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ACL Festival Review: Empire of the Sun
If you’re a live performer and you’re going to have spectacle - like, lots and lots of spectacle - you’d better have the songs to back it up.
This is why no one particularly questioned Kanye West’s personal ballet company on Friday night. They were thematically appropriate, and besides, he made “Runaway,” and “Gold Digger,” and “Flashing Lights,” and … point being, as long as he keeps putting together and performing songs that big and buoyant and memorable, he can perform from a life-size replica of Voltron wearing a coat made entirely of copies of Action Comics #1 if he wants to.
But lots of bands get hung up on this, even good ones. Of Montreal’s baroque pop is often overshadowed by the theatrics of its live show. The Flaming Lips, great as they are, could probably stand to shift some of their focus to their music from costumes, bubbles, puppets, projections and marijuana-flavored brains encased in gummy skulls (you can’t make that up, unless you’re Wayne Coyne).
This is a lesson Australian duo Empire of the Sun could stand to take to heart. The union of the Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele and Pnau’s Nick Littlemore have released one album, 2008’s “Walking On a Dream.” At its best “Walking On a Dream” is a synthesis of a wide range of influences and genres, electro-pop incorporating soul and funk and alt-rock and yacht rock and more. But it’s also unfocused and wandering and sort of overindulgent, and it’s wrapped up in a horrid album cover that looks like a third-rate “Star Wars” poster.
That overblown aesthetic is taken even further in the live show - which features Littlemore and Steele both caked in makeup and wearing ridiculous outfits with ridiculous headpieces, massive lighting displays, ostentatiously costumed dancers strumming glowing faux-guitars and a man in an oversized skeleton mask spewing fog. Littlemore is also a composer and musical director for Cirque Du Soleil at Radio City Music Hall, and you can see why - Empire of the Sun’s live show is just as colorful.
But the songs just can’t live up to that grandiosity, and it’s ultimately distracting. For all of Steele’s Prince-style vamping and rock star-emulating guitar-smashing, the band would be benefitted by an approach that cut away the fat and allowed the strong singles they do have, like “Walking On a Dream” or the catchy “Half Mast” to shine without being overshadowed by the production. As-is, that much crazy on stage only served to make the music harder to process and appreciate. Less is often more; for all of Empire of the Sun’s visual flair the Arcade Fire’s Regine Chassagne’s use of some multi-colored streamers in that band’s headlining set had every bit as much dramatic impact.
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Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: ACL 2011
Comments
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By Thomas
September 19, 2011 9:13 AM | Link to this
Fans of Empire came to this show exactly for the theatrics, costums, and eclectic influence in music. Amazing theatricality, great energy and a headliner performance. HIghlight performance of the festival
By sleeping nights awake
September 19, 2011 10:07 AM | Link to this
Spot on review. Wrong setting, really campy, and the performances were weak. Definitely not a highlight for me.
By Nick
September 19, 2011 10:47 AM | Link to this
BEST AT ACL Emprie of the Sun rocked…they are amazing duo…you just stay here writing for this local newspaper and enjoy the colorless of your life!
By Mike
September 19, 2011 11:09 AM | Link to this
So I was checking the review because I felt the same way. As much as I tried to get involved and into it I kept thinking they didn’t have the songs to back it up. I’ve to a lot of concerts my top concert of all have to be cut copy or radiohead.
By ct
September 19, 2011 12:35 PM | Link to this
anyone know the name of the last song of their set?
By E
September 19, 2011 1:58 PM | Link to this
Doesn’t compare to Kanye, it was was all original, cool and done with a fraction of his budget…Ridiculous is Kanye mascaraing as artist putting his megalomaniacal stink on other’s work to further prop himself up…EOTC’s vibe is more that of a selfless shamanistic spiritual journey (that rocked) than Kanye’s ego whining in auto tune…we need more of this, hopefully thye can follow it up…thanks for giving Kanye the Voltron idea, one more cool thing for him to rip off, if he’s not too busy ripping off EOTS…
By matt
September 19, 2011 5:58 PM | Link to this
E is right. Kanye is an egomaniac pretending to be a musician. He is a good producer but not particularly original despite claims to the contrary. He is a terrible rapper and thinks too highly of himself. I thought it was pretty uncool (not to mention inaccurate) when Kanye babbled several times about “having more f-ing hits than anyone.” I guess he didn’t stick around for Stevie Wonder’s set! I’d suggest that Kanye count Stevie’s Grammys but I’m not sure he can count that high.
EOTS put on a really great show. Kanye stood on an unadorned construction site scissor lift for about 60 seconds (wow- really cool, eh?) and had some really dumb interpretive ballet dancers and a background that I’m sure made Kanye feel like he was Zeus or some other deity. It was not visually interesting or add anything to his performance.
On the other hand EOTS’ stage candy was quite interesting and Littlemore’s Cirque influence really showed. Their music is so ridiculous, nonsensical and energetic. Why should the show be any different? The crowd seemed as into it as we were. I do agree that they need to continue to put music out and evolve the show. Flaming Lips has been doing the same tired routine for years now. Two shows five years apart shouldn’t be exactly the same ESPECIALLY when you are a group that sells itself on stagecraft. Then you become a one trick pony. Hopefully EOTS can mature beyond that. At ~ 3 years since the album dropped it honestly remains to be seen.
Note to EOTS: You need lasers.
By Sam
September 19, 2011 6:09 PM | Link to this
“But it’s also unfocused and wandering and sort of overindulgent, and it’s wrapped up in a horrid album cover that looks like a third-rate “Star Wars” poster.” I feel like that’s what they’re going for, but honestly I don’t mind either way.
By Nick
September 19, 2011 6:11 PM | Link to this
The performance may have been over-the-top, but it added to the energy, and it is what the crowd expected considering their music video for Walking On a Dream and previous concerts. The music was preformed at the same quality as the album, and judging by the popularity of their music, this is exactly what their fans wanted to hear. Kanye is not a good comparison to Empire of the Sun, everything about their styles is different.
By John
September 20, 2011 8:28 AM | Link to this
EOTS said thank you and goodnight 15 minutes before Arcade Fire was up. Fans staid and chanted encore until they came back out. —nuff said
Kanye was entertaining, that’s it. EOTS was original and way more what this festival is about. I agree with Nick, EOTS to Kanye is a bad comparison.
By Tim
September 20, 2011 12:04 PM | Link to this
Sometimes less is more, but I don’t agree here. If you are a EOTS fan and watch their videos, you would have been extremely disappointed if you got anything less from the stage show. Watch Walking on a Dream on youtube and you will understand. It is over the top and that is what we expect from their live show. Great show