MUSIC
Empire of the Sun | ‘Ask That God’ Tour ★★★★
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, October 26
Attending an Empire of the Sun show in 2024 feels like both stepping back and forward in time. There’s a heady sense of nostalgia for any Millennial who came of age in the late aughts, when the duo – Luke Steele of the Perth indie band The Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore of dance trio Pnau – emerged with the catchy debut single Walking on a Dream. Some of those fans have their own kids in tow now. Yet the group’s futurism makes it feel like we’ve stepped into another world.
Empire of the Sun perform at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday night.Credit: Richard Clifford
A quick note. In 2020, Littlemore apologised for the band’s early costumes and sets, which he acknowledged were culturally appropriative. Littlemore is absent from live proceedings now, but the aesthetic still borrows heavily from other cultures, particularly Japanese. The imagery – bonsai trees, dancers in geisha-style make-up, Steele as an emperor – strongly evokes old-timey visions of Asia, veering uncomfortably close to Orientalism. It’s jarring to witness in the modern age, and difficult to completely shake off despite the impressive production.
And it is an impressive production. Steele is joined by five others on stage, including two dancers, and the stage is flanked by two large, white faces, which form a kind of landscape. New elements are brought in with every song, and the costumes are especially spectacular, from full-body disco ball suits to elaborate sun and moon headpieces to the dancers transforming into trees.
It’s over-the-top and theatrical, but utterly spellbinding – seeing the set and costumes is worth the cost of admission alone. The production is so immersive and otherworldly that it’s genuinely strange when Steele speaks in a broad Australian accent, like being jolted out of a reverie.
Attending an Empire of the Sun show in 2024 feels like both stepping back and forward in time.Credit: Richard Clifford
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The atmosphere is electric, feeling more like an outdoor festival than a standalone show: fans are on one another’s shoulders in the standing area and bodies move as one.
Songs from Ask That God, Empire’s recently released album and first since 2016, mingle seamlessly with older cuts, such as We Are the People. Steele’s falsetto is note-perfect and he proves his chops elsewhere, too, hopping on the guitar and shredding – a reminder of his band roots.
In the warm night air, as Steele wanders into the crowd in the one-two punch of Walking on a Dream and Alive, this feels like the encapsulation of an Australian music summer: euphoria, dancing, a sea of hands up. The gripes stand, but there’s undeniable magic, too.
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