Danny Elfman
at the 39th Annual Saturn Awards, The Castaway, Burbank, CA 06-26-13
Without a doubt one of the coolest experiences of my LIFE was being able to see Oingo Boingo live at the Delta Center in 1995. That was the last year any of us would see Elfman, Bartek, Vatos, and the gang play ‘Only A Lad’, ‘Grey Matter’ , and of course ‘Dead Man’s Party’ live.
My pal Jared went with me and got his ticket signed!
Boingo ended the tour with their annual Halloween show in San Diego, which means the only new material we get is when Tim Burton needs music to go with his new Johnny Depp movie. In addition to The Simpsons theme, Batman the Animated Series, and the Score to Beetlejuice, Elfman was also the singing voice for Jack Skellington, The “Pumpkin King” from Nightmare Before Christmas.
The band was kind enough to sign my CD as well.
For the second year in a row, Elfman performed with a full orchestra the songs from Nightmare at The Hollywood Bowl. Tickets went fast, and there were plenty of other stars helping out with other voices from the film. But without a doubt, the highlight of the show was when Elfman brought out fellow Boingo guitar man Steve Bartek, and said he was going to do something swore he’d “never do”.
After Boingo ended, Elfman was famously opposed to even TALK about Oingo Boingo, and said that he had moved on and that it was extremely unlikely that he’d ever play any of those songs again. But here we go, Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek with a full orchestra playing Dead Man’s Party on Halloween night, exactly 20 years after playing it for the last time.
Enjoy!
