Explosions in the Sky – Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA. 20/03/2008

Austin post-rockers, Explosions in the Sky’s sound is akin to a meteor shower during its histrionic peaks. In equal fashion their white blasts of sound perk up the ages in quixotic fashion, resembling a shimmering and tranquil river, curving underneath all of Explosions’ celestial turmoil. Both sides played a part in the band’s first night of three sold-out nights at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. The band’s always-effervescent guitarist, Munaf Rayani, prefaced the band’s career spanning set by saying he was quite disgruntled about playing three nights in a row but he assured the audience that regardless of his stormy temperament the band would try their hardest. “We’re gonna try to give you our hearts so close your eyes and we’ll take off to the stars.” And of course they did just that.

Before Explosions could jettison the crowd’s worries, opening band, Lichens trudged through a listless set of looped minimalistic post-rock that dipped its toes into ambient drone music. Lichens is the solo improvisation project of Chicago composer Robert Lowe, previously known as the bassist with art rock group, 90 Day Men. A product of the Kansas City area, Lowe signed on with 90 Day Men in 1996, just prior to their relocation from St. Louis to Chicago; when the group announced a hiatus soon after their European tour supporting its 2004 album Panda Park. Lowe has since directed his energies into long-simmering solo pursuits.

Despite Lowe’s daring attempts, his oral bird chirps and coos didn’t connect with the sizeable audience. Along the way curtains of low decibel bass washed over the audience as vocal drones wafted like incense. At times the set transcended to the type of reassuring calm held only for Islamic call-to-worship instrumentals. At other times Lichens’ one-man vocal show sounded a little too close to cat yowels. Ultimately, his quick set felt tedious.

Explosions in the Sky took the stage with plenty of fanfare. Their hour and half set (sans encore) looked squarely into the rear view mirror, skirting much of the hazy dull that collected over their recent effort on All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. Two of the best tracks off All of a Sudden appeared though, with bursts of applause, ‘The Birth and Death of the Day’ and ‘Welcome, Ghosts’. The band played through the songs more like an army doing a drill, except for the keyed up Rayani of course.

Michael James stood in the middle, where he pummeled his bass with abandon. Chris Hrasky filled in the deafening silences that the band loves to toy with so much. As always the band’s brooding, ominous melodies built them selves in tiers before crashing climaxes could destroy them Mogwai-style. Explosions treaded the softer end of their “soft-loud” dynamic punch. Just when the middle point of the set felt like it was sagging (putting ‘Welcome Ghosts’ alongside ‘The Only Moment We Were Alone’ seemed to not push the momentum) the band filled their last moments with the audience with some of their classics. ‘Greet Death’ took a cue from doom metal as James seemed to muscle his bass down into the ground. Hrasky flicked the stage with crashing cymbal flashes that built crashed into histrionics before dissipated for the song’s ambient mid-section.

The inclusion of the awe-inspiring, ‘Yasmin the Light’, ‘With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept’ and ‘Greet Death’ off Explosions fiery second album (Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever) proved to be fan favorites. They pinpointed the true epicenter of Explosions’ heart-stirring aesthetic, nestled within their bellicose and gauzy movements. With rumors swirling around that Explosions may not be touring, let alone making more music as a unit, the future feels uncertain. As far as tonight’s performance the mood felt like a homecoming of sorts. As a distillation of Explosions’ meteoric rise to fame, and somewhat escape from post rock’s many non-sequiturs, tonight’s musical meteor shower left more than a couple paltry dents.

Setlist:
1) Yasmin the Light
2) The Birth and Death of the Day
3) Welcome, Ghosts
4) The Only Moment We Were Alone
5) Remember Me As A Time Of Day
6) Greet Death
7) With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
8) Memorial

Photos by Daniel Kielman