Been on vacation this week, and took the fam to see Hans Zimmer perform live in concert. For those unfamiliar with Hans Zimmer, he is the primary composer of the instrumental scores of tons of films you've all seen. The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, Gladiator, I could go on and and on.
I wasn't sure what to expect last night, and man, was I blown away. He has a huge cast of musicians with him including a full orchestra, and a full choir on stage, putting on a three-hour show (including a 15-minute intermission). It was an absolutely brilliant performance. Think TSO, but less reliant on lasers, and more on the actual musicians (since there were at least three dozen on stage). The guitar player (need to look his name up again) was a standout -- he was Steven Wilson's lead guitarist on his solo efforts and albums until 2015. The primary drummer was insane as well. Other notables (besides Zimmer himself, who played keyboards, piano, guitar, and various other instruments and served as the frontman, obviously) included the cello player (forget her name off-hand, need to look it up in the tour book -- crazy energy) and, for those who remember the Lion King, the original singers who recorded that primary theme are on tour. Just mind-blowing.
And that reminds me -- Zimmer actually took out everyone who RECORDED these amazing scores (who were available). So, it wasn't just a case of other musicians replicating what was recorded by someone else. Zimmer tried to get all those players together for this. It was pretty...historic, if you're a fan of film score music.
The personal highlight for me, being a huge Batman fan and collector (and an unashamed Dark Knight Trilogy nut and obsessive collector) was the 15-minute "Dark Knight Medley" which included various songs from Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises (I don't believe he dipped into the Batman Begins score, but I could be mistaken). I absolutely love that trilogy's score and play it regularly. To see 15 minutes of it performed live to perfection was just amazing. I recorded the whole thing on my phone. Zimmer also told a story after it about the creation of that music, supporting the films, the death of Heath Ledger, and then shootings in Aurora, Colorado. They did a short 2-minute song they created in tribute to those who passed away as well.
Zimmer is just about done on this tour. So, unless you live in Reno, Los Angeles, or San Diego, you're probably out of luck. But if you live near any of those three cities -- go this week. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. This was the first time Zimmer actually toured (he makes jokes throughout the evening that he is usually locked up in a room with no windows creating music, not playing it live). He did Europe in 2016 and the U.S. here in 2017. It may be a while until he comes back again.
Even if you have passing interest in film score, if you can make one of the last three shows -- do it. Trust me. It was an amazing night and well worth the money.
Topic: Hans Zimmer live on tour -- amazing (Read 728 times)