The lone violin at the start of the latter gave it a whole new sound and atmosphere.

Basically I loved it and am a bit sad that the next chance at an event like this is at least another 5, but more likely 10, years away. What a treat it was.

[jungle_penguins]

They updated it with timestamps! 

 

[Shadow Chaos Control]

I’d have loved if they had included Sandtropolis in the Sonic & Knuckles section: 

 

[VO.SUPER]

 

The Symphony reached 1,000,000,000 views. This is a huge accomplishment for everyone involved. Katie must feel so vindicated for the 2 years of effort.

The series is finally riding a high morale again thanks to it. (Even if only temporary.)

You can bet SEGA will wanna take this show on the road in the future. Looking forward to more of these.

[sassytassie]

I just watched it the other day and loved it. The symphony was super impressive, and I'm not one to enjoy that type of music either. Crush 40 was what I was really looking forward to and they didn't disappoint (besides the fact that they didn't sing What I'm Made Of .. cries). Also confused as to why there was no music from Sonic CD anywhere (unless I missed it). Bit saddened by that too but overall I absolutely loved it.