Empire of The Sun @ OC Fair

Empire of the Sun photos @ Henry Fonda 2011 (Alexander Laurence)

With temperatures rapidly rising, the beaches quickly filling up on weekends and all of the kids out of school, summer is definitely here. For Orange County residents, that also means the arrival of the annual OC Fair and the accompanying concert series at Pacific Amphitheatre, which is located on the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

This year, things kick off a bit early at the outdoor venue as promoters announced a few pre-OC Fair gigs including back-to-back headlining shows with Santa Barbara-based reggae rock band Iration July 9-10, Australian electronic duo, Empire of the Sun, on July 13 and classic rock band Three Dog Night will be joined by Orange County’s own Pacific Symphony for a special evening of music on July 14.

The OC Fair and Pacific Amphitheatre series officially begins July 15 and runs Wednesdays-Sundays through Aug. 14. As always, every ticket purchased to concerts in the amphitheatre includes free one-day admission to the OC Fair.

This will be the fourth consecutive season that Iration has performed at Pacific Amphitheatre and in that time the band has grown from being an opening act to headlining two nights. It’s also bringing out a bunch of its friends during these shows including Rebel Souljahz, Katastro and the Steppas on July 9 and Collie Buddz, Seedless and the Expanders on July 10.