Sonic Anniversary Symphony going worldwide

I went to the NYC showing at 3pm with two of my friends...! It was so much fun!! The energy was incredible, a little bit like a convention or something but more focused. Just an outpouring of love and passion for the series there... Much like a con, I even picked up some StreetPasses there! That was cool to see!
I admit, since I avoided looking at the setlists posted online (I wanted it to be a surprise!) I was expecting a little more on the symphony side of things, as that was maybe 1/3rd of the whole show, and the latter half was more of a concert of vocal Sonic songs. Still, I really enjoyed it overall. There was a fun variety of music from across the series, and it really felt like a huge celebration. It feels like we've come a long way from the "self-loathing marketing" era of Sonic; the people who organize this stuff love it just as much as we do!

I can confirm they did that at the NYC showing as well. It was really sweet and made me tear up a little...


As for the merch... I bought the desk mat (which seems very well-printed), the tote bag (which looks...decent, maybe not incredible), and the concert lightstick (which... is cheap and flimsy, and already falling apart, lol). I definitely feel like I overspent for what I got... Oh well.

 

Just caught it in San Diego tonight during Comic-Con. My husband was shocked at how good the music and the hype was!

I loved it and could have listened for hours and hours. My only complaint is that we were missing Sonic Superstars, Bridge Island Act 1 at the very least!

Jun did his guitar thing on stage

 

Not sure if this was mentioned before but they recorded the last gigs in New York, Nakama has been posting some snippets of the soundboard audio on his Twitter. There was conversation of a second album, right?

 

Year 2 has kicked off with new additions such as a Sonic Heroes medley, which includes new Shadow Generations gameplay during the Rail Canyon segment. I’d love to tell you how I enjoyed this new arrangement, but I couldn’t hear it as the crowd in the Apollo was screaming over the music until the end of the song!

Also, to whichever of you bastards cheered for the Shadow Generations trailer
That’s already on YouTube
BOTH times that it played before the pre-show
You’re weird

 

Yeah I was really surprised seeing them go from Dreams of an Absolution straight to Sonic Frontiers Medley. I was also hoping for S3&K Medley to feature arrangements of the proto tracks since it was promoted as a new medley, but it ended up just being the same as the 30th anniversary version.

While I think Never Turn Back could’ve been cut, I think the Frontiers power hour is a great time in the theatre. And honestly, what would they realistically put in place of it? Green Light Ride? Seven Rings In Hand? I’m certainly never getting that Team Chaotix arrangement in either orchestral or rock, it seems.

Also had brief chats with Richard Jacques and TJ Davis while they were signing my poster and both seemed lovely. Jacques said Diamond In The Sky has a special place in his heart of the tracks he’s composed, while I found out TJ is a Yorkshire lass, much to my surprise. Didn’t really get to chat with Shota Nakama, who seemed absolutely rushed trying to sign as many things and snap as many selfies as possible, and Ohtani barely left the backstage exist before being huddled back in again. Still, had a great time overall.

 

Hoping maybe they'll come back to Canada some time soon. By the time I had an itching to go and enough money to burn for a ticket the Quebec show was a week away and a plane ticket would've been $500. I know they're never coming to my city, which sucks, so best I can do is go out of province. I just want that energy of singing Sonic songs with hundreds of losers.

 

For those wondering, the Sonic Heroes Medley was Ocean Palace > Seaside Hill > Generations Seaside Hill (I’d love to tell you specifically what but I couldn’t hear it over all the bloody cheering) > Rail Canyon.

I don’t know whether I’d say those last three songs were an encore. They were always going to play them. They didn’t even leave the stage like I remember them doing in Paris.

 

The Sonic R medley must have been absolutely mind-blowing. Just watched a recording of it and it sounds amazing! Hope you all had fun!

 

I think I preferred the Barbican 2023 concert overall, just because it was such a pleasant surprise, but I really enjoyed 2024's too! The crowd was absolutely wild. My gf tagged along, and she's not the biggest Sonic fan and she kept asking why everyone cheered when Maria got shot, haha.

The Sonic R Medley was amazing and a highlight for me for sure! We also made friends with a Rouge cosplayer who gave us some handmade tickets which was very sweet.

I really, really hope it stays a yearly occurence - as someone that doesn't really get to interact with Sonic fans in offline spaces it's invigorating to just share space with a bunch of people on your level.

 

What was different about the Florida show?

Sonic the Cosplayer built a real life version of the Sonic Underground guitar, and Shota Nakama played it, on Live and Learn, no less.

 

That’s nutty as hell lol, massive respect to everyone involved in Sonic Symphony for being so willing to engage with our…exuberant community.

 

Well I never went to see the Symphony when it came back to Chicago, so my wife and I are going to Atlanta and we will be seeing it there this weekend. If anyone is going to that showing, I should hopefully be there. If you see a short guy with khakis and a black Sonic hoodie, that's me. xD

 

lol my wife and I will be at that showing too! Thinking of wearing a suit with a Sonic baseball cap because I think that's funny.

 

I know we talked a lot about it at the last one, but man... I knew to expect full concert vibes with act 2 but people singing along to orchestral covers of chiptunes got a little old.

Was a great second trip to the show overall! Was susprised about them adding a medley of Sonic Heroes stuff but still leaving out Sonic CD.

 

Sonic CD has had a medley at a few shows (I think it was early on in the tour like at London 2023) that covered You Can Do Anything, Palmtree Panic, Collision Chaos and Stardust Speedway, but doesn’t seem to have last long and was likely a victim of the vocal segment of the symphony being expanded within the last few months. As I recall (I know it’s written earlier in this thread but I ain’t tracking that down on mobile), the London concert just gone also cut the Aquarium Park/Planet Wisp and Rooftop Run covers both due to the vocal segment expanding and needing to make room for the Sonic Heroes medley (in part to promote Shadow Generations via Rail Canyon).

I hope they’re able to get more diverse with things in future, I think the existing Mega Drive covers can be swapped out for new stuff now (for example a Green Hill medley in the vein of the World Tour-specific Sky Sanctuary medley that covers Sonic 1, Advance 3, Battle and Generations), but the last listed concerted is this coming Saturday with no new dates announced yet, so I’m worried that Sonic Symphony may soon quietly come to an end.

EDIT: Hypothetical Sonic Symphony “Encore Mode” set list because I’m deranged and can’t sleep:

Spoiler

Act 1:

• Green Hill Zone Medley (Sonic 1, Mania Act 2, Generations Modern, Advance 3 Sunset Hill Act 3)
• Special Stage Medley (Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Superstars, Mania, Heroes)
• Metal Sonic Medley (Stardust Speedway Bad Future US, Sonic 4, Mania, What I’m Made Of)
• Sonic the Fighters Medley (Advertise, Mushroom Hill, Canyon Cruise, Sonic vs Knuckles)
• Theme of E-102 Gamma/Event: Unbound
• Westopolis (Shadow Generations Tokyo, Forces Enemy Territory)
• Sonic Rush Medley (A New Day, Back 2 Back, What U Need, Vela Nova, Raisin’ Me Up)
• Sonic Runners Medley (Beyond the Speed Of…, Spring Emotions, End of Summer)
• Final Horizon Medley (Maybe If…, Blood Flow, Another Passage, I’m With You)

Act 2:

• Open Your Heart
• Seven Rings In Hand
• Team Chaotix
• Sonic Boom
• His World
• Infinite
• E.G.G.M.A.N.
• Endless Possibility
• Reach For The Stars
• Break Through It All
• I’m Here

Encore:

• It Doesn’t Matter
• Live and Learn
• Without You

 

I had a blast the other night! I do wish we got some Sonic CD tracks, it's a shame they dropped them from the show. I was supposed to be back home from Atlanta yesterday, but we got a bad snowstorm here in Missouri so I got home about a couple hours ago. I'm not sure if anyone heard someone shout "Genesis does" after the conductor mentioned he had a Super NES and played Sonic at his friends house, but I was that guy who shouted Genesis does.