I haven't seen many performances like this in service of anything, let alone dedicated to the soundtrack for a handheld video game.
And yet here we are, watching a gigantic ensemble that mixes electric guitars, multi-part vocal ensembles and a philharmonic orchestra with pyrotechnics, shred guitarmonies and stage-leaps. And the show is almost entirely dedicated to music from the 3DS role-playing game Bravely Default. I suppose that's what happens when you hire someone like Sound Horizon bandleader Revo to compose the music for your game.
Per the Sound Horizon fansite White Crow, the performance was recorded at Yokohama Arena in November of 2012. In addition to Sound Horizon, the show featured the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Akira Senju. Other standout performances include Takeshi Nishiyama and Yuki's killer duo guitar work, Takashi Asahi on penny whistle and Makoto Hirahara, doing Edea's sax solo proud. And yeah, that's totally Marty Friedman from Megadeth who jumps onstage the battle music medley.
These videos have been online for a while (Bravely Default just came to America this month but has been out in Japan since fall of 2012), but I was first clued in about it when commenter Nixou shared a clip under a short music post I'd done related to the game.
Since then, I'd seen various clips pop up plenty of places, but I still hadn't gone and watched the entire show, which I did last night. And… uh, wow. If you like Bravely Default or even if you've never played the game and just like awesome performances, you should watch it. Hell, watch it just for Jun-Ji's drumming.
Thanks to YouTuber ベータうpろだ９for uploading and cataloguing the whole thing, which you can also get on DVD through CDJapan or on Amazon Japan. (If anyone knows of any other good ways to get ahold of a copy, I hope you'll sound off in the comments.) The show includes pretty much every composition from the game, with a few other singles from Linked Horizon peppered in throughout.
Watch below, and marvel at the fact that a 3DS game soundtrack inspired a show like this.
Update: Looks like the videos have been taken down; it was probably just a matter of time. You can still find some clips out there if you Google, and the DVD is available for purchase online.