Explosions in the Sky: Webster Hall, NYC 3/20/07

Sorry for the delay, I've been swamped with work, and laid up in bed.

This is the first time I've seen Explosions in the Sky. I wanted to get tickets for the show in Cambridge, MA on the 21st, but those surprisingly sold out before the NYC show. Who knows?

Anyway, they were supported by Eluvium and (one of the worst openers I've ever heard) The Paper Chase. Eluvium is one guy that loops various parts of a song over and over, until it sounds like there are 30 guys one stage playing in perfect harmony. The Paper Chase has an excellent rhythm section, but the singer should find a different line of work. He wasn't a bad singer, he just wasn't a good rock singer. The Paper Chase is a great name for the band, what with being the name of a Broadway show, because the singer sounds like he should be doing musicals and not rock shows. Both openers played about 45 minute sets, which was very appropriate for the evening. Regarding the rhythm section; the bassist was pretty bad-ass, playing lots of chorded parts as opposed the typical single note lines, not to mention the fact that he had one of the coolest beards this side of Mecca.

Explosions in the Sky took the stage around 10:15pm, and were a very gracious act. Before they even played the first song one of the guitarist was at the mic thanking the crowd. Then the band started what would be about 70 minutes of floor shaking instrumental deliciousness. I'd love to give you run down of which songs they played, but, the songs are instrumental, they all ran together and the show was 3 days ago, and I've more or less forgotten the songs played by now. Not that it really makes a difference, EITS are one of those bands that could play any selection of songs off of any of their albums and it would still be an amazing show.

In case you are not familiar with the band let me give you a little bit of back story. It is a four person group. There is a drummer and three guitarists. Although one of the guitarists does play bass occasionally. As mentioned above they are an instrumental band, and play some pretty fucking amazing songs. They're touring for their latest album, All Of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone.

I really have no complaints about this band. I was glad I brought earplugs to this show (it was my first time doing so). They were loud. I mean really loud. Like, labor inducing loud. Like, I may have gone sterile from excessive scrotal vibrations. Really really fucking loud. I didn't wear the plugs for the whole show, but the last 20-25 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. I'm going to another concert Friday night (Mew in Cambridge), and I wanted to be able to hear it. Unlike the last concert I went to where I complained about a lack of encores, I really didn't think an encore would have been appropriate for Explosions in the Sky. The entire show was like a single piece or music with multiple movements, and an encore would have broken things up to the point of not making any sense.

After the show, the same guitarist came back out to thank the crowd and apologize for not playing an encore, say that's just the way they do things. If you get a chance go see the band, they are definitely worth the price of admission.
Also, if you go, pick up a copy of The Rescue ep the disc only costs $10 at the show, but routinely sells for $50+ on eBay.