Hans Zimmer Live – The Next Level at the O2 Arena
Hans Zimmer has reached that rare status of being known not only by film buffs but also to the general public. The German composer, who calls London home, may be synonymous with blockbuster cinema, but there’s more to him than the deep bass blasts and seismic percussion that made his name. As he likes to remind the O2, he’s still “a guy who writes alone in a dark room.”
The sold-out show begins with a crackling thunderstorm sound as the arena is swallowed in darkness. A wall of analogue consoles glows faintly, like the bridge of a submarine. Zimmer emerges at a synth for the Dark Knight opener, then bounces between bass guitar, a mini-keyboard and a sprawling studio console.
As he jokes about finally being able to sleep in his own bed, he also explains that this tour is “a slightly different show, back to my roots, with a bit more electronica”. He goes on to play Dune, with its chilling atmospheric chant, and an arrangement that, in his words, is “a country-western punk track.” Then Man of Steel appears in its original demo form – more bass-heavy, more muscular.
Throughout, Zimmer can’t help but praise his musicians, starting with his longtime guitarist Guthrie Govan, who “plays something completely different every night after 250 shows”, or the violinist Molly Rogers who joins the stage despite having a fever.
Cellist Mariko Muranaka descends from above in a vast red gown, surrounded by a candlelit choir for a piece from Hannibal before playing Chevaliers de Sangreal from The Da Vinci Code – one of the night’s most theatrical moments.
The composer then gives a crash lecture on film scoring: “You need a main theme, a bang, then the A and B themes, then you fly around filling the gaps. But with this one, I kept writing theme after theme and I came up with 19.” It’s the introduction for Gladiator, where he plays five different pieces – “we haven’t tried before to try to play so many live” – brought to life by the iconic original vocal of Lisa Gerrard. On Now We Are Free, it’s the first true goosebump moment of the evening.
The second half shifts gears almost immediately, with the live debut of his F1 theme in a true retro synth uplifting vibe. The composer also confesses that when he wrote the Pearl Harbor theme he didn’t really like it but fortunately the love of his life convinced him otherwise.
Zimmer introduces the Interstellar suite by recounting a letter from Chris Nolan, typed on the director’s father’s old typewriter, asking him to ponder what happens when your child is gone. When Nolan later visited the studio, sitting down “with his cup of tea, as usual”, he played him the piece he had written – a “love letter to my sons” – before asking what the film was actually about. Nolan’s answer, “physics, space, the universe, love, an epic… now I know where the heart of the story is,” revealed everything. The performance mirrors both that intimacy, when Zimmer plays the iconic theme at the piano, as well as the grandeur and power of Coward and Stay.
The Hollywood maestro recollects how he started with indie productions and the time he spent researching African-influenced music when he was commissioned for a film about apartheid – a period he still speaks about with particular affection. That’s when he laid the foundation for what would become his breakthrough and first Oscar-winning score. As Lebo M blasts the arena with the Zulu “nants’ingonyama”, we enter the world of The Lion King. Zimmer admits that when they played it at Coachella he was told it was “the music of [their] youth”, and the audience reaction proves that point again. The suite feels both celebratory and emotional, a reminder of how deeply these themes have soaked into pop culture.
For the finale, he follows it with the anarchic songs of Pirates of the Caribbean – “if there’s an accordion on stage, you know it’s about to get dangerous” – letting the band stretch into the chaotic, swashbuckling energy of The Kraken and He’s a Pirate. Predictably, it’s Time that brings the night full circle: Zimmer alone at the piano, spotlighted, before the strings join in for a soaring crescendo. It’s a concert that summons the emotional force of cinema without having to show a single frame.
Filippo L’Astorina
Photos: Virginie Viche
For further information and future events visit Hans Zimmer Live’s website here.
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