Some orchestral performances can be a bit bland. Beige, to use a funkier term. Sure, they might not be that bad. They’ve got string instruments, wind instruments, the whole shebang. But at the end of the day, it’s just not quite inspiring enough. If you passively listen to Classic FM enough, you’ll probably get tired of it. If you want to get out of that funk, you’ll probably be looking for something different. A bit extra. And not ‘extra’ in the bad sense of the word, but just something more.
I was already excited going into the live performance of Hans Zimmer, and my excitement paid off in dividends. I don’t have too much of an emotional connection with The Lion King (Judas, I know), but I’ve loved every single musical collaboration Zimmer has done with Christopher Nolan, having watched (and therefore listened to) most of Nolan’s films many, many times (looking at you, The Dark Knight). Speaking of The Dark Knight, Zimmer’s performance of this particular soundtrack was my number one highlight. The soundtrack is great enough as it is in its original recording, but Zimmer (and all of his accompanying orchestra and musicians, who he made constant, humble efforts to laud and thank) made the composition into an epic spectacle with outstanding strobe lighting with some killer electrics and techno. The overall performance felt like more of a rock show than a traditional orchestral performance, which was much appreciated. While I’ve heard Zimmer’s work recreated with similar orchestral manoeuvres, hearing these sounds on non-traditional electric instruments definitely added a new spark (pun intended) to the mix. Groovy.
Zimmer’s interludes were also much appreciated. While it’s great to listen to sounds that I know and love rendered in new form, there’s nothing quite like hearing stories about the composition from the mouth of the maestro himself. Having watched a documentary about Zimmer a few days before the event, I knew that he, like Ferris Bueller before him, is a righteous dude. Warm and incisive and engaging, you’d be hard pushed to find a more rounded maverick working in the film music industry today.
The only slight initial setback was an annoying little [sic] kicking and pushing my seat from behind. Considering that this seat was bought for me as a birthday present by my parents and that it wasn’t exactly cheap, I wasn’t going to put up with that bs. I fired back a few judgemental head turns and hard stares that would’ve left Paddington in the dust, but sadly to no avail. Escalating the situation any further would inevitably involve talking to the father, who would most likely support the [sic] and allow said [sic] to carry on doing what he was doing. And adjacent members of the audience likely wouldn’t help out because they just came to see the show. Fair enough. My friend was gracious enough to swap seats at one point though, which was much appreciated. Not exactly sure why the father let the son attend if he was so uninterested (heck, if I was in his shoes I would’ve lapped this stuff up. Admittedly, I’ve been a massive film nerd from a young age, but still).
We unfortunately had to miss the final tunes to catch the train home, and even more unfortunately missed Zimmer’s marriage proposal as a result. Ultimately I probably could’ve stayed for it anyway, as I missed the penultimate train home (goshdarnit Bakerloo line) and got the delayed midnight one home. Never mind though, it’s all good. Zimmer was awesome. He’s the hero the world deserves, and the one it needs right now. We won’t hunt him, even though he probably could take it. Because he is a hero. He’s a musical guardian, a watchful protector. A white knight.