I Radio Heaven

Last week, I made it out to catch Explosions In The Sky for the first show of their two-night stay at Neumo’s here in Seattle.   They were in town in support of their new solid new release All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone.  I was pretty excited about it as I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing the Texas foursome before, though I have been following them since the release of The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place.  As luck would have it (for us, anyway), it turned out to be one

f their only shows of the summer as they’ve had to cancel the rest of their tour due to illness (and might I add, happy thoughts and/or prayers go out to them). 

The supporting act was Eluvium, the stage name of Portland post-rock solo act Matthew Cooper.  I didn’t know anything about him, though one of the guys I hit the show with was a fan.  His music was spacey and ethereal, but he had the stage presence of a water buffalo.  He was arranged in a tiny corner of the stage, surrounded by a couple keyboards, his PowerBook, and an electric guitar.  It was an awkward set up, but Matthew didn’t bring anything extra to his set, as he walked onto the stage with nary a wave or other acknowledgment.  He then proceeded to ignore the crowd for his entire performance.  He was so self-engrossed that I expected his mother to come stomping down the basement steps to scream at him to "turn down that racket!"

I was starting to get a little worried.  I enjoy EitS very much, but after being nearly bored enough to chew through to my own spleen, I was wondering how this whole "post-rock" thing translated live. 

I needn’t have feared.

Explosions – Mark Smith, Michael James, Munaf Rayani, and Christopher Hrasky – took the stage and immediately changed my opinion.  They were simply amazing, from the first notes that filtered through their rows (and rows) of delay pedals.  They had an unbelievable stage presence, especially Munaf, who spent most of the show hunched over with his guitar a half-inch from the ground or pointing skyward in some kind of trance-like worship (or bliss).  I can’t claim to be an obsessive fan, as I usually just put their entire catalog on random, so I didn’t recognize particular songs.  Instead, I was able to just soak in the entire experience, aghast at how much raw emotion could come from vocal-less music.

Something I also appreciated was that the end of their set, they waved, said thank you, and left.  After several minutes of applause, Munaf came back out and thanked us again.  Basically, he/they were just really classy about it, without the wink-wink that most bands give in regard to their encores. 

So, to all of you that will be missing out on their planned tour dates, you have my sincerest sympathies and my mocking laughter.  I, on the other hand, will be watching the clubs carefully to see if they come back through as part of their make-up dates. 

Hear "It’s Natural To Be Afraid"

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