Coachella 2022: Danny Elfman delivers wild, weird fun with a career-encapsulating set

Danny Elfman had a good time during his first-ever set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio Saturday night.

“This is my first time on stage as myself in 27 years,” the producer, movie composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman told the crowd in the middle of his career-encapsulating turn. “Thank you for bringing me out of whatever it’s called … I forget,” he said humbly at the end of the set. “Thank you … I like it here.”

Elfman and his band — which included drummer Josh Freese (The Vandals, Sting), bassist Stu Brooks (Dub Trio), Nili Brosh and Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit) on guitars, a full orchestra and choir led by former Oingo Boingo guitarist and orchestrator Steve Bartek  — blasted through several of Elfman’s  projects during an hour-long set. The performance featured a few Oingo Boingo songs, selections from Elfman’s work on memorable feature films and new music from his industrial and goth rock 2021 double album, “Big Mess.”

He came out fast and hard with one of the newer singles, “Sorry.” It’s a dizzying cut, but Elfman commanded the stage and ferociously spit the venom he’s so openly talked about that led to creating his first solo album in over two decades. The other fresh offerings, including “Kick Me,” “True,” “Love in the Time of COVID” and “Happy,” were delivered with equal passion and given even more dimension live courtesy of the orchestra and choir.

The band also performed updated versions of Oingo Boingo songs such as “Insects,” which Elfman revived on “Big Mess” and “Who Do You Want To Be,” that had been reworked to include subtle digs at the Kardashians, Justin Bieber and Kanye West. Elfman rocked through “Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself),” “Just Another Day,” “Only a Lad,” “Insanity” and Bartek joined the band on guitar for Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party.” The occasion marked the most Oingo Boingo songs Elfman has performed since the beloved band called it quits in 1995.

“I’ve got a strange little show for you here,” Elfman said ahead of slipping into his Jack Skellington voice for “Jack’s Lament,” “This Is Halloween” and “What’s This?” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” As he performed the songs, Elfman put on a black and white striped jacket and scenes from the movie played on the towering screen behind him. Though he’s performed this dozens of times by now as part of the live-to-film events he does all around the world, including Halloween last year with help from Billie Eilish and “Weird Al” Yankovic at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, it had bigger energy at Coachella.

Film composer Hans Zimmer laid the groundwork for artists in that realm to perform live at Coachella as he took over the same Outdoor Stage in 2017 and played music from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films and “The Lion King.”

However, Elfman and company had better visuals, utilizing the screens on either side of the stage to give those in the back a closer look at the action as the performers launched into “Spider-Man Main Title” and “Breakfast Machine” from “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” “The Batman Theme” received a huge crowd response as did “Ice Dance” from “Edward Scissorhands.” The visuals for “The Simpsons Main Title Theme,” the opening sequence from the animated series, were colorful, bright and bold as they played out in the desert and the animated mushrooms that paired with “Alice’s Theme” from “Alice in Wonderland” definitely fit the Coachella scene.