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Lyn, Charlie Rosen and a powerhouse big band turned Mega Star Arena into a palace of jazz, nostalgia and rebellion for Persona 5 fans.
Turning Mega Star Arena into a colourful palace, the Persona 5 Special Big Band Concert on June 18 saw its eclectic musicians and singer steal the hearts of some 500-plus concertgoers.
Composed and directed by two-time Grammy and Tony Award winner Charlie Rosen as the orchestrator and Lyn, the vocalist behind Persona 5’s music, along with Rosen’s ensemble big band comprising some of the best musicians from the US and Japan, the concert was a nostalgic trip back to when concertgoers first experienced the game a decade ago.
Almost evenly split, the concert featured both popular instrumental tracks performed with new jazz arrangements by Rosen and his musicians, along with songs that had Lyn joining the others on stage.
Stealing hearts, one song at a time
After Lyn roused the crowd with Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There as the opener, the energy would never die down, even during the slower songs such as Aria of the Soul.
Though the concert was a seated one, most of the songs had people on their feet, singing along to Life Will Change and Rivers in the Desert and clapping to the beat of the more electrifying songs like Will Power.
The problem with concerts such as this, where a big artiste who only comes out during their songs while the band “fills” the gaps with instrumentals, is that it may bore the audience whenever said artiste is not on stage.
However, this never happened during the Persona 5 Special Big Band Concert, due to Rosen, his musicians, song arrangements, compositions and formation choices during the instrumental tracks.
Take, for instance, how certain songs were structured around solos featuring the trumpets, bass or guitars, with Rosen himself letting the axe strapped around him rip for several solos.
A calling card to the Metaverse
As there were the two versions of the main game released – along with multiple spinoffs -, the set for the concert mainly encapsulated songs from 2016’s vanilla Persona 5 and 2019’s expanded Persona 5 Royal.
The full setlist contained the earlier-mentioned songs along with Phantom, Butterfly Kiss, Tokyo Daylight, Beneath the Mask, Colors Flying High, Tokyo Emergence, Break It Down, No More What Ifs, Gentle Madman, The Whims of Fate and Take Over, along with Persona 5: The Phantom X’s Ambitions and Visions.
At a little over two hours long, with bonus songs I Believe and Last Surprise, Lyn, Rosen and his ensemble band that featured the likes Eric Miyashiro, Andrew Gould and Matthew Whitaker, the Persona 5 Special Big Band Concert was not only a demonstration of how well video game music sounds live, but also a testament to how live music performances easily eclipse studio recordings.
