Hans Zimmer Rocks Out on His Birthday With ‘Dune,’ ‘Lion King’ and His Daughter at Madison Square Garden: Concert Review

Hans Zimmer had a long guest list for his 67th birthday: some 19,500 people at his sold-out Madison Square Garden concert on Thursday night.

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The legendary composer rocked the stage for nearly three hours, proving that film scores can captivate audiences just as much as set lists from any other popular artist nowadays, be it Chappell Roan, Linkin Park or Sabrina Carpenter (though Zimmer’s fans skewed a bit more middle-aged — and left the glitter and eye shadow at home).

Alongside icons like John Williams, Ennio Morricone and Danny Elfman, Zimmer’s film scores are among the most recognizable in all cinema. He’s won two Academy Awards out of 12 nominations for composing the scores to the original “The Lion King” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” plus four of 22 Grammy noms. Zimmer has worked with auteurs like Villeneuve, Christopher Nolan, Ron Howard, Patty Jenkins, Ridley Scott, Steve McQueen, Gore Verbinski, Zack Snyder and countless more. Most recently, his “Dune: Part 2” soundtrack and the jaw-dropping, otherwordly vocals from singer Loire helped make it one of the biggest films of 2024. It may have been Zimmer’s birthday, but he had plenty of gifts in store for the audience.

“Yeah, they told me it would be like that. Complete shambles! The best in the world! The best audiences you can ask for are in New York. Don’t tell those other places that,” Zimmer quipped on stage when someone in the crowd shouted out “happy birthday.” “You know, it’s a weird thing. All day long people have been saying that to me. Finally when you said it, it dawned on me. It’s me! It’s my birthday, yes!”

After the show began promptly at 8 p.m., Zimmer soaked in the applause with his band, full of electric guitarists, violinists, cellists, vocalists, drummers, bassists and more. Zimmer and his band started with songs from Jenkins’ DC superhero hit “Wonder Woman.” The stage lights flashed gold, red and blue — a nod to the colors of Gal Gadot’s famous costume — and the violinists’ bows cut through the air like Themysciran swords.

After giving the show a hero’s welcome, Zimmer went back thousands of years to ancient Rome with songs from “Gladiator,” while singer Lisa Gerrard belted out the somber vocals of “Now We Are Free.” Though Zimmer isn’t working on this fall’s sequel, “Gladiator II,” it was a nice taste of being back in Ridley Scott’s world. Then from the Colosseum to the seven seas, Zimmer set sail with songs from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” After a medley of sea shanties and swash-buckling tunes, Zimmer received a standing ovation before heading into intermission.

The show jumped right back into the action with music from Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy, the first of which kicked off the partnership between the Oscar-winning director and composer. A giant screen above the band showed a flurry of bats flit across the stage, and white floodlights panned over the audience, like Gotham City’s bat signal searching for crooks. After a quick detour with songs from “The Last Samurai,” it was finally “Dune” time. Before the music started, three dancers appeared in the crowd dressed in the black robes of the magical, mysterious Bene Gesserit. Loire belted out her fierce “Paul’s Dream” vocals from the stage, as an electric guitar punctuated her lyrics.

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“Sometimes you come across a musician who can do the impossible. Then you think she’s doing the impossible, she just pushes it a little bit further,” Zimmer said of Loire.

Zimmer then returned to Nolan once again with the emotional “Day One” and “Cornfield Chase” from “Interstellar.” After the electronic rock-and-roll, the music slowed as Zimmer played the light piano theme from the film. Spotlights shined down on stage, imitating the heart-wrenching, 4th-dimension scene from “Interstellar” where Matthew McConaughey’s astronaut finds himself separated from his daughter. Light reflected off a giant disco ball hanging above the stage, drowning fans in zooming stars as if they were time travelers themselves. An aerial dancer descended from the ceiling, twirling and flipping on a massive silk as the band played on.

For the grand finale, Zimmer brought out “Circle of Life” singer Lebo M. and a group of African vocalists to perform a nostalgic, booming “Lion King” medley. The stage was alive with colorful lights, dancers and singers as the packed audience grooved in their seats. Lebo M. then gave a touching tribute to James Earl Jones, the voice of “Lion King’s” Mufasa, who died four days earlier at the age of 93, and led the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” to Zimmer.

Just as it appeared the night was over, Zimmer returned for two encore songs: his explosive James
Bond theme song “Gun Barrel” from “No Time to Die” and “Time” from “Inception.” For the latter, he brought out his daughter Annabel to perform the heavy theme from Nolan’s twisty thriller. In a first-time duet for the father and daughter, the Zimmers sat next to each other at the piano, with Annabel resting her head on her dad’s shoulder. She smiled as her famous father closed out the concert with the song, then arose for a roaring standing ovation.

Not many people get to share their birthday with Batman, Wonder Woman, Paul Atreides, but for Zimmer it’ll be one to remember at Madison Square Garden.

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