The indie-electronic duo Empire of the Sun—whose sophomore album, Ice on the Dune, is out this week—is known for its bizarre get-ups, including one mysteriously dubbed “empyrean geisha leader.” See more bat-shit-crazy concert wear, from Beyoncé’s fake-nipple bodysuit to Lady Gaga’s bubble gown.
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Lady Gaga took Madonna’s Blond Ambition–era cone bra a fiery step further in 2009 with twin pyrotechnics at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto.
The Material One channeled a glamorous football player at a concert in London in 2004.
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The many faces of Grace Jones: the ageless singer sported patent leather, a white headdress, and body-baring body paint in three costumes while performing at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom in 2009.
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Britney Spears dressed in a nipple-enhancing sparkle suit on the opening night of her Circus Starring Britney Spears tour in 2009.
Taking affordable fashion to new heights, Missy Elliott appeared to be wearing an enormous trash bag while performing at Lilith Fair in 1998.
The “I Kissed a Girl” singer took to the stage adorned with dice, as Today show host Matt Lauer hammed it up behind her.
With each passing year, Elvis’s concert wear got glitzier. Here in 1973, the King wore the white caped suit that would inspire legions of impersonators.
Pink donned a confusing mix of fashions—a colorful vest, red sparkly spandex, and is that a thong leotard?—on her Funhouse Tour in 2009 in Munich.
Andre 3000, one half of Outkast, flew his freak flag high at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
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The queen of outrageous concert costumes had plenty of opportunities to showcase her eclectic style during her three-year farewell tour. At left, she tried out a snow-maiden look in February 2005 at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, Louisiana. At right, she dared to bare for an aquatic look in London in May 2004.
Ziggy Stardust was still a few years away when Bowie made the transition to this androgynous glam-rock look, circa 1970.
Miss Jackson paid tribute to decades past—“Scream,” 1995, anyone?—with an over-the-top retro look on the opening night of her 2008 Rock Witchu Tour.
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Flanked by a Thunderdome gladiator and wearing a blonde wig and shiny warrior-princess garb, Tina Turner belted one out at her 50th-anniversary tour last December at Madison Square Garden.
Karen O leads the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on stage as a punk-rock goddess, spitting water up in the air and trying out eccentric get-ups designed by Christian Joy. During the band’s It’s Blitz! album tour, she donned a reworked Native American costume with a kaleidoscope of colors.
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The “Freaks” singer is no stranger to freaky outfits on stage. At an event for the troops in San Diego, Nicki Minaj wore a fluffy white wig with her multicolor dress.
Some outfits define a generation, especially Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress from the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and this sheer bubble number during her Fame Ball Tour in 2009. “The bubble installation was inspired by a dress Hussein Chalayan made a few years ago,” Lady Gaga told MTV. “I couldn’t get the dress, because it’s, like, half-a-million dollars in a museum somewhere, but I remade it, and I built a piano somewhere inspired by it.”
Is that the Chiquita Banana girl? We did a double take with Katy Perry’s bedazzled fruit-filled outfit during her performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards. The costume was created by sought-after high-fashion designers the Blonds, who have worked with other big-name acts, including Lady Gaga and Beyoncé.
Yeezus, check out this outfit! The rapper is no stranger to making big, bold moves, and at a 2010 Jay-Z concert in New York, the rapper had us seeing red with his head-to-toe crimson suit and an oversize pharaoh emblem necklace.
The Rocket Man could be shot into space with this eccentric gear. Elton John donned a pink cotton-candy mohawk wig and a star-embossed suit for his 1986 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York. Other notable costumes he’s worn include a bee, Uncle Sam, and Donald Duck.
When the band members are nicknamed Emperor Steele (Luke Steele) and Lord Littlemore (Nick Littlemore), it can be assumed that things are going to get a little weird. The Australian electro-pop duo Empire of the Sun dress in elaborate costumes on stage, making their fans feel like they’re “walking in a dream” with their heavy makeup, elaborate headdresses, and futuristic emperor-like coats.
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“This is Sparta!” Actually, this is Cee Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley in a Greek warrior outfit on stage at the 2006 Virgin Mobile Festival in Maryland. The duo—Danger Mouse is the other half—have a fondness for wacky costumes, channeling characters from A Clockwork Orange to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
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Will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo went military-futuristic during a New York concert benefiting the Robin Hood Foundation in 2011. That same year, the Black Eyed Peas wore even more spaced-out leather pieces for their big performance at the Super Bowl halftime show.
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Icelandic diva Björk was last seen at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, at the end of her Biophilia Tour, sporting a prickly headpiece that made her head look like a magenta blowfish. During her 2008 Volta tour, she made a stop in London to wear this fuzzy-ball hat with something like an ice-skating outfit.
Jim Dyson
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s ... Beyoncé’s faux nipples! Baddie Bey got a little naughty in May with her on-stage look, designed by the Blonds—a gold crystallized bodysuit with some fake areolae appliquéd to the revealing outfit. In Touch and Life & Style censored the nipples for their readers.
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This kitty’s got some bite! Rapper Azealia Banks rocked furry cat couture at this year’s Life Ball in Vienna. And it wasn’t her first time representing a fine feline—she wore full-on cat makeup at the Met Gala in 2012.
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Australian crooner Sia lit up the stage with a glow-in-the-dark get-up in New York in 2011. The “Breathe Me” singer won songwriter of the year at this year’s APRA Awards.
