The music behind “Walking on a Dream” came together in about 45 minutes, in Jono Sloan’s bedroom in Kings Cross. Then it sat on a hard drive.

As APRA AMCOS recounted when honouring the song in 2024, Sloan eventually passed the track to Nick Littlemore, who took it to Luke Steele in Perth. Their melody and lyrics completed a song that would keep turning up in unexpected places long after its release.

It found a second audience through an American car ad, became the soundtrack to a Western Australian tourism campaign, and reached listeners who were children when it came out.

Now Empire of the Sun have announced their 2027 Australian and New Zealand tour, with their debut single still finding new listeners.

Released in 2008, it reached No. 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart and won Single of the Year at the 2009 ARIA Awards. Steele and Littlemore had arrived with an extravagant visual identity, but the song itself was remarkably easy to get into.

The chorus is easy to pick up, carried by a light groove, bright synths and Steele’s high vocal. His delivery gives the song a wistful edge, even at its most buoyant.

In 2016, a Honda Civic commercial brought “Walking on a Dream” to a new American audience. The track reached No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Dance Club Songs chart, eight years after its original release.

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The commercial prompted fresh radio play and streaming. Empire released their third album, Two Vines, that year, while their first single was enjoying a fresh American breakthrough.

In 2022, Tourism WA adopted “Walking on a Dream” as the name and soundtrack of a global campaign. Steele recorded a stripped-back version with his daughter Sonny and the Gondwana children’s choir.

“This is where we wrote the song, this where I met my wife,” he said at the launch, as ABC News reported.

The quieter arrangement put Steele’s voice alongside his daughter’s, giving the campaign a family connection as well as a familiar hook.

By January 2024, the song had passed one billion streams across platforms, earning Steele, Littlemore, and Sloan an APRA AMCOS Billions Award.

In an interview with WERS’ Lindsay Gould published in June 2026, Steele recalled young listeners discovering the band during COVID and spoke about his daughter’s friends connecting with the music.

“Every year the kids get younger and younger and younger,” he said.

Their fourth album, Ask That God, arrived in 2024 with tracks including “Changes”, “Music on the Radio”, and “Cherry Blossom”. According to Frontier Touring, the touring cycle that followed has sold more than 400,000 tickets worldwide.

The upcoming ‘Ask That God: Afterlife’ dates will close that album’s live cycle with a reimagined production. Frontier describes the six-show run as Empire’s biggest tour of Australia and New Zealand to date, beginning in Auckland before heading to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.

Steele told WERS that revising the performances helps keep him interested in touring. The band film shows and change them, supported by a creative team that now includes seamstresses and visual artists. Even familiar songs remain open to changes onstage.

“We can’t keep doing the same show,” he said.

At the 2024 Billions Award presentation, Littlemore had summed up the appeal of “Walking on a Dream”: “It’s an evergreen record…it’s new for every generation.”

Empire of the Sun: ‘Ask That God: Afterlife’ Tour 2027

  • Friday, February 19th: Spark Arena, Auckland
  • Sunday, February 21st: Riverstage, Brisbane
  • Thursday, February 25th: Afterpay Arena, Sydney
  • Saturday, February 27th: Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne
  • Tuesday, March 2nd: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
  • Saturday, March 6th: RAC Arena, Perth

Frontier Members presale begins Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 at 1pm local time. General tickets go on sale Friday, September 18th at 2pm local time through Frontier Touring.