Empire of the Sun are calling this leg “Afterlife” — the final chapter of the Ask That God touring cycle — and they’re closing it out at venues that match the scale of what they’ve always been trying to do. The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Thursday, September 24 holds 16,500 attendees, and for Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore, that stage isn’t a stretch: their live show has always been built around spectacle that requires room to exist.
About Empire of the Sun
The Sydney duo formed in 2007 with a premise that was maximalist from day one: full theatrical costuming, mythology-tinged alter egos, electronic pop that owed as much to Bowie as to anything you’d encounter on a club circuit. Steele came from The Sleepy Jackson; Littlemore from Pnau. Their 2008 debut, Walking on a Dream, went double-platinum in Australia and produced the title track alongside “We Are the People.”
The duo went quiet after Two Vines in 2016. Eight years passed. Then in July 2024, Ask That God arrived on Capitol Records to a Metacritic score of 82 — “universal acclaim” territory. Reviewers said the band sounded more exhilarated than they had since the early records: synth-pop blending into retro dance energy, acoustic guitars surging alongside synthesizers. Grimy Goods put it plainly: “The Empire has never sounded more exhilarated and renewed after being so ready to resign itself to oblivion.” Steele described the process to FLOOD Magazine as a complete reset: “We reinstalled new software and rebuilt everything. It feels like a whole new chapter for Empire, really.” Littlemore, who reportedly narrowed the record down from approximately 1,200 written songs, added: “We don’t like to do things by half. It’s all the way in.”
The deluxe edition, released January 2025, added a collaboration with Lindsey Buckingham. Make of that what you will.
Support on the September 24 date comes from Polo & Pan and Midnight Generation. The French electronic duo Polo & Pan is a well-matched pairing — their production sensibility runs parallel to Empire’s aesthetic without replicating it. Midnight Generation opens the night.
The Venue
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is an outdoor amphitheater in The Woodlands, off Lake Robbins Drive, with capacity for 16,500 across reserved seating and open lawn. It’s one of the larger outdoor stages in the Houston region, and the room fits where Empire of the Sun sits on this run — a band that has always played big, closing a cycle on its own terms.
Tickets & Pricing
Tickets start at $52. Showtime is 7:30 PM. Get tickets here.