Empire of the Sun Concert Review at the Greek Theater

The first weekend of May, I was definitely “Walking on a Dream” or walking on pins and needles as I endured two back-to-back concerts on Friday and Saturday. Despite the way my feet and voice felt, I was happy to be “Alive” because I got to see Empire of the Sun perform on Saturday in Berkley’s Greek Theater.

Empire of the Sun stopped in Berkley as part of their “Ask That God” tour. This was my very first time seeing them live and also my first concert at the Greek Theater. This concert experience was quite a complex one, as I love Empire of the Sun. I grew up with their music, and my mom took us because they are one of her favorite artists (plus she has a crush on Luke Steele). But the people and security of the Greek Theatre made the experience unenjoyable.

I attended the concert with my mom, sister, and her two friends. We all left Sacramento at 2:30 p.m. to get to Berkeley by 5:30 p.m. We wanted to beat the unbearable construction traffic and to find parking in the crazy town of Berkeley. If you can’t tell, my perspective on the city has changed since this hectic concert experience. But I will try to stay open minded and unbiased from now on.

Now, for the next couple of paragraphs, enjoy reading the tea and rant from yours truly about just some of the horrible people my group and I encountered there. To be honest, everyone there was horrible. I just didn’t expect an Empire of the Sun fanbase to be like that. But skip down to read more about the concert and artists. Haha!

We got in line at 5:30 p.m. because we planned to get as close as we could to the stage. That was partly our first mistake. We were near the front of the South Entrance. When the doors opened, my group and I split up so that some of us can get a good spot in the pit and the others could go to the bathroom. The merch stands were already filled with lines, so we thought we’d buy stuff after the show. We are smack in the middle of the pit but only two rows of people away from the barricade. We were looking up to watch the performance. One of the closest I have ever been to a performer. 

If anyone reading this has not been to the Greek Theater, it is exactly as you picture it. An outdoor venue with a giant pit and concrete seats. Everything is concrete and has the same layout as the Colosseum. The rising seats were more like steps with no backings, but it’s still a huge venue. It was architecturally interesting and beautiful. But my beef isn’t with the venue.

We knew it would be crazy being in the pit closest to the artist, but the young group of people that surrounded us were actually the worst people ever. Before the openers could go on, the pit was full. No more people honestly could be added in. We were all crammed, eating each other’s hair, and touching. Young girls everywhere were still calling friends to come through with them, They were pushing everyone and leaning back to push people farther back. They were reckless and dangerous. 

My sister, my friends, and I are avid concert goers and understand that everyone is there to have fun. But they had to be scolded a couple times, not just by my group, but by everyone else surrounding us. There were multiple people willing to begin fights and a stampede in this pit just to get closer. No security was there. They came by once to check but barely scanned. They were not even at the barricade at all.

One last thing I’ll add about the attendees who were making the concert miserable was that we were surrounded by young, reckless people that were underage drinking (emetophobia warning) and already throwing up. They even put water on the ground to dilute it, but it was everywhere. Talk about a biohazard. If I had the chance to catch hands, I just might have…

Anyways, on a brighter note, at 7:30 p.m. the opener, Roy Turbo came out. Roi Turbo is a London-based electronic pop duo. Their music is instrumental, and the sounds went perfectly with dance-floor energy. Their sound reminded me of both KAYTRANADA and Khruangbin, which are both instrumental house and dance artists I love. I started to listen and love their discography after seeing them live. This is one of the joys of live concerts–I never skip the openers for this exact reason.

I will add that the crowd did become crazier once Roi Turbo was on. My mom and I apparently separated from the rest of our group and got more to the front but also to the left side of the stage from the middle.

For the next uncomfortable 45 minutes, my mother and I were sweating and crowded with 8,000 people. This is no exaggeration as the Greek Theater holds 8,500 people and this was a sold out show. It wasn’t until about 8:15 p.m. when Empire of the Sun came out.

Their energy was amazing. Their set was very futuristic and unique. Their costumes were exactly as you see in their music videos and covers. Everything was extravagant and beautiful. The set kept changing, the projector displayed art, and the costumes and headpieces of Luke Steele and the dancers stood out. It was a unique experience that was eye-opening. Seriously though, my eyes and mouth were agape the whole time.

The sound quality was crystal clear, and I couldn’t get enough of the guitar solos. As much as I wanted to jump and dance, my feet were in pain, not only because I went to two back-to-back concerts and have been standing for hours, but because the annoying girls in front of me were full-on jumping up and down and landing on my feet. I actually have a bruised toe now.

Despite my painful and minor injury, the energy was ecstatic, even to the point that Luke Steele, the emperor, himself called out and loved our high energy and screaming. In retaliation to my bruised toe, the close proximity did me a favor as I would scream bloody murder the whole time, and my screams would just so happen to be by the ears of the people I was beefing with. To be honest, it was a lose-lose situation. I might have hurt their eardrums, but I lost my voice and have a bruised toe. So who really wins?

Towards the end of the show, they brought out SupaChai, which was this alien-like white squid mascot that danced with them. I loved Supachai, and his dance moves were pretty good. All of my favorite songs were played and I had an amazing experience…performance wise. But like I keep mentioning, the people sucked.

Before the last three songs of the night, my mom and I called it off. We needed air and space. Leaving from the front and middle of the venue in a jam-packed crowd was difficult. The people were rude and rushing. Once a rude man told my mom to rush, I acted like I was sick or going to faint to show that we needed to get out of there. I’m telling you–rude. Which is crazy because my family and I are from the Bay Area too, but these people were entitled.

Once we got out, I got us waters and decided to get some merch. It was a perfect idea because there was no one around, and they were beginning to sell out of half the merch. We got some merch for us and for the rest of our group just in time.

The night ended my group and I roaming the college streets in Berkeley, craving food and a bathroom. We ended up at the best pizza place I have ever had in my life. It was Artichoke Basil. Just thought of throwing that back out there, I highly recommended it as the best slice of New York pizza in the West.

Overall, this experience was still a memorable and amazing experience. That’s unfortunately just how some concerts are. Despite some of the unfortunate events, I had fun and I am grateful and privileged to have gone. Empire of the Sun is an artist I have grown up with and still am growing up with. Their music has the feelings of what it is like to be coming of age. It is a once in a life-time visual and audio experience. Their songs speak of messages that you don’t hear initially, but they speak of anti-war, power of human connection, and resilience, which is something the world needs to hear right now. If they toured again, I would definitely go and see them, but not in the pit next time.