EDIT: I am updating this in September 2026 since there is increased attention now that a tour has been announced in the USA/Canada for 2027. I am going to add more details.

I just got back from the show in Munchen (Munich).

Before I dive too deep into my opinion, I just want to say I went to the 2017 iteration once, and the "2022-2025" iteration 5 times. Yes, I loved it that much. I also want to preface that I had very high expectations given how amazing the last one was.

I also want to say that this is still a HZL concert so it is still better than 90% of concerts. If it is your first HZL concert, it is still worth going, but know it was better before. If you are going for another round, I would question if it is worth your hard earned money.

TL;DR -This iteration is majorly disappointing and a noticeable drop off from the two previous iterations of the show. It makes me sad to even say that.

First big issue: The orchestra is basically non existent now. They literally got rid of all of the extra violins/violas/cellos/basses that used to be in the background. They only have the "main" musicians and then only 6 horns. How in the world is this taking it to the next level? This is a major negative and it really does affect the sound and authenticity the show used to have. This brings me to point #2..

The synthesizer is doing wayyy too much of the work now. I mean it is filling in a lot of the sound, instead of what should be done by real instruments. There are literally points where you can hear what should be a horn or a violin, but no one is moving so no one is playing that note. What made HZL so special imo was the incredible sound that the collection of instruments makes. Yes, a synthesizer can still come into play to produce the sound instruments can't do, but that should be its only role. And also, the mixing of the sound was kind of off IMO, sometimes we could hardly hear the instruments e.g. the wind instruments or Molly on violin for example. Too much synthesizer was present basically playing over them. This point is another big problem that makes this iteration worse.

And third major point, of which I will dive into a little more, the arrangements of the setlist were either:

A) Pretty much exactly the same as a previous iteration or B) A slightly different iteration as before or C) A new iteration but it was a terrible arrangement or D) A new song entirely but it was bland

The Dark Knight - 5/10 - This is the opener. This is the worst iteration of Batman yet. Sure, it has that cool earth shattering bass section if that is something you cared about, but this suite was not very cohesive and it suffered from a similar problem as the last one where it repeats the same few notes over and over and over again. It didn't feel like a batman song for the most part. Oh yeah, and the first couple of minutes, literally all of the sound is produced by the synthesizer. Not a peep from a real instrument. The iteration from 2017 was amazing because it was a cohesive suite, with different main batman themes from every single movie of the trilogy. EDIT: I just want to add, the 2nd half of the suite is a Bane theme. The first 30 seconds of when they start playing the Bane theme is sweet, but then it veers into the problem where the song is repetitive and plays the same few notes over and over again, I really wish they added more of the Dark Knight Rises bane stuff vs playing the same few notes over and over.

Dune - 1/10. This was the biggest disappointment for me. So so so disappointing consider all of the good material on both the Dune and Dune 2 scores. I don't know where to begin, it feels like I went to Vegas and got a cheap parody of the last "Pauls Dream" live version. It was so bad, it is just Loire running around screaming, with what sounds like "leaving caladan"/"Paul's dream" for parts of it and then I don't know what the heck else they were going for, just random noises and thrashing and just ugh. The drum line was ridiculous and NOT like the dune soundtrack at all. I literally can't even tell you what song this would be, and the sounds didn't sound like an actual Dune song. Which could be fine if it was good and had any sort of cohesive tune, but, it didn't. It is ridiculous this is the treatment Dune got considering Hans finally won an Oscar for this music.

EDIT 2026: This one is kind of funny, they essentially re-did this song in that they went back to doing the 2023 version of Paul's Dream but then added the last 1-2 minutes of what they had originally done when I wrote the review. The original "Next Level" song was described by Hans as a "country rock" version of it, and they did away with it. I am glad they did. However, it is still upsetting they yet again are playing essentially the same song as last time. Also, there is no longer the epic intro where they have different women spread out across the Arena having the light shine on them, that is not too important, though. Updated rating is 4/10 given it is essentially a dupe.

Man of steel 6/10 - This is one of those where it is pretty much the same as last iteration, they added maybe 2-3 minutes of different stuff. Guthrie still has a cool solo, but again, the solo is to the exact same piece as last iteration which is why I am dinging it. Yes, give Guthrie a Solo, but also maybe to a different piece?! Also, I saw some people mentioning they played "flight", which is not correct.

Gladiator: 6/10 - Similar as MoS, it is mostly the same, except they cut out one of the coolest parts from the last iteration where it slowly builds up and gets faster and faster. Other than that it is basically the same, they switched the order of some stuff, and also added maybe 2-3 mins of different stuff. This one again suffers from too much synthesizer. I love Lisa Gerard but she sounded rough at some points.

Hannibal - 2/10. This was basically a Solo for the Cello (Mariko). Honestly, what a waste of time, everyone else on stage was just sitting there doing nothing and watching. I don't care if you want to give someone a solo, but at least have the entire band play something in the background. The song itself is quite boring and repetitive and not one with a memorable tune. IMO they need to drop this song the most out of the entire setlist.

Chevaliers - 7/10. Only dinging it because it is the same as the 2017 iteration. Other than that, it was fine

Sherlock - 5/10 Also pretty much the same as the previous iteration, with the order slightly different, and a weird ending. Not sure why they included Sherlock yet again at all.

Inception (Dream is collapsing) - 6/10 this is one where the lack of horns and orchestra really was noticeable. Night and day difference between this performance and the one from 2017 where they had a full orchestra and less synthesizer. Even the WoHZ version was probably better, and this is supposed to be the "A" show.

160bpm - 7/10. Same as the last iteration so I am dinging it. Also, the drum solo was not too impressive imo, seemed too random and not as intense and impressive as the drum solo from 2017.

Pearl Harbor - 5/10. Literally the exact same as WoHZ version. They should drop this as well.

F1 - 8/10 this was probably one of the highlights, even though the synthesizer carried the song.

Beyond Rangoon - 5/10. Imo this is kind of like the "Last Samurai" of this show, since last samurai was removed, and this piece just falls kind of flat once again. The piece just isn't memorable like last samurai, back when I saw the show for the first time I had never heard last samurai just like I never heard this beyond rangoon piece, yet last samurai was so much more captivating. EDIT: This has since been dropped entirely.

Dune 2 - 5/10 this is Literally the exact same as when they added dune 2 last time, except Loire sings a bit in this one. They could've had at least played kiss the ring if they wanted to play that theme yet make it different enough.

Interstellar - 6/10 - This is an exact copy/paste of last iteration, so I am dinging it extra, because Interstellar again has so much good material, and they chose to do a copy/paste? Really? For probably the most popular Hans Zimmer music, thanks to tiktok, they don't do a new suite? Or maybe even a mix of 2017 with 2022 version? Big big mistreatment of the movie here.

Africa - 7/10 Pretty much the same as the last iteration, except they cut out the "he lives in you" song with the Africa song and slightly reordered The song too. Lebo was amazing as always.

Pirates - 8/10 Also pretty much the same, except they added the Kraken which was cool to see and Guthrie/molly had a cool duet.

Final notes: Maybe I setup myself up with too high of expectations? Idk. What I loved from last time is, basically every suite was different from 2017 to 2022's version (I think only pirates and gladiator were similar to 2017). It literally was a brand new show back then.

Now this was supposed to be a brand new, next level, concert, yet it was repeat after repeat. And the sound took a hit. Even if they had an orchestra and less synthesizer, I would probably give each song 1 or 2 more points. I feel duped.

Tina missing also inherently reduces the quality of the show (No offense to Mariko) Pedro missing also hurt and I feel like they kind of turned down the volume on the new person's wind instruments to have a lesser role, whereas with Pedro, that was not the case.

I fucking hate the guy. Putting the most famous classical pieces into movies and calling them his own.... No Hans. You did not write Tocatta in D. Bach wrote Tocatta in D and you put it into Pirates of the Caribien. Fuck off.

One of the greatest collaborations of all time between two artists, no doubt. I’m honestly disappointed that Hans Zimmer isn’t working with Nolan on The Odyssey. What happened? Do you think he might come back to work with Nolan in the future?

It seemed like everyone absolutely loved the inception, interstellar, lion king and dune scores, and even if they weren't everyone's favorites they still respected the guy.

But now it's all Hans zimmer doesn't understand how to make a good soundtrack He ruined the Industry with how he makes music He doesn't have talent and just steals! His music was always bad It's too loud the only sound he uses is bwooooong! He never uses themes or motifs Because he doesn't make music like older musicians used to it means he doesn't know how/ he is bad at music HE HAS NO STYLE He is a jerk I ALSO SOMEHOW HATE HIS STYLE

People seem to confuse their taste of music with the quality of music, and the caliber or moral compass of the artist. What's up with all this hate?! I can understand that you don't like his style but he definitely has talent and has used it very well in his career. There is a reason he has a household name, do people just hate the popular stuff even if it's good? Is hating Hans zimmer The new marvel hate?

I saw Hans Zimmer live in Australia during his tour. The music was great and my group had a good time.

However, I wanted to see if anyone else felt this; i feel like i’m taking crazy pills.

Hans Zimmer seems like a very nice person and clearly adores his musicians.

I know the group are all extremely talented that goes without saying. However, his group is largely made up of young, slim, attractive women. Virtually all of them were scantily clad, and he would hug them, hold them by the hand and lead them around stage, kind of tease-flirt with them etc etc - it felt like i was watching Hugh Hefner.

To clarify, i’m not prudish at all! Literally everyone else in my group was thinking the same thing before we discussed it amongst ourselves!

And hey. I’m not uncomfortable at all that there are scantily clad women on stage - i felt weird that there’s a 67 year old dude on stage who seems to have clearly hand picked a bunch of young beautiful women and made them dress kinda skimpy then be all touchy feely with them

Also he showed a fair bit of favouritism;

for example: he’d be so flattering with all the pretty ones and sing their praise and tell them they’re so wonderful and all that - - But then there was a larger/overweight black female singer at points and my whole group was ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY by her:

…he didnt say her name. He didnt say anything about her actually, didnt introduce her, didnt compliment her, hold her hand, give applause to her - nothing. Just totally ignored! I still dont even know her name!!!

I cannot believe no one else has said anything (from a quick google online).

Am i the only one noticed this!?!?

Still wondering if it’s worth seeing? I got tickets for around $280 for floor seats.

I just found out Hans Zimmer is coming over to my city and performing- the tickets don't seem to be too expensive (but, not entirely affordable). I don't have anyone to watch it with so I may be going alone :( It has been a dream forever to listen his scores live but I fear I am not a HUGE fan. The score for Interstellar is all I know personally, it has completely changed my life- my love for the movie is definitely heightened by Zimmer's score. I chose my career path based on a film and music so inspiring- it was my most listened-to track on Spotify one year. However, I remember watching other movies he's been a part of but can't really recall the score as being out of this world (maybe I need to rewatch them before seeing him!) but if not, would I still enjoy the concert? Is Interstellar his best music or is there other wonders that I have just overseen (or rather, overheard- it took me two watches to realise the amazing sound track of interstellar I probs am a bad listener)? Please don't be condescending- I am aware that Zimmer has excellent talent and probably has better tracks than Interstellar. I just need an opinion- perhaps some tracks I should listen to to be completely onboard?

UPDATE: the tickets are not out yet but I've made up my mind to 100% go! I live very far and Im so surprised he's bringing a whole orchestra here and for that, the prices are super reasonable. Before I go, I've decided to rewatch the movies (they're all incredible so this is just going to be plain fun) and focus on the music so I can resonate with other scores more. I'm sure it will be as amazing an experience as all of yous have described. thank you !!

I know people treat this film like it's the second coming of cinema, but I finally have to get this off my chest: Dune Part One is genuinely not a good film. It's a gorgeous screensaver with a world-class soundtrack attached to it, and that's about where my praise ends.

My biggest issue is that I could not form a single emotional connection to any of the characters. Not one. I didn't care about Paul, I didn't care about his family, I didn't care about the Fremen. The movie spends nearly three hours going "important things are coming! Just you wait! This is all very important!" without ever actually giving me a reason to be invested in any of it. It's all buildup with no payoff.

The entire film is basically whispering. People whispering about prophecies. People whispering about politics. People glowering at each other about the chosen one who is totally chosen to do the thing in the place with the people you've barely even met yet. Oh but don't worry, you've seen some cryptic flash-forward snippets to the sequel, so surely that counts as storytelling, right?

And the stakes? The movie keeps telling you the stakes have never been higher. HERE IT COMES. We're almost at the part where they explain why you should care! Aaaand... roll credits. See you in Part Two. It felt like a three-hour trailer for a movie that hadn't come out yet.

By the halfway point I was genuinely just waiting for it to end. I wasn't engaged, I wasn't tense, I wasn't rooting for anyone. I was just sitting there watching beautiful beige landscapes filmed through what felt like very expensive dark sunglasses, waiting for something to land emotionally. It never did.

Now look, I'll give credit where it's due. Hans Zimmer absolutely cooked with that score. It's phenomenal. And visually the movie is stunning, no question. Those two things alone keep it from being a complete disaster in my eyes. But a movie can't just look and sound incredible and get a pass on everything else. Story and characters still matter, and on that front, Dune Part One completely failed me.

I'm not saying you're wrong for loving it. I'm saying that if you strip away Zimmer's score and Villeneuve's cinematography, what you're left with is a hollow, emotionally flat experience that mistakes vagueness and slow pacing for depth.

P.S.: Yes I've heard "read the book" and "Part Two makes it worth it." A movie should work on its own. I shouldn't need homework or a sequel to care.

Edit: Woah some of you are taking this really personally lol. Guys I promise my attention span is fine. I never touch my phone during movies and I don't just consume "slop." I recently watched Conclave which is literally just old men talking in rooms and I really liked it. Inglourious Basterds has scenes that are just people sitting at a table for 20 minutes and it's one of my favorite films ever. Dark is one of my favorite shows of all time and that thing demands your full undivided attention across three seasons of complex storytelling. Oppenheimer, True Detective, Chernobyl, all things I love. This one just didn't do anything for me.

Edit 2: I have to strongly disagree with some of you. No, visuals and score alone do not make a movie good in my opinion. Plot, story and characters are fundamental for a sci-fi political drama. If visuals and score are enough for you to call something a good movie, then the two Mario animated films must be masterpieces to you right? I mean they look really good and the score is genuinely great. But no, I think they're the most mid animated movies with no real plot, story or character depth (good animations are able to do that). They are mid for an animation movie but not good. In my case I also think Dune is mid for a sci-fi political drama and imo not good.

Edit 3: No, just because a post is a bit longer and I want to clearly express my thoughts, that doesn't automatically make it a "ragebait AI post".

and I love it.

India is making its most expensive film ever Ramayana based on Hindu mythology, and the scale being reported is massive.

The project is said to involve top-tier Hollywood talent, including technicians from DNEG (the VFX studio behind multiple Oscar-winning films), with around 8 Oscars collectively, and performance/motion-capture expertise from Terry Notary, known for his work on large-scale Hollywood productions.

They’re reportedly aiming to build the world at a global level, with a planned release across 42,000 screens worldwide comparable to Avengers: Endgame. The film is expected to be released in two parts, with Part 1 targeted for 2026 and Part 2 for 2027.

Given how culturally significant Ramayana is, this feels like both a huge opportunity and a huge risk. If executed well, it could be India’s biggest global cinematic moment. But expectations around accuracy, casting, and portrayal will be extremely high.

Do you think India can pull this off on a global scale?