Empire of the Sun
The Piece Hall, Halifax
Sunday 28 June 2026
Antipodean masters of electropop Empire of the Sun deliver a quirky and fun set they hoped would take us away from the globe’s problems into their unique vision of a utopic future.
On record, Empire of the Sun make the sort of nice electropop for people who find Depeche Mode a bit too edgy, or Soft Cell a little sleazy, but live, they delivered a much more muscular sound that filled this historic Georgian venue.
In the studio, Empire of the Sun is an Aussie duo, Luke Steele from alt-rock band The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore, who featured in electronic dance band Pnau. Together they had created a reliable conveyor of pop tinged electro hits, including here in the UK scoring gold records, and penning hit single We Are The People that went top 20. Littlemore prefers to stay in the studio, so it’s left to the flamboyant Steele to carry out other live duties, and he proves to be a natural frontman. You can see that when he flounced on in a massive red crown, a flowing red cloak and futuristic space guitar, bashing out unreleased new tune Desire, which was certainly a bold opening move.
Empire of the Sun came with a reputation for putting on a big show that verges on performance art, so the set featured a massive inflatable boulder and a humanoid head in front of garish graphics on the big onstage screen. Steele is joined by a tight three-piece band in futuristic make-up, and two hard working dancers dressed in grandiose space age outfits. This all fits into their slightly campy psychedelic vision, taking us into a different dimension filled with mystical characters, where Steele acts as a benevolent Emperor of the Sun, and even the roadie was dressed up as a mysterious Ninja.
The hyperactive Steele was straight into the crowd, and the place went mad during pop masterpiece The Feeling You Get as a young couple energetically waved their arms in the air and bopped along. The dancers had the first of their regular costume changes, becoming space-age geishas themed around Cherry Blossom and Half Mast as psychedelic graphics fired on the screen. Steele joined in the costume fun as he switched to a sparkly outfit for an anthemic We Are The People as young women scrambled onto people’s shoulders to sing along. Sadly, the pounding Television sparked a rush to the bogs before Steele emerged from a black cocoon formed by the dancers’ latest costume change for a delicate Awakenings.
Despite the high concept that was carried out with great conviction throughout, there was plenty of fun in this show. None more so than during Music On The Radio when the dancers dressed as surreal Octopus aliens raced round the stage, cavorting with three gleeful fans in headdresses who Steele had dragged up from the crowd. It was such a joyous communion that the security staff were doing their own dance routine as they directed people to the loos. Steele and Littlemore are masters of the pop hook, with Revolve and High Low reminiscent of mid-period Prince, as the endlessly charismatic Steele proved what a strong and soulful vocalist he is. Celebrate was a slice of driving funk, complete with a meaty Steele solo as the dancers’ outfits took inspiration from the classic seventies sci-fi series UFO.
Steele slipped into a pure white gown and crown that appropriately made him look like a space age druid for the title track from their latest album, Ask That God. A sea of cameras went up in the twilight for Walking On A Dream as a boomer couple went in for some surprisingly vigorous mum and dad dancing.
Empire of the Sun are one of those bands who go slightly under the radar as a cult act, but over two decades, they have steadily built a faithful following who fill this big venue. No one would have walked away from this charming high concept gig full of new stuff and all the classics, feeling short changed
You can follow Empire of the Sun on FacebookandTwitter.
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Words by Paul Clarke; you can see his author profile here.
Photos by Andrew Twambley. You can find Andrew at hiswebsite
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