If you just can't get enough Stardew Valley in your life, here's a different way to indulge in its unrelenting life sim coziness: The Stardew Valley "Festival of Seasons" concert series, an international musical tour featuring a selection of music from the game performed by a chamber orchestra.
"Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons is an intimate, immersive live concert featuring fresh arrangements of the most cherished songs from the game's mesmerizing soundtrack," the Festival of Seasons website says. "Curated by ConcernedApe, the concert program will take you on a musical journey through the four seasons of the valley, its unforgettable festivals, and its beloved villagers."
The exact role that Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone played in putting this concert series together isn't clear, but he did compose the entire soundtrack himself. And this isn't the first time that Stardew music has been centered out for attention: In 2021 Barone teamed up with Metal Gear Solid composer Norihiko Hibino and Etrian Odyssey pianist Ayaki for the Prescription for Sleep: Stardew Valley album, and in 2022 the lo-fi remix album Stardew & Chill, produced by Evelyn "Coffee Date" Rivera, appeared on Bandcamp. Rivera said the original arrangement of the track A Stillness in the Rain "is very simple, which meant there was a lot of room to explore creatively and expand on it in a brand-new way." I would expect we'll see a similar approach taken in the Festival of Seasons concerts: Barone's music, reinterpreted in new and unexpected ways.
The tour will appear in multiple cities across the US, as well as in Canada, the UK, Australia, Korea, and Thailand. Here's the full list of concert dates and venues:
- Feb 17 – Los Angeles, CA (The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage - 4pm, 8pm)
- Feb 23 – Boston, MA (Berklee Performance Center – 8pm)
- Feb 24 – Philadelphia, PA (Perelman Theatre - 5pm, 8pm)
- Feb 29 – New York, NY (The Town Hall – 8pm)
- Mar 2 – Seattle, WA (Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall - 4pm, 8pm)
- Mar 9 – Chicago, IL (The Vic – 8pm)
- Mar 10 – St. Louis, MO (The Sheldon – 8pm)
- Mar 15 – Toronto, CA (George Weston Recital Hall – 7:30pm)
- Mar 17 – Montreal, CA (Cinquième Salle - 3pm, 7pm)
- Apr 5 – Melbourne, AU (Elisabeth Murdoch Hall – 8pm)
- Apr 20 – Sydney, AU (Verbrugghen Hall - 5pm, 8pm)
- Apr 29 – London, UK (Cadogan Hall – 7:30pm)
- TBA – Seoul, KR (Venue/date TBA)
- TBA – Bangkok, TH (Venue/date TBA)
Barone said on Twitter that it's possible more dates (and presumably locations) could be added in the future, but they "would likely be part of a different, future tour. This is the first run and still kind of testing the waters."
Tickets for shows in the US, Canada, and UK will go on sale at 10 am local time on Friday the 13th, Melbourne tickets will go on sale at 11 am on the same day, Sydney will follow at the same time on October 20, and the Seoul and Bangkok dates will be announced "shortly." Tickets will be available from different sellers depending on the venue—purchase links are available at stardewvalleyconcert.com.
Stardew Valley patch 1.6.9 fixed my ugliest modding habits, and I'm having more fun than ever rediscovering vanilla Pelican Town
Despite running load tests that simulated 200,000 users, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 devs admit that they 'completely underestimated' how many players would actually want to play their game
