The Undertale Concert Is Great, But Has Some Strange Omissions

Undertale Concert: A Symphony of Determination with a Few Missing Notes

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Undertale Determination Symphony concert in Kansas City at the Kauffman Center. It was an incredibly fun experience! The audience was filled with cosplayers, everyone was enthusiastic and respectful, and the music itself was fantastic. While I’m generally a fan of these types of concerts, I’m always a bit concerned about whether the musicians have enough time to rehearse properly, and there were some signs of that this time. However, overall it was a truly enjoyable evening.

A Few Missing Pieces

However, I must confess to being somewhat disappointed by certain omissions in the song selection. I’m writing to whoever curated the concert: please explain your choices!

I want to emphasize that this wasn’t a negative experience! The concert was lovely. However, the order and selection of songs left me quite confused. It started well enough. “Once Upon a Time,” “Your Best Friend,” “Fallen Down,” “Ruins,” “Home,” “Heartache,” “sans,” and “Snowy” all played in chronological order, as one would expect from the game.

Then things took a strange turn. We skipped everything related to Papyrus and went straight to “Snowdin Town,” then “Waterfall,” and inexplicably, “Memory.” There was a fantastic rendition of “Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap,” followed by “Dummy!” And, unbelievably, “Temmie Village” and “Spooktune” were performed. While we did get “NGAHHH!!!” and “Spear of Justice” in roughly the right spot, we then skipped over the entirety of Hotland to play “Spider Dance” and “It’s Raining Somewhere Else,” before jumping straight over Core to the finale of the game: “Undertale,” “Small Shock,” “Bergentruckung,” and “ASGORE.” I won’t detail Act 2 in the same way, but it was similarly chaotic, reaching back to previously missed sections in a rather scattered manner before the True Ending boss battle music kicked in. Thankfully, it ended correctly with “Megalovania.”

I understand there were probably good reasons for the song order. For example, creating a clean finale for Act 1 is difficult when trying to perform the soundtrack chronologically. I appreciate including “ASGORE” as a grand finale to that act. I can overlook the wonky ordering and the inevitable omissions since we couldn’t possibly play everything in a three-hour concert. However, I am baffled by some of the choices made regarding which songs were left out. Several songs were completely absent, while others, like “Temmie Village” and “Spooktune,” inexplicably made the cut.

Here is a list of 11 songs that were not included in the Undertale Determination Symphony, in increasing order of how bewildered I am by their absence:

• Can You Really Call This A Hotel, I Didn’t Receive A Mint On My Pillow Or Anything: While I understand it’s based on the main Undertale theme, this jazzy remix is fantastic.
• Stronger Monsters: The Hard Mode battle theme would have been a great addition as a bumper to “Enemy Approaching.”
• An Ending: This piano version of “Ruins” would have made a perfect segue into a proper finale encompassing the true ending songs.
• Reunited: One of the longest songs on the soundtrack, it’s a nice comedown after “Hopes and Dreams/SAVE the World.” I understand length was an issue, but not including it when we had “Hopes and Dreams/SAVE the World/His Theme/Bring It In, Guys!/Last Goodbye” is confusing.
• Quiet Water: This would have slotted perfectly after “Waterfall” or between “Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap” and “Dummy!” at only 32 seconds long.
• Here We Are: This major map theme was missing, and I would have loved to see what an orchestra did with it. It could have even been paired with “Amalgam.”
• Start Menu/Menu (Full): This should have opened Act 2 and slowly escalated from the first menu theme, adding instruments each time until it was the final, full theme with the whole orchestra.
• Bring It In, Guys!/Last Goodbye: The game’s two excellent credits themes were not included, likely because showing the credits on screen during these songs would have been awkward. However, I am still disappointed by this choice. That final piano melody in the recording was played live by Toby Fox for the game version and it gets me every time.
• Another Medium: This is not only a fantastic piece of music but also the entire theme of Hotland, a huge section of the game. I can rationalize most omissions, but this one truly baffles me.
• Battle Against a True Hero: The concert should have ended with the credits music, followed by an encore of this and “Megalovania.” Undyne was shortchanged.
• Enemy Approaching: This is the game’s basic normal battle theme and it was not played at the concert!