When I booked my trip to St. Louis last year to see Empire of the Sun, it was for a few reasons. I’d never been to the city, and the tour stop was on a Saturday, but also it was the first time they’d toured the US in a minute and I figured they’d never play anyhwere closer to me.
So imagine my surprise when they announced more US tour dates earlier this year and Cleveland was on the list?! I don’t know that I’d jumped at anything faster in my life! And even though I had a great seat to see them in St. Louis, I also splurged and got a pretty close seat under the pavilion. Who knows when I will get the chance to see them again?! It felt like I bought that ticket so long ago, and with so many other exciting concerts happening in August, this one kind of snuck up on me, but that just made me more giddy in the days leading up to it.
The openers were some Mexican techno band a French DJ duo, so that was a little less interesting to me. What I did find interesting was how hype the pavilion crowd was for all of the acts. I was a little surprised when I saw what venue EOTS were playing at, but it was filled pretty good! And a lot of people were singing along! That makes me happy knowing there are local fans out there. EOTS opened their set with the same elaborate set up I remember from last year, which is a cool nod to Nick Littlemore who seems to always be absent from live performances.
They kicked things off with “Changes,” which I love, but doesn’t seem like much of an opening track to me. The rest of the set bounced between old and new songs from the duo’s discography, with equal cheers for all songs that started playing. That’s also something I appreciated about this crowd. For a band that hasn’t put out a ton of music over the last eighteen years, it wouldn’t have surprised me if people liked strictly the old stuff or strictly the new stuff. My tastes lean more towards the first album, as it’s a masterpiece, but I think the latest record is really, really good, too.
They’d be remiss not to play “We Are the People,” “Half Mast,” and of course, “Walking on a Dream,” but I love that we also got “Swordfish Hotkiss Night” and “Tiger by My Side.” Will I probably never hear “Without You” live someday? Very likely, so I will settle for anything from that album. I did find in interesting that the set officially ended with “Alive,” but apparently that song has more mass appeal than I know. All in all, it was a fabulous show, and I am beyond happy that I got to see them live again. Bucket list concert checked off twice? Yes, please!
