by Jon Bauer

Danny Elfman, live – singing Oingo Boingo songs, near halloween time. Something us long-term tender lumplings consider the holy grail and only some have had the pleasure of seeing in person. Sure, it wasn’t with the original band (except for Steve Bartek (original guitarist) conducting the orchestra) – but we’ll take it!!

For this show, Danny did a TWO stop tour – one at LA’s Hollywood Bowl, and one at The Bay’s Shoreline Amphitheatre. Playing material from his extended and storied career, the artist showcased his diverse roles as a new wave vanguard and band leader of Oingo Boingo, a soundtrack composer most known for his collabs with Tim Burton, and a freshly minted new NIN style rock star with his 2022 released “Big Mess.”

Elfman, 71 – shows no signs of slowing down as he kicked off the evening with “Sorry” – a song from “Big Mess” that’s highly relevant – especially today as we are days away from the most consequential election in history. He sings “your house is on fire, your house is on fire” in an apparent nod to the state of our country these days. “Sorry” is a scathing indictment of authoritarianism, dystopia, and deception – one can only wonder what inspired Danny’s themes here… 🙂

The rest of the night was spent alternating between his movie career with his sweeping and grand themes underpinning movies like Spider-Man, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Beetlejuice, The Simpsons, etc. Complete with a wonderful choir singing the well-known melodies to punctuate the beauty of each. The rest of the band featured notable musicians Stu Brooks on Bass, Nili Brosh on guitar, Robin Finck (also) on guitar, and Ilan Rubin on drums.

Also of note were two new songs – one – “In My Head” premiered for the 1st time at these shows. The 2nd – “Monkeys On the Loose” was released just days ago. They also performed “On the Outside” – a classic Boingo song that hadn’t been performed live since 1995!

It was a super fun evening complete with a pre-show meetup hosted by Robynne Winchester – one of the founders of the Oingo Boingo Secret Appreciation Society Podcast, who told me the next morning: “If you’re willing to let him do it, Danny Elfman and his musicians will take control of your brain, fold it on itself, and return it to you in an altered state. It’s an intense roller coaster ride full of twists, turns, and contrasts. I loved every minute of it – and going by the faces I saw in the audience, that feeling was shared.”

Setlist:

Sorry
Insects (Oingo Boingo song)
Spider-Man main title
Native Intelligence
Nothing To Fear (But Fear Itself) (Oingo Boingo song)
Breakfast Machine (from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure)
Just Another Day (Oingo Boingo song)
Grey Matter (Oingo Boingo song)
Jack’s Lament / This Is Halloween / What’s This? (from The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Mars Attacks Theme
Insanity (Oingo Boingo song)
Devil Take Away
Batman theme
True
Dance With the Lemurs
Kick Me
Beetlejuice theme
The Simpsons theme
Only A Lad (Oingo Boingo song)
In My Head (World premiere)
Wednesday main titles
Ice Dance / The Grand Finale (from Edward Scissorhands)
In Time
Monkeys On the Loose
On the Outside (Oingo Boingo song) (1st time since 1995)
Alice’s Theme (from Alice In Wonderland)
Ain’t This the Life (Oingo Boingo song)
Happy
Dead Man’s Party (Oingo Boingo song)

Encores:
Who Do You Want To Be (Oingo Boingo song)
No One Lives Forever (Oingo Boingo song)
Wild Sex (In the Working Class (Oingo Boingo song)