Kevin Bronson on April 14th, 2014

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Who: Empire of the Sun in the Sahara Tent
In 3 or Fewer Words: Viva Las Vegas
Memorable Because: Props to Coachella for its rockist Saturday night Main Stage, but the festival, saturated as it became this year by electronic music, would have been served just as well by a headlining tag-team of Empire of the Sun and Skrillex as Queens of the Stone Age and Muse. Empire of the Sun – the wet dream of Australians Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore – is a mind-blowingly over-the-top fusion of hair metal and fantasy-world electronica, with costumes and a stage show sure to have a future on the Las Vegas Strip. We’re pretty sure that if anybody had lifted the roof off the Sahara Tent during Empire’s set on Saturday, aliens from a distant galaxy would have been able to see the spectacle. And they would have said, “No bleeping way we’re invading that planet.”
What I’d Tell My Friend Who Was At Queens of the Stone Age: Josh Homme’s “hometown” show was by all accounts fantastic, but on this weekend I needed something new.
– K.B. (Photos by Bronson)