Miami’s Bayfront Park attendees were walking on a dream and dancing in the rain on Wednesday (Sept. 16), after one of Australia’s biggest electronic music bands brought the vibes to the city.
Empire of the Sun had thousands of fans of their eclectic electronic music gather at the FPL Solar Amphitheater near Downtown Miami for a two-hour performance of their biggest hits as part of their Afterlife Tour. It follows the release of the 2024 album, Ask That God.
While Mexico’s Midnight Generation opened the show, Parisian duo Polo & Pan delivered an energizing DJ set before vocalist Luke Steele, drummer Nick Littlemore, and guitarist Ian Ball hit the stage to kick off the evening with the band’s unreleased song “Desire.”
With an LED screen in the back displaying eclectic images, as well as Asian-inspired videos and graphics, Steele — who steps into his alter ego, which he calls Emperor Steele on stage — came on, rocking a headpiece and a deep red kimono that paid true homage to his stage name. His red semi-circle hat has been a statement throughout his current run. He had previously worn it during a Rolling Stone photoshoot with photographer William Barrington-Binns.
Every song came with its own mood, as the stage transformed through colors and images into different scenes. For their song “Television,” the screen filled with graphics of piled-up vintage TVs, with images of East Asian characters displayed on the TV screens. Other times, dancers dressed up as the sun and the moon (as well as jellyfish), embellished in gold and covered in eyes — a reference to the third eye — accompanied the band as they performed.
In true Miami fashion, the unpredictable weather brought a 10-minute shower that left dancing fans soaked. Steele changed into numerous statement pieces and outfits as the performance progressed and the band played some of their hits, including “Walking on a Dream,” “We Are the People,” “High and Low,” and “Alive,” the closing track.
According to Flood Magazine, Steele and Littlemore had been working on Ask That God, their fourth studio album, for eight years. The project originated in Japan around 2018, where Steele and Littlemore found inspiration at a modular synthesizer festival and began sketching songs for it.
“Man, we’re so excited because right as the pandemic hit, we were exhausted,” Steele said to Flood. “We’ve been working together for 20 years, so it was time to turn off all the computers, just abandon the studio. When we came back, probably a year and a half later, we reinstalled new software and rebuilt everything. It feels like a whole new chapter for Empire, really.”
Empire of the Sun’s 2026 trek kicked off on Aug. 1 in Montreal, Canada, with a festival set at Osheaga. The North American leg of their tour spans 31 cities, with their last stop taking place in Las Vegas on Oct. 9.
To buy tickets, go to Ticketmaster.com or click here.
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