It’s five minutes past nine, on a Wednesday night, when the band Explosions in the Sky casually walks onstage at the McDonald Theater. As each member nears his guitar or drum set, it’s obvious that they have spent their fair share of time on the road. The audience, as well, has clearly spent their fair share of time anticipating this specific show. The band looks comfortable, and the audience, giddy.
Eventually these excited eyes shift to a hypnotic gaze as the set progresses, sucked into the band’s musical tractor beam. Their happy faces turn contemplative, and their tight bodies loosen. It’s not the typical concert demeanor – there’s no real dancing during the show – but then again Explosions in the Sky is not the average band. Their music truly is hypnotic, almost eerily so.
There is no vocalist, but the lack of lyrics is more than made up for by the band’s emotional highs and lows. Simply put, the music is not some formulaic, factory-produced rock anthem but a spectrum of emotions, in their purest forms.
At times throughout the show the drone of the overlapping guitars conveys a calming, relaxing state of mind, but will often be followed by the thunderous attack that is each song’s climax. It is this idea of extremes – the highs and the lows – that truly help distinguish this band from others.
During the climax of one song in particular Michael James, one of the guitarists and bassists, furiously slaps his electric bass, creating a cacophony of sound more akin to a torrential downpour than a mere bass line. It is the closest representation of a storm I have heard a band produce.
Additionally, it’s difficult to say if I’ve seen a band as dynamic as Explosions in the Sky. Their music is like a living organism in relation to its steady evolution and progression. Just how all creatures need room to breathe, Explosions in the Sky creates a natural musical build up, that provides a refreshing and calming layer to their multifaceted approach.
In terms of the actual set list, they played a well-balanced mixture of old and new tunes. It was clear when the classics – the fan favorites – came on; as the crowd would do everything a crowd can do to show support when there are no lyrics to sing along to. Most of the audience settled into a nice closed-eye head bob, but others simply stood still, meditating to the music.
At times the band members themselves would appear to be meditating, in a trance-like state. However, this would quickly end when the build up would reach its peak. In fact, there were many times when the band members looked physically exhausted after a particularly intense song. I can’t blame them.
But in all honesty, I think most of the audience found the show exhausting as well. I, for one, felt surprisingly drained. Their music demands attention, and you can bet that nearly everyone in that theater was attentive for the hour and a half that the band played.
The band is on tour for the rest of April and then will take a break until the Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Washington towards the end of May. With that said, there is still time to catch this dynamic band play live before summer comes, which I highly recommend.