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Danny Elfman shows all his genius during a powerful concert – Santa Cruz Sentinel

Sakege November 7, 2024

Danny Elfman He doesn’t tour much these days (what with all the acclaimed movie soundtracks he’s busy producing), so some people were no doubt surprised to learn that he had a concert scheduled for Sunday night at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.

And chief among those people was Elfman himself.

“I can’t believe he’s back,” Elfman told his adoring fans of a half-dozen selections from his generous 32-song Shoreline set. “I can’t believe he’s alive. I mean, what the (expletive)? Actually?”

Oh, he’s alive… and how. And, having turned 71 in May, the Los Angeles native is still making incredible music. What a rare and precious treat to be able to see Elfman, who first rose to fame as the frontman of the ska-influenced new wave group Oingo Boingo in the early ’80s, perform his magic in person. This was one of four shows he performed in 2024, and his first Bay Area date since a one-off performance at Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University in 2022.

So make no mistake, this was a big deal. Unfortunately, this particular big event didn’t translate into a big crowd.

Only about 6,000 fans came to see Elfman at Shoreline, which represented less than a third of the venue’s 22,000-person capacity. In other words, finding a good spot on Shoreline’s massive lawn wasn’t a problem Sunday.

Danny Elfman performs on stage at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, on Sunday, November 3, 2024. (José Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

What those who stayed home missed, however, was a career retrospective of one of the truly singular artistic talents of the last half-century, as Elfman flexed his musical muscle in dramatic fashion while showing off his different facets.

The show, which also appeared Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl on Elfman Field, was descriptively called “From Boingo to Batman to the Big Mess and Beyond.”

The Boingo part, of course, was a reference to his former band, known for such fast-paced classics as “Who Do You Want to Be,” “Only a Lad,” and “Weird Science.”

Batman served as the umbrella cover for his Oscar-nominated soundtrack work, which includes Tim Burton-directed highlights such as 1988’s “Beetlejuice” and 1990’s “Edward Scissorhands,” as well as “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” produced and conceived by Burton. (Side note: How can it be possible that Elfman is only “Oscar nominated” and hasn’t yet won his first Academy Award? That sad fact seemed completely inconceivable as we listened to those excellent scores played live at Shoreline.)

For good measure, “Big Mess” is the name of Elfman’s second solo studio album, an industrial rock-style powerhouse released in 2021, and, well, the “Beyond” in the equation is pretty much where he continued to push all music forward. all night at Shoreline.

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Danny Elfman performs on stage at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, on Sunday, November 3, 2024. (José Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

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Each attendee was likely drawn to the show by a specific area of Elfman’s catalog: most likely, movie soundtracks or Boingo cuts. But every facet of his career turned out to be so powerfully fascinating that I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t enjoy the entire show.

Backed by a massive ensemble of musicians, including a full orchestra with string, brass and woodwind sections, Elfman jumped into the fray shortly after 8:30 p.m. with a vicious version of “Sorry,” the first of eight “Big Mess” cuts. From there, it went straight into the twisted “Insects,” the “Nothing to Fear” number that was one of a dozen Oingo Boingo cuts in the mix. Continuing with the insect theme, the big set, which was slightly hidden from my view by the wide variety of instruments and stage equipment, but which appeared to have about 40 people on stage, moved into the “Spider-Man” score.

And that process would continue to repeat itself throughout the night, keeping up with the billing as the musicians went “From Boingo to Batman to Big Mess and beyond.” Boingo’s material definitely got the biggest response from fans, who were on their feet when Elfman performed “Just Another Day,” “Grey Matter,” and other favorites. However, he didn’t make the Boingo cuts in a way that was reminiscent of normal studio versions, but rather, for the most part, tweaked them to fit the vibe of “Big Mess.”

The star of the night was cheerful and full of energy as he continued to delight his loyal followers, who I like to refer to as the Men and Women Elves (whether they are called that or not). He really seemed to appreciate the opportunity to make music on stage. Besides, he was busy enjoying his favorite season.

“Of course, this is my favorite weekend of the year,” Elfman rejoiced, citing both Halloween and the Day of the Dead as the reasons for that ranking.

Most movie soundtracks were accompanied by clips from actual movies, including “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands” and the underrated “Mars Attacks!” Some others, like the “Batman” and “Alice in Wonderland” material, had no actual clips, but just videos with vaguely appropriate themes (perhaps due to copyright issues).

The film’s musically best moment came when Elfman reprized his vocal duties from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” for a medley of “Jack’s Lament”/”This Is Halloween”/”What’s This?” Although his singing voice sounds more like David Bowie these days than what we remember of Jack Skellington.

At one point during the latter innings of this game of musical whiplash, as Elfman jumped between the solo cut “In Time,” the Oingo Boingo number “On the Outside,” and material from Burton’s reimagined film “Alice in the Land,” of wonders,” the star took It’s time to apologize to fans for the perceived lack of coherence in the setlist.

“I’m sorry nothing on this show makes sense,” he offered. “But neither do I.”

Some 6,000 elf men and women would have disagreed, as the man of the night concluded the main set with the Boingo classic “Dead Man’s Party,” with his Oingo bandmate Steve Bartek stepping down from the director’s podium to play the guitar. the closer.

“It feels so good to endorse,” Elfman said, taking off his shirt to show off his heavily tattooed chest at the start of the encore.

And it was so good to have you back, Danny.

Song list:

1. “I’m sorry”2. “Insects”3. “Spider-Man main title”4. “Native Intelligence”5. “Nothing to fear (except fear itself)”6. “Breakfast Machine” (from “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”)7. “Just one more day”8. “Gray matter”9. “Jack’s Lament”/”This is Halloween”/”What is this?” (From “The Nightmare Before Christmas”)10. “Attacks on Mars!” 11. “Madness”12. “The devil takes him”13. “Batman” mix14. “True”15. “Dance with the lemurs”16. “Kick me”17. “Main titles (Beetlejuice)”18. “The Simpsons theme”19. “Just a boy”20. “In my head”21. “Wednesday’s main titles”22. “Edward Scissorhands: Main Titles”23. “In time”24. “Loose monkeys”25. “On the outside”26. “Alice’s Theme” (from “Alice in Wonderland”)27. “Isn’t this life”28. “Happy”29. “Dead Man’s Party”Encore30. “Who do you want to be”31. “No one lives forever”32. “Wild sex (in the working class)”