Danny Elfman’s Nerdy Coachella Set Included Some of His Best Themes

Titan of movie scores Danny Elfman is not any stranger to rock concert events; earlier than his now iconic cinematic masterpieces from collaborations with Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and others, he was the lead singer of latest wave band Oingo Boingo. So the 2002 Coachella Valley Music and Arts pageant was the right setting for his mix of chaotic genius to make an actual return to the stage.

Outside of popping out as a particular visitor for orchestral performances of his compositions—together with performing a couple of numbers throughout epic The Nightmare Before Christmas reside rating occasions—this was his first full set in a really very long time, and it went kinda viral for its artistic mash-up of solo songs, Boingo classics, and a full-on orchestra performing his legendary scores from movies like Spider-Man and Batman in between. Not typical pageant fare, nevertheless it seems to have been an enormous hit with the viewers.

In a post-show interview with Variety he talked concerning the expertise. “I don’t think anybody’s tried that before, mixing up these kinds of elements in this kind of insane musical mashup,” Elfman mentioned. “When you’re trying a conceptual idea, you don’t know what’s going to happen. But in the end, not having a safety net is also extremely exhilarating.”

He additionally ended up braving a freak sandstorm in the course of the formidable feat. “I was joking to a friend before the show, ‘Look, we have 30 minutes to set up a show that’s never been performed before with 50 musicians on stage. What can possibly go wrong?’” Elfman mentioned. “And then I’m sitting there before we went on, thinking, ‘Fuck, man. That was a joke, but it’s no joke.’ There were a hundred things to go wrong. But in the end, the one thing that I really wasn’t planning on was a dust storm, an actual sandstorm, in my face. Everything else came together really well.”

Elfman detailed that he expects among the kinks from final weekend shall be sorted out and that he’s excited to return to the Coachella stage for spherical two. “Even with the mix being partial and so incomplete, I still got such great feedback that I’m really shocked, and encouraged. So now it’s just like, all right, make it better.”

We’ll be available to expertise weekend two so hold a watch out for our full report from Coachella. Check out the set listing, through Variety, under.

Sorry – from Elfman’s most up-to-date solo launch Big Mess

Insects – Oingo Boingo

Spider-Man Main Title

Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself) – Oingo Boingo

Just Another Day (Oingo Boingo)

Jack’s Lament/This Is Halloween/What’s This? – The Nightmare Before Christmas

Breakfast Machine – Pee-wee’s Big Adventure

Kick Me – Big Mess

Insanity – Oingo Boingo

The Batman Theme

True – Big Mess

The Simpsons Main Title Theme

Only a Lad – Oingo Boingo

Love within the Time of COVID – Big Mess

Ice Dance / The Grand Finale – Edward Scissorhands

Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo

Alice’s Theme – Alice in Wonderland

Happy – Big Mess

Who Do You Want to Be – Oingo Boingo

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