LIVE: HANS ZIMMER – Perth | Boorloo, 12 Oct 2026

LIVE: HANS ZIMMER – Perth | Boorloo, 12 Oct 2026
RAC Arena, Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 
Photography by Linda Dunjey

For the previously uninitiated (like this reviewer) there was little clue how much we had to look forward to with Hans Zimmer’s live experience. After all, the 69-year-old German, in his own words, “spend[s] all my time in a dark room with no windows writing movie scores” – over 180 of them and counting… how exciting could playing a few orchestral movie scores possibly be?

Well, I’m glad we took the punt and allowed our eyes, ears, hearts and souls to be opened in amazement.

Zimmer himself alternates between keyboards and guitar as he cheerleads his incredible band, a mad scientist savant thrilled to hear the sounds in his head made real, live in front of a near-sellout crowd.

That band is not just impressive, it’s unwieldy – over twenty instrumentalists, four incredible featured vocalists and an African chamber choir of at least fifteen voices. We’ve all seen those movies where the school band or choir play together and it sounds like an orchestra falling down several flights of stairs, right? This is the opposite: everyone on the stage a virtuoso, all playing completely in sync and holistically, creating something greater even than the sum of their already superlative parts. They’re so good, in fact – individually and collectively – that at times we had to wonder if they might be miming. They’re not, of course, they’re just amazing. A place for every instrument and every instrument in its place at all times.

There was one mishap, though, early on during featured vocalist Loire Cotler’s stirring introduction to Zimmer’s Dune: Part One theme Paul’s Dream. Her vocals cut out but her powerful voice was still audible throughout the huge arena, and some were adamant this was part of the show for a minute or two, until Zimmer realized his own mic was not working – in fact none of the microphones or instruments were working. Techs and roadies frantically located the problem while Zimmer joked from the stage about them needing to change a fuse, handling the PA outage brilliantly before sound was restored and the song restarted. Nobody HAS to be a diva when things go wrong: there’s more respect to be earnt from a little grace and good humour.

The ensemble ran through medleys constructed from a mere handful of Zimmer’s most impressive works: The Dark Knight, Man Of Steel, The Da Vinci Code, Sherlock Holmes and more, before ending the first act with a staggeringly epic suite of themes from Gladiator, featuring Australian vocalist (ex- dark pop band Dead Can Dance and prolific solo artist) Lisa Gerrard.

English guitarists Guthrie Govan – who has played with prog rock legends Asia, grime rapper Dizzee Rascal and many more – and Nile Marr (son of The Smiths’ Johnny Marr), Japanese cellist Mariko Muranaka, violinist Molly Rogers from Kentucky, USA, Aussie violinist Amy You, Cuban keys and accordion player Eliane Correa, German synth whizz Kevin Schroeder, Slovakian flautist Veronika Vitazkova, bassists Andy Pask, from England, and Juan Garcia-Herreros from Colombia, Moldovan violinist Alexandra Tirsu and two drummers – English Holly Madge and English/Algerian Aicha Djidjelli – and two percussionists – Aleksandra Šuklar from Serbia and Californian Steven Doar – all dazzle in their solo spots, their multi-cultural talents undeniable.

After a twenty-minute or-so intermission the second act raises the bar even higher, if such a thing were even possible. There are more medleys from Angels & Demons, Pearl Harbour (Zimmer confessing he HAS to play these songs otherwise the woman he loves might love him a little bit less), F1: The Movie and Dune II – again featuring Cotler’s vocals.

Zimmer is an enthusiastic and effusive boss, lauding praise upon each of his featured artists, clearly in awe of their talents, and their friendship and camaraderie are obvious, and he’s in fine spirits chatting with the crowd and sharing such snippets as the Sherlock Holmes number being inspired by the neighbourhood in which he lives in London, where different musos play in pubs on every corner, their music entwining like a ramshackle gypsy party; and explaining how Gerrard initially turned him and director Ridley Scott down when they tried to enlist her for the Gladiator soundtrack.

The highlights, surprisingly, were still to come.

Selections from Interstellar were simply stunning, Zimmer explaining that he wrote the main theme for his son Jake after director Christopher Nolan set him a challenge: write something based on a letter he would send the composer, which would not mention the movie he had in mind in any way. Zimmer did, prompting Nolan to say words to the effect of “well, I’d better make the movie now I know where the heart of it lies.” This amazing suite climaxes with German aerial artist Nina Treiber high above the packed arena in a kind of glitter ball-glomesh suit, stretching and spinning like a baby star being born in space. It’s a stunning stretch of the boundaries for an orchestral show and produced thousands of gasps and exclamations from those in attendance.

Another highlight which defies superlatives was Zimmer’s Lion King suite featuring the Nairobi Chamber Choir and original vocalist Lebo M and his daughter – not even born when The Lion King was released – Refi Sings. It’s a truly joyous sequence, their beautiful and mellifluous voices used to insanely powerful and uplifting effect, and more than a few tears of bliss were shed.

Govan and Rogers intro the Pirates Of The Caribbean suite on guitar and violin respectively, encapsulating how this ensemble can at times be an orchestra that rocks or a rock orchestra. The chamber choir return to the stage’s top deck to dance and prance and wave pirate flags like they’re having the time of their lives, before it’s Zimmer’s turn up top, playing a grand piano to slow things down for the tune Time from the film Inception. All that’s left is for the huge ensemble to gather amid the full glare of the arena lights and take their bows, comfortable in the surety that they’ve given their all.

There’s no expense spared in this incredible and – YES! – cinematic production: a cast of some thirty-six or so on stage and production values above and beyond most shows we’ve seen, pretty much ever. As the thousands of attendees filed out the door there were two things everyone agreed on: The first was that this was an incomparable experience we’d all been very privileged to enjoy. The second was that we had some favourite films to revisit.

Set List:

The Dark Knight & Dark Knight Rises Suite – Why So Serious? / Like a Dog Chasing Cars / Gotham’s Reckoning
Dune: Part One – Paul’s Dream
Man of Steel Suite – What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World? / If You Love These People
Hannibal – To Every Captive Soul
The Da Vinci Code – Chevaliers de Sangreal
Sherlock Holmes Suite – Absurdities: Part 2
Gladiator Suite – Barbarian Horde / Am I Not Merciful? / Honor Him / Duduk of the North / Elysium / Now We Are Free

Set 2:

Angels & Demons – Dream Is Collapsing / 160 BPM
Pearl Harbor Suite – …And Then I Kissed Him / Tennessee
F1: The Movie – F1
Dune II Suite – Part 1, Intro / A Time of Quiet Between the Storms
Interstellar Suite – Day One / Interstellar Suite: Part 1 / Interstellar Suite: Part 2
The Lion King Suite – Mother Africa / Busa / Stampede / Mufasa Dies / Remember
Pirates of the Caribbean Suite – The Kraken / Jack Sparrow / One Day / Up Is Down / He’s a Pirate
Inception – Time

 

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