Danny Elfman performs on stage at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Danny Elfman doesn’t do much touring these days — what with all the acclaimed film scores he’s busy cranking out — so there were probably some surprised people to learn that he had scheduled a concert on Sunday night at the Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View.
And chief among those people was Elfman himself.
“I can’t believe I’m back,” Elfman commented to his adoring public a half-dozen or so selections into his generous 32-song set at Shoreline. “I can’t believe I’m alive. I mean, what the (expletive)? Really?”
Oh, he’s alive — and how. And, having turned 71 back in May, the Los Angeles native is still making some incredible music. What a rare and precious treat to get to see Elfman — who first came to fame as the leader of the ska-influenced new wave act Oingo Boingo in the early ’80s — perform his magic in person. This was one of only four shows he performed in 2024 — and his first Bay Area date since a one-off performance at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater back in 2022.
So, make no mistake, this was a big deal. Unfortunately, this particular big deal didn’t translate to a big crowd.
Only some 6,000 fans turned out 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 ginormous lawn wasn’t an issue on Sunday.
What those who stayed home missed, however, was an absolute tour-de-force career retrospective from one of the truly singular artistic talents of the last half century, as Elfman flexed his musical muscle in dramatic fashion while showcasing his many different sides.
The show — which was also performed on Saturday at Elfman’s homecourt Hollywood Bowl — was descriptively dubbed “From Boingo to Batman to Big Mess and Beyond.”
The Boingo part, of course, was referencing his former band, which is known for such revved-up classics as “Who Do You Want to Be,” “Only a Lad” and “Weird Science.”
Batman served as the overall cowl to his Oscar-nominated soundtrack work, which includes such Tim Burton-directed highlights as 1988’s “Beetlejuice” and 1990’s “Edward Scissorhands” as well the Burton-produced/conceived “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” (Side note: How can it be possible that Elfman is only “Oscar nominated” and still has yet to win his first Academy Award? That sad fact seemed utterly inconceivable as we listened to those great scores being played live at Shoreline.)
Rounding things out, “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 kept pushing the music all night long at Shoreline.
Each attendee was likely drawn to the show by one specific realm of the catalog — most likely, the film scores or the Boingo cuts — but each individual facet proved to be so powerfully fascinating that I’d be surprised to hear that anybody didn’t enjoy the entire show.
Backed by a huge ensemble of musicians — including a full orchestra with string, brass and woodwind sections — Elfman launched into the fray just after 8:30 p.m. with a vicious version of “Sorry,” the first of eight cuts on display from “Big Mess.” From there, he wiggled right into the writhing “Insects,” the “Nothing to Fear” number that was one of a dozen Oingo Boingo cuts in the mix. Staying on the insect theme, the large ensemble — which was slightly obscured from my view by the large assortment of instruments and stage gear, but seemed to number right around 40 people onstage — swung into the “Spider-Man” score.
And that process would keep repeating through the night, living up to the billing as the musicians indeed went “From Boingo to Batman to Big Mess and Beyond.” The Boingo material definitely drew the biggest response from fans, who leapt to their feet when Elfman would rock into “Just Another Day,” “Grey Matter” and other favorites. Yet, he didn’t do the Boingo cuts in ways recalling the regular studio versions, but — for the most part — roughed them up to make them fit the “Big Mess” vibe.
The star of the night was joyous and full of energy as he continued to delight his loyal fans — who I like to refer to as the Elf Men and Elf Woman (whether or not they are actually called that). He truly seemed to cherish the chance to be making music onstage. Plus, he was busy soaking up his favorite season.
“Of course, this is my favorite weekend of the year,” rejoiced Elfman, mentioning both Halloween and Dia de Muertos as the reasons for that ranking.
Most of the film scores were accompanied by clips from the actual movies — including “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands” and the underrated “Mars Attacks!” A few others, such as the “Batman” and “Alice in Wonderland” material, didn’t have actual clips, but rather just vaguely appropriately themed videos (perhaps due to copyright issues).
The best moment from the film score side came when Elfman reprised 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 from Jack Skellington.
At one point during the late innings of this game of musical whiplash — as Elfman bounced between the solo cut “In Time,” the Oingo Boingo number “On the Outside” and material from Burton’s reimagined “Alice in Wonderland” film — the star took time to apologize to fans for the lack of perceived coherency in the setlist.
“I’m sorry that nothing in this show makes sense,” he offered up. “But neither do I.”
Some 6,000 Elf Men and Elf Women would have begged to differ, as the man of the evening wrapped up the main set with the Boingo classic “Dead Man’s Party” — with fellow Oingo bandmate Steve Bartek stepping down from the conductor’s podium to play guitar on the closer.
“It feels so good to back,” Elfman said, whipping off his T-shirt to show his heavily tattooed chest at the start of the encore.
And it felt so good to have you back, Danny.
Setlist:
1. “Sorry”
2. “Insects”
3. “Spider-Man Main Title”
4. “Native Intelligence”
5. “Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself)”
6. “Breakfast Machine” (From “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”)
7. “Just Another Day”
8. “Grey Matter”
9. “Jack’s Lament”/”This Is Halloween”/”What’s This?” (From “The Nightmare Before Christmas”)
10. “Mars Attacks!”
11. “Insanity”
12. “Devil Take Away”
13. “Batman” medley
14. “True”
15. “Dance With the Lemurs”
16. “Kick Me”
17. “Main Titles (Beetlejuice)”
18. “The Simpsons Theme”
19. “Only a Lad”
20. “In My Head”
21. “Wednesday Main Titles”
22. “Edward Scissorhands: Main Titles”
23. “In Time”
24. “Monkeys on the Loose”
25. “On the Outside”
26. “Alice’s Theme” (From “Alice in Wonderland”)
27. “Ain’t This the Life”
28. “Happy”
29. “Dead Man’s Party”
Encore:
30. “Who Do You Want to Be”
31. “No One Lives Forever”
32. “Wild Sex (In the Working Class)”
