Danny Elfman told me about his upcoming album and tour. Get tickets…
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Contrary to common perception, Danny Elfman isn’t just the composer for some of the most iconic scores in movie historical past like “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman,” “Men in Black” and “Spider-Man.”
He’s also an achieved heavy metallic solo artist, former frontman for the ’80s new wave band Oingo Boingo, drummer for A$AP Rocky and a budding screenwriter.
Next up, the tireless multi-hyphenate — who’s halfway by way of recording a new album that’s due out early next 12 months — hits the street on his 2026 fall tour that’s just as bold as he’s.
“My live shows are going to be a mishmash of things,” Elfman told The Post in an exclusive interview. “A collage that make absolutely no sense being put together on the same stage. But there it is. That’s me.”
From now by way of Oct. 4, the Grammy winner will convey his one-of-a-kind movie music/new wave/heavy metallic concert events to theaters, music halls, outside levels, festivals and auditoriums all over North America.
That features a cease at New York City’s SummerStage at Central Park on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
“I’m excited to play the new songs live,” Elfman smiled.
Still, he understands that followers of his might wish to hear tracks they know and love from his storied historical past working with Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, Gus Van Sant and composing the ubiquitous “The Simpsons” theme tune.
“Of course, my audience knows the old stuff and wants to hear it. So I try to combine my past, my present and my future all mixed together.”
He’ll echo that sentiment visually as properly.
“My idea was to have nothing fit at all,” the 73-year-old Los Angeleno explained. “For me, my world, it’s all about contrast. I love the idea of like throwing fun, crazy, dark, f—ed up s— up there and having it be a real crazy collage of elements and styles that do not have a single uniform aesthetic to them.”
Just like his sonically-diverse scores that run the gamut from fantastical and whimsical to darkish and haunting, go in anticipating the surprising.
“You’ve never seen a show like this before. I hope it’s a really wild experience,” Elfman grinned.
For more data, including the origin of Elfman’s near-perfect tune “What’s This?” and his look with A$AP Rocky on “Saturday Night Live,” maintain studying.
We’ve received every thing it’s essential to know about Danny Elfman’s fall 2026 tour, competition appearances and more below.
Where is Danny Elfman occurring tour in 2026?
A whole calendar including all North American tour dates, venues and hyperlinks to purchase tickets may be discovered below.
Danny Elfman tour datesSept. 9 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, MISept. 12 at MGM Music Hall in Boston, MASept. 14 at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MDSept. 15 at SummerStage in New York, NYSept. 16 at The Met in Philadelphia, PASept. 17-20 at Louder Than Life in Louisville, KY
Four-day passesSept. 18-20 at Shaky Knees in Atlanta, GA
Three-day passesSept. 18 at Shaky Knees in Atlanta, GA
Single-day passesSept. 20 at Louder Than Life in Louisville, KY
Single-day passesOct. 2 at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, CAOct. 3 at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, CAOct. 1-4 at Aftershock in Sacramento, CA
Four-day passesOct. 4 at Aftershock in Sacramento, CA
Single-day passesNov. 13 at Resorts World in Las Vegas, NV
Danny Elfman’s music from the movies of Tim BurtonNov. 14 at Resorts World in Las Vegas, NV
Danny Elfman’s music from the movies of Tim Burton
Who is headlining at the festivals Danny Elfman is acting at this 12 months?
To be sure to’re in the loop, all three of Elfman’s upcoming competition venues, dates, fellow headliners and hyperlinks are listed proper right here:
Danny Elfman 2026 competition appearancesLouder Than Life
Sept. 17-20 at the Highland Festival Grounds in Louisville, KY
Iron Maiden, My Chemical Romance, Limp Bizkit, Tool, PanteraShaky Knees
September 18–20 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA
The Strokes, Twenty One Pilots, Gorillaz, Tunstile, Wu-Tang ClanAftershock
Oct. 1-4 at Discovery Park in Sacramento, CA
My Chemical Romance, Limp Bizkit, Tool, Pierce The Veil, The Offspring
What did Danny Elfman inform The Post?
The Post spoke with the effervescent songwriter for 20 minutes a few days ahead of his tour. Below, you’ll discover a transcript of our chat.
What has it been like acting at heavy metallic festivals these past few years?
The second I used to be speculated to go onstage at Sick New World, I believed, “oh, what a terrible decision, I’m going on in between Marilyn Manson, System of a Down and Korn and I was like ‘what am I doing here?’”
But it went nice and they invited us again. We did it again this 12 months. Audiences are more eclectic than we give them credit score for.
Tell me the way you got here up with “What’s This?” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
That complete project was so simple. I wrote tremendous fast with Tim [Burton] and it was actually just the two of us ranging from the floor up. There was no guidebook for how you can start an animated musical and there was no script at that point. So we just thought, “let’s start with the songs” and inform as a lot of the story as attainable by way of tune and then go determine out the place we have been.
He would actually describe one scene at a time to me. Tim had lovely drawings he would present me so it wasn’t just an outline however we had these nice illustrations. And he would inform me “Jack goes into the forest and he gets sucked into this tree, there’s these different holidays and everything’s new and he sees this and he sees this.”
As he’s speaking, I’m listening to the tune in my head and I am going, “okay, you got to go.” Then, three days later, I’d name him, said, “okay, I got a song for you.”
Eventually, in the writing course of, I said to Tim “just tell me the story as if you were telling the story around the fire to your nieces and nephews” and that’s how we did it until we had ten songs.
How has the course of developed from once you began composing with “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” to what you probably did with this 12 months’s glorious “Send Help?”
It’s onerous for me to trace my very own evolution. It’s weirdly precisely the same because it was 40 years in the past. I always start with a way of ‘what am I going to do? I have no idea. I’m just going to achieve round in the vapor and attempt to seize one thing.’
Then, there’s always this momentary “what if I don’t do well? What if I can’t find it? What if I don’t deliver?” There’s that typical composer insecurity of going into one thing and not realizing should you’ll discover the factor that makes it particular.
It’s very easy to do boring scores however I don’t wish to do that so I attempt to make the score sound like there’s one thing identifiable in it that’s distinctive to that movie, that wouldn’t be straightforward to place in another movie.
The course of is still the same though.
I really like every time I work with Sam [Raimi], it’s a deal with. Not only is it enjoyable to jot down for his loopy movies, however he’s such a sweetheart to work with. And every time I work with Gus [Van Sant], it’s an experimental course of. We’re going to attempt and go into different areas. And that’s actually particular, too.
Working with Tim [Burton] is always an entire other factor. They’re just three extremely different personalities. I worth all of them very, very a lot.
What are you able to inform us about the upcoming album?
I’m stretching in different instructions. There’s more synthesizers and house in some songs. Whenever I sit down to jot down, I’m two writers that don’t like each other. One needs to be enjoyable and loopy and the other is private and considerate.
Basically, I’m always discovering a steadiness between these two.
Do you favor creating the heavier solo stuff or do you want the whimsical, fantastical scores?
They actually scratch different itches.
For instance, a few years in the past, I had my cello concerto premiere in Vienna with the French cellist Gautier Capuçon and a symphony orchestra.
Every week after that, I walked onstage at Coachella. As I used to be strolling out, I used to be pondering ‘”his is fairly cool. Not many people get this experience of bowing onstage after a concerto with a symphony to strolling nothing however a pair of shorts onstage at Coachella.”
I really like the distinction.
Is there one project of yours that fell by way of the cracks that never received to see the light of day that you actually want was launched?
There are a few scripts I’ve written that I haven’t given up on that are actually bizarre. I’m still going to attempt get them completed when I’ve some time.
I’ve also always wished to do an album of children music for Naughty Children album and never completed that.
What was it like becoming a member of ASAP Rocky onstage at SNL?
It was a lot enjoyable. I didn’t know what to anticipate.
We have been speaking about destroying our devices live on air, however clearly we couldn’t rehearse that.
Anyway, while we have been preparing, one stunt man onstage goes “be careful. At a certain point, I’m going to come flying at your drums.”
Sure sufficient, there was a point the place he went smashing in and I used to be just in a position to leap out of the manner before I received my knees damaged in a half. I did end up getting a bloody calf out of the factor however it was completely tremendous.
I always appear to return out of certainly one of these reveals with an injury, however I’d do all of it over again in a second because I really like Rocky and his music.
Do you will have any big initiatives in the works that aren’t listed on IMDB that you possibly can tease proper now?
No, I’ve been placing a lot vitality into ending the album together with an hour-long album movie. It has seven movies constructed right into a loopy story that I got here up with.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.
Which artists does Danny Elfman prefer to see live?
As one might need guessed, the enigmatic musician has eclectic tastes. These are 5 of the artists he can’t get sufficient of these days.
I’ve been to numerous Nine Inch Nails reveals, and for me, that’s always just a terrific deal with.
I’m wanting ahead to seeing Tool once we’re playing at the same stage at Louder Than Life because I’ve never really seen them live even though they’re my favourite band.
I received to see System of a Down at Sick New World and that was actually, actually enjoyable.
Seeing A$AP Rocky‘s live present was nice.
And Guns N’ Roses. I’ve been working with Slash, who is definitely concerned in this album movie in a number of methods.
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live occasions reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour bulletins out of your favourite musical artists and comedians, in addition to Broadway openings, sporting occasions and more live reveals – and finds nice ticket costs on-line. Since he began his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen live performance and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to call a few. Please word that offers can expire, and all costs are topic to alter.
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