Empire of the Sun @ The Showbox [Seattle] - 6/18/2019
Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steele at The Showbox in Seattle (Photo by Mauricio Castro)
Not every band can say they’ve made a song that defines a musical era. Empire of the Sun has at least one of them with “Walking on a Dream,” the centerpiece of their 2009 album of the same name. Their three-night, completely sold-out stop at The Showbox in Seattle was part of their ten-year anniversary tour for the debut album.
Those that have seen Empire of the Sun in the past will know the drill. Everyone else was in for a visually exciting trip like no other. Luke Steele and his band, adorned in otherworldly outfits, took the crowd through a whirlwind visual ride full of choreographed costume changes, backup dancers, and fictional characters plastered on the LED screen. It’s all done in the name of escapism, an idea that the band practically laid their stake on. So even though most of the live show has been done before, save for a few changes (like turning debut album track “Without You” into a duet with a woman on an LED screen), one shouldn’t expect Empire of the Sun to reinvent the wheel this time around. But it should serve as a reminder that there aren’t many bands that can take fans on an intergalactic trip to paradise like they can.
