Review of 'Hans Zimmer Live - The Next Level'

https://www.hanszimmerlive.com/

I am a fan of film soundtracks which are often overlooked by filmgoers but they pay a huge part in immersing us into the emotions of the film. Without a good soundtrack many films will have never received the recognition they receive now: What would Star Wars be without the iconic score by the master composer “John Williams” (who was involved in some other small films such as, oh, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List, Jaws and E.T.)? What about the amazing soundtrack for “Lawrence of Arabia” by Maurice Jarre (Passage to India, and Doctor Zhivago)? The directors of all of these films freely acknowledge the power of a good soundtrack though without a good film to start with…I find I listen to many of the soundtracks to these films as music in their own right, as they truly are.

“Hans Zimmer” is the composer of the music for films such as Interstellar, Gladiator, Inception, Dune (the new films), The Dark Knight, and many, many more (something like 150 films). He has won two Academy Awards (from twelve nominations) for Best Original Score for The Lion King (1994), and for Dune (2021). He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award at Hollywood in Vienna in 2018, the Career Achievement Award “for excellence in film music composition” from the National Board of Review in 2003, the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2003, the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award in 2003, and the Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award from the BMI Film Music Awards in 1996 (from Wikipedia).

When I heard that his live concert series was coming to nearby Manchester I had to go. His music is very popular and there are other concerts that feature it but not the man himself so this is the one you want to go to. It turns out, he sold out the Co-Op Live, the largest indoor arena in the UK (and one of the largest in Europe) seating something like 23,500 people. Having seen Andrea Bocelli here back in April I was better prepared for parking (arriving 2 hours before the doors opened) and it was a very relaxed experience. Our seats were in section 111, on the right side of the arena in the first bank of seats (with hospitality and the balcony behind us). They were quite good but I did find my neck hurt a bit from looking to the right all the time to see the stage, but the sound and view was fantastic.

Hans talked to the crowd a fair amount between pieces with a “German” style of dry, often deprecating, humour that I think many British in the crowd did not appreciate. He explained early on that the concert was different from his others in that this was heavy on the electronic side of things rather than full-blown orchestra though at times there were a good number of traditional instrumentalists on the stage. Throughout the night he mostly kept to the synthesizer keyboard but he occasionally picked up an acoustic guitar then at the end (during “Time” from Inception) he played on a full-size grand piano that raised itself to the top level of the stage. His fellow musicians were amazing - Four sets of drummers (including two which more correctly be described as percussionists) three of which were women all with exceptional stamina, two base guitarists (“not one, but two” he gleefully told us, one of which being the incredible “Guthrie Govan” who, justifiably, featured in many of the pieces), as well as an assortment of other guitarists, vocalists, cellists, violinists, hornists (French horn players)…

The stage was split into several levels – The front was where the soloists performed with guitarists left and right of a massive set of electronic equipment operated by Zimmer himself, the level behind this was where the drummers were positioned, behind them was a small booth of three sets of electronic keyboards, above them on the topmost level was a dynamic stage that at times featured instrumentalists, dancers, and other soloists often raised to the level by a massive elevator (lift). This all lead to an amazing, full-on, musical experience that was more rock concert than classical with incredible laser and light displays coming from everywhere. There were two large video displays above the stage and one on either side for those seated on those sides. At the back of the stage was a large video screen that, as is the normal now, it seems, played what looked for all the world like AI-generated content perhaps at least partly because Zimmer would not want to pay royalties for showing actual clips from the films. It was a bit under-whelming in what was otherwise quite an exception staging.

At one point cellist Mariko Muranaka played on the upper level in a vast, flowing, red gown, for a piece from Hannibal before playing Chevaliers de Sangreal from The Da Vinci Code – an incredible sequence that was truly spellbinding. In the second half a singer in a crystal-encrusted body suit was raised from the back of the ground-level seating (behind the large section of sound technicians) about halfway to the ceiling where she was then hit by multiple lights turning her into a living disco ball - An incredible effect that was compounded by her gentle balletic movements to the music.

The music, yeah, the music…it was incredible. These were not simply performances of the film score, these were full-on musical pieces BASED on the score but delivering a much fuller musical experience. Often several pieces from the same film would be seamlessly blended into a much fuller piece that delivered an incredible emotional depth. It is also interesting to point out that Zimmer actually encouraged the audience to take pictures and shoot video contrary to what the Co-Op Live staff advised…

This was a full-on multi-sensory experience that was emotionally overwhelming and truly incredible to witness. I could not tell you half of the pieces that were being performed (though I certainly recognized many) it was more the pure joy and power of the music that was on show. The musicians were all incredible, giving heart-felt renditions that truly captured the moment. Oddly, I found the Manchester audience fairly sedate though perhaps this is just because of their being overwhelmed by the music, or, perhaps they just didn't get it? I just let the experience flow over me…the power of the music (literally at one point I could feel the baseline of the music pushing the air on my trousers), the wonderful harmonies, the amazing visuals…

Absolutely tremendous…now to pick up the album…

As might be expected, there was a souvenir stand on the ground level selling programmes (which did not actually contain the set list but did contain interesting articles and a “filmography” at the back), t-shirts, concert DVDs/Blu-Rays, pins and the like. Prices were not too extortionate (£20 for the programme which was quite large and lots of full-colour pictures).

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2025-12-02

Location: Manchester (England)

Address: Etihad Campus, 1 Sportcity Way, Manchester M11 3DL ENGLAND

Public Transport: (Metrolink) Etihad Campus

URL: https://www.cooplive.com/

Co-Op Live opened in 2024 and is currently UK's largest indoor venue with a capacity of 23,500. Located on the Etihad complex south-east of the city centre Co-Op Live has two large car parks and a Manchester Metrolink station, “Etihad Campus”.

Looking like a large black box, the building is quite spacious with a large number of places to eat and drink inside.

Acoustics in the auditorium are very good and the seats quite comfortable though I found it hard to see the seat numbers that were written in a dark colour on a black label.

Seating arrangements are the same as with any large arenas of this kind, with sections arranged in a large rounded rectangle around a flat floor (“Level 0”) with the stage at one end. Around the floor area there is a raised seating area (“Level 1”), hospitality suites then a large, fairly steep (but not as steep as the O2 in London) balcony (“Level 2” and “Level 3”) accessed by a series of escalators.