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For once, we’re excited for a reboot.
In 2024, Hans Zimmer played arenas all over North America on his ‘Hans Zimmer Live Tour.’ At all shows, the charismatic five-time Grammy winner was front and center performing his timeless “Lion King,” “Interstellar” and “Dark Knight” film scores along with a world-class orchestra and rockin’ band.
This time around, like any good reimagining of a popular franchise, he’s switching things up.
Starting in September 2025, ‘The World of Hans Zimmer – A New Dimension’ featuring longtime Zimmer collaborator, composer Matt Dunkley, will hit huge venues all over the U.S. and Canada.
That includes a stop at Newark, NJ’s Prudential Center on Sunday, Sept. 14.
“There’s ‘Hans Zimmer Live’ where Hans is onstage with this really big rock band and orchestra,” Dunkley told us in an exclusive interview. “Then, there’s ‘The World of Hans Zimmer,’ the one that I conduct, which is a little more symphonic. We still have a band, but it’s not quite as big as Hans’ and we have a larger orchestra. So we’re coming at the music from a different angle.”
“It’s a different setlist,” Dunkley added. “The idea is we go through a journey through Hans’ 40 years of film scoring. So we go right from early days with ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ all the way up to ‘Dune Two’ and stopping off in ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Gladiator’ and we’ve got incredible soloists and amazing singers.”
“The difference is Dunkley knows what he’s doing,” Zimmer quipped. “I’m just making it up as I go. So you get a much more refined show. Matt is one of the world’s foremost figures in film music. There’s no one I trust more to bring this music to life on stage.”
Dunkley won’t be making his Zimmer debut here; he actually took this ‘World of Hans Zimmer’ version of the live show on the road all over Europe last fall, visiting 31 cities across the continent. Better yet, the Grammy-nominated composer conducted “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in studio alongside the maestro.
Plus, he’ll be adding his own flourishes at all concerts.
“I’m actually going to play trumpet in one number,” the former professional trumpeter turned arranger/conductor, beamed.
“See? He’s completely and utterly mad,” Hans laughed.
Fans can purchase tickets for all upcoming North American Hans Zimmer shows on sites like Vivid Seats; the official on-sale for the ‘The World of Hans Zimmer – A New Dimension’ is Friday, May 2.
Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.
They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.
Want to see Zimmer overseas? You can find tickets for his European shows here.
Hans Zimmer tour schedule 2025
A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.
Hans Zimmer set list
This past February, Zimmer headlined at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The New York Post had the pleasure of attending and wrote that the cinematic concert contained “epic, freewheeling music that was equal parts controlled opera and theatrical rock show” and made audience members feel as if they were the main character in one of the films he scores.
Zimmer: That was the idea. I wanted you to to make up your own exclusive experience. Shut your eyes, keep your eyes open, whatever you want to do. But this is music for your dream, for you to be the hero of the story.
And, while things will likely be a bit different for this next run of shows, here’s a look at what Zimmer performed that evening, courtesy of Set List FM.
Set I
01.) “A Time of Quiet Between the Storms”
02.) “Mombasa”
03.) “Wonder Woman Suite: Part I”
04.) “Wonder Woman Suite: Part II”
05.) “Wonder Woman Suite: Part III”
06.) “What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?”
07.) “Dark Phoenix Suite”
08.) “Man of Steel Suite: Part II”
09.) “Gladiator Suite: Part I”
10.) “Gladiator Suite: Part II”
11.) “Gladiator Suite: Part III”
12.) “Gladiator Suite: Part IV”
13.) “Jack Sparrow”
14.) “Pirates of the Caribbean Suite: Part II”
15.) “Pirates of the Caribbean Suite: Part III”
Set II
16.) “House Atreides”
17.) “The Dark Knight Suite: Part I”
18.) “The Dark Knight Suite: Part II”
19.) “The Last Samurai Suite: Part I”
20.) “The Last Samurai Suite: Part II”
21.) “The Last Samurai Suite: Part III”
22.) “X-MDP”
23.) “Paul’s Dream”
24.) “Interstellar Suite: Part I”
25.) “Interstellar Suite: Part II”
26.) “The Lion King Suite: Part I” (with Lebo M)
27.) “The Lion King Suite: Part II”
28.) “The Lion King Suite: Part III” (with Lebo M)
Encore
29.) “No Time to Die Suite”
30.) “Inception: Time”
Note: Zimmer didn’t actually leave the stage for his encore; the band played on after “Lion King” straight into the “No Time to Die Suite.”
Hans Zimmer and Matt Dunkley interview
Ahead of the tour, we spoke with Zimmer and Dunkley at length about the tour, Hans’ career, upcoming film projects and life on the road. Below, you’ll find a condensed and lightly edited version of that chat.
Are there any showstopping numbers you guys are particularly excited about for this tour?
Dunkley: I absolutely love ‘Interstellar.’ It’s really close to my heart. I love the film and it’s my youngest son’s favorite movie. Every three months we sit down and watch it together, which is kind of cool. Now he’s studying astrophysics so he understands it and he explains it to my little brain.
But there are so many beautiful moments in our shows. Even though we’re playing these very large arenas it really like an intimate concert.
Zimmer: We’re still trying to make it pretty big. On my last tour, I was trying to reach people in the back seat and back rows. This is not a dinner party. That’s my attitude to stagecraft. But really the show is about stripping away what you expect. Orchestras have always been relevant. It’s just people couldn’t believe they were relevant. Having the world’s greatest guitarist and an orchestra from the Ukraine, it just did something and the one difference was that we didn’t have a conductor and Matt is a great conductor. So it’s not just looking at somebody’s back for a whole evening.
Dunkley: I turn around sometimes.
What was your favorite moment from your last tours, Hans and Matt?
Zimmer: I don’t think many people could play ‘Lion King’ and go straight into ‘Bond.’ That was pretty cool but my favorite moment was when we played ‘Time’ from ‘Inception,’ which closed our shows. When we get to that bit, it’s just me playing the piano. This was particularly special in New York. Audiences in the City are pretty rambunctious and lively, but when you get to the solo piano, they are quiet like little church mice.
Dunkley: We do the same in in the show that I do where we finish with ‘Time’ from ‘Inception.’ For us, it’s essentially just hands on the screen playing the piano and then we have our violinist just playing these really high harmonics and you can literally hear a pin drop in a 15,000 square feet arena and then you just hear this wave of emotion come as it finishes.
Zimmer: It’s actually called a wave of rushing toward your cars.
Dunkley: Some do that and then they miss the encore.
Did you learn anything from the last arena tour you’ll be incorporating into this upcoming tour?
Dunkley: I do a lot of talking onstage, introducing the numbers and players. I’m working on giving these moments space and let an audience show their appreciation. Sometimes they want to stand, applaud and scream and shout and I’m going to allow them more time to do that and let the emotion fill the room since ‘this is their evening,’ ‘not my evening.’
Zimmer: I never prepare what I’m going to say. Just something happens. Then, when I’m waffling away, eventually somebody from the band comes up to us and says ‘should we play another song?’ I am more chaotic and I love going and seeing Matt. Not because it’s less chaotic, but because his show has a lot of heart.
Why are you sitting this round out, Hans?
Zimmer: I’m touring Australia and Asia and then I’m working really hard at building another tour. Plus, I have a day job. I just finished recording the score for the movie ‘F1.’
How do you feel about the score for “F1?” Where does it fit within your canon?
Zimmer: It’s surprisingly different. This is the third racecar movie I did after ‘Days of Thunder’ and ‘Rush.’ I think I got away with some things in ‘F1’ that I never would have gotten away with all those years ago. I hope people think it’s original and like it.
Zimmer: Other than ‘F1,’ do you have any new projects in the work that you’re work that you’re excited about?
Zimmer: Denis Villeneuve and I have started on “Dune Three” aka “Dune Messiah.”
He’s very excited, which means I am very excited. We are these two teenage boys who read it when we were teenagers and it takes us back to being teenagers but with the one advantage that we’ve done a few movies, so we we know how to get to the finish line.
Will there be the same musicians from the last U.S. tour on the fall 2025 run?
Dunkley: We have two different casts. They’re equally amazing musicians.
Zimmer: And we are incredibly international. I’d just like to mention that our orchestra is from Ukraine, and that actually really does mean something because we got them out literally as the war started. Then, it became very complicated. It still is very complicated. You’d think that the Germans would be very, very bureaucratic and very, very tricky but they just said ‘whatever you need, we’ll help.’ We just liked that they were a great classical orchestra that didn’t look down on my rock and roll tendencies.
Dunkley: They really embrace it. You watch some of the cellists and they’re going crazy.
This time around there will be clips accompanying the visuals, right?
Dunkley: Yes, but they’re quite artful. We only use short clips from movies because otherwise it’s just people sitting there and watching the screen. Most of the time the graphics are very abstract and beautiful.
Zimmer: You have an amazing designer.
Dunkley: He has these beautiful abstract shapes and live cameras that are through filters but the music is front and center. The graphics just suggest a mood.
I had an interesting experience at your show in that it’s a symphony where you can hear a pin drop for portions of it and then at times it’s also a rock show. What do you guys think audience members should be doing at this next round of shows? Are we sitting? Jamming out? Do you want a little bit of both?
Dunkley: Whatever audiences want to do, they can do. It’s for them. if we don’t have them, it’s just a rehearsal. So it’s what they want to do. If they want to get up and bop around, that’s fantastic. We’re not going to stop them but, quite often, people are just sitting there and when we put the lights on in the arena you just see tears running down faces. Everybody has a sort of different experience. We don’t want to prescribe that. We want them to come and have a great time. That’s why we’re doing it.
Was putting on a three-hour show on the last tour, every single night of the run a grueling experience or fun?
Zimmer: I was having a blast. The thing is, as soon as you get offstage, you just wither and collapse. It’s like, just get me to bed. All that stuff about rock and rollers is that we’re having a great party afterwards and it’s like everybody is doing crazy things until 4:00 in the morning. Nobody is doing that. They’re all working really hard. Either we get on the bus and we travel all through the night, then are woken up at 5 or 6 in the morning and now we have to get off the bus into the hotel. I don’t mind it because I don’t realize it. I can do it as a sleepwalk.
Dunkley: You’re kind of like in a state of permanent jet lag.
Zimmer: They put the name of the town I’m in right in front of my feet onstage. Sometimes I get it wrong, though. I did say ‘hello, Oslo!’ in Stockholm. They forgave me.
Dunkley: Our whole focus is the evening. That three hours. You give so much that you haven’t got any energy to do anything else.
Which score of yours do you go back to and listen to the most?
Zimmer: I don’t because do you really want to sit there and listen to your mistakes? Everything could be just a little bit better. If I’d only done that, if I only knew that then.
Pablo Casals, the cellist, was asked when he was 90 why he was still practicing every day, and he said, ‘because I think I’m beginning to see some improvement. I didn’t know that that would be my motto, but that is sort of my motto.
How do you plan on filling Hans’ shoes, Matt?
Dunkley: Those are unfillable shoes to fill. My job is to present Hans’ music as best as I possibly can with my abilities as a conductor and to get the most out of my ensemble made up of a fabulous orchestra and soloists and singers. Everything I’m doing is respecting his music. That’s my job but they are shoes that cannot be filled.
Zimmer: I disagree. He’s a very good musician. And he’s funny. At the end of the day, you got to have a laugh and you’ve got to remember to play music. It’s playing, right? So you’ve got the right guy here. I didn’t grab Mr. Misery bags to go into this tour.
Before I let you go, I wanted to tell you that — just like Matt — “Interstellar” is my favorite score of yours, Hans.
Zimmer: Every service ask me ‘what’s my favorite score?’ and I always say I haven’t written it yet, which is sort of the truth. However, should I actually go in my past, I’m with you guys. It’s probably ‘Interstellar.’
Cinematic orchestral shows in 2025
Need even more movie-like live music in your life?
If that’s the case, here are just five huge artists that may be headed to a venue near you these next few months.
• “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” in concert
• “Avatar: The Last Airbender” in concert
It should also be noted that ‘The Music of Hans Zimmer Tour’ is running from May through November.
Who else is on the road? Take a look at our list of all the biggest artists on tour in 2025 to find the show for you.
Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change
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