Danny Elfman: Live at Summer Stage, New York City, September 15, 2026

by Mark B.

photo by Mark B.

Whenever an artist of any caliber decides to tour again after an extended amount of time (in Danny Elfman's case 30 years), there is always the risk of falling into the now unavoidable trope of playing into nostalgia. Performing songs that were popular with the same sound and enthusiasm, hoping that the songs will be remembered as they were by past fans, with no attempt to adapt to the sensibilities of a modern audience. While it's quite an arrogant and dismissive statement, one which tends to come from reviewers and a fluctuating amount of fans, it does have a small degree of merit. Is the tour an attempt to try and relive old glories, or solely a cash grab to capitalize on the memories of older fans, while playing to the memories that new fans wish that they had been a part of?

Thankfully, nostalgia was not the case with Danny Elfman's traveling road show of curiosities and oddities, which made a stop at New York City's Summer Stage on September 15th. The mythical legend effortlessly tore through a 25 song set that marched through a righteously twisted collage of a setlist. It was a prompt, precise, and chaotic journey that gave the feeling as if the audience were inside one of his compositions as it was being written. Aiding him in this musical carnival of souls was a masterpiece of a soul smashing touring band, featuring Robin Finck of Nine Inch Nails, drummer and fellow NIN member Josh Freese, guitarist Nili Brosh of Dethklok, classic pianist/keyboardist Irene Kim, and A Perfect Circle bassist Matt McJunkins, with a 12-person orchestra and a 10-person choir assisting to cast a special brand of theatrical magic on the sold out crowd.

The set spanned the extent of his New Wave roots, through his beautifully schizophrenic scoring career, right into his rebirth into the world of industrial tinged heavy metal. The night kicked off with "Sorry" from his 2021 album _Big Mess_ (which would be the primary album featured during the evening), with Robin Finck and Josh Freese laying down an abstract foundation of washed distortion and intricately booming drums, drawing a shirtless and heavily tattooed Elfman to the stage. From there, he wasted no time launching into re-contextualized Oingo Boingo classics "Insects" and "Nothing to Fear", which fit perfectly into the method of the evening's madness.

He provided similar crunching updates to the rest of the night's featured Oingo Boingo songs, culminating in a sonic doom worthy update to the band's signature song "Dead Man's Party". One of the highlights of the evening included the debut of a new song, "Sayonara", from an as yet untitled album due soon, that merged his early eclectic synth-rock output with the current visions of dark industrial genius.

Interspersed between the crushing, sonically updated songs were interludes from some of his most popular film scores, such as “Batman” (my personal favorite), “The Simpsons”, “Beetlejuice” and “Wednesday’, with frantic animated visuals that looked as if they were being projected directly from his visceral mind. The otherworldly magic of “Nightmare Before Christmas” took a spotlight of its own, with Elfman donning a Jack Skellington style coat and performing a guitar ringing version of "This is Halloween".

It's a wonderfully peculiar feeling to be reminded of musical scores that have meant so much since youth. But what brings it to whole other level is to watch the creator of such an intricate web of sound turn to the screen and watch his creations come to life, with a live audience watching the orchestra function as the beating heart. There aren't many feelings like it.

Danny Elfman's 11 date North American tour runs through October, with full details of his new album forthcoming. Be sure and check out the tour while you still can.

Mark B.

Setlist

1. Sorry
2. Insects (Oingo Boingo song)
3. Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself) (Oingo Boingo song)
4. Native Intelligence
5. Spider-Man Main Title (Instrumental with video montage played by backing orchestra)
6. True
7. Sayonara
8. Monkeys on the Loose
9. Wednesday Main Titles (Instrumental with video montage played by backing orchestra)
10. This Is Halloween (Instrumental with video montage played by backing orchestra, Danny on vocals)
11. Dance With the Lemurs
12. In My Head
13. Happy
14. Beetlejuice Theme (Instrumental with video montage played by backing orchestra)
15. The River of Life
16. Upside Down
17. Kick Me
18. The Simpsons Theme (Instrumental with video montage played by backing orchestra)
19. Only a Lad (Oingo Boingo song)
20. Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo song)
21. The Batman Theme (Instrumental with video montage played by backing orchestra)
22. Ain't This the Life (Oingo Boingo song)
23. No One Lives Forever (Oingo Boingo song)

Encore:

1. Who Do You Want to Be (Oingo Boingo song)
2. Just Another Day (Oingo Boingo song)

*Listen to Mark B’s radio Show “Theory of Anything:An Audio Odyssey” Wednesday nights at 7pm EST on Radio Garden State.