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I can’t remember another gig that’s changed my impression of a band as much as this one. To me, the Texan post–rockers Explosions in the Sky have always been firmly associated with their mellower contemporaries such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai at their introspective best. It’s a delusion no doubt caused by The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, the album of theirs I’ve listened to the most, being short on the heavier moments which so impressed me live.

The support for the night was Eluvium, an ambient post–rock solo act (never thought I’d use those words together) that I’d heard promising things about. After arriving slightly late, there was a comedy realisation after five minutes that what I’d dismissed as backing music between acts was in fact the support! In my defense, he was off to the side of the stage, crouched with a guitar behind a laptop and was playing with a fairly long delay, so I assumed he was a guitar tech. After that inauspicious start, things got better as he continued with his set while I was actually paying attention and in the end did more than enough to convince me to check out his music in more depth.

Explosions themselves were simply outstanding, effortlessly managing to be leap between the intimate and the gratuitously loud and frantic. Accompanied by an great lighting performance that made the band look as epic as their music, they seemed to thrive playing in front of a crowd, and the way they brought their music to life was incredible — comparisons with Mono wouldn’t be unjustified.

I’m not familiar enough with the songs to be able to name a set–list from memory, but I’m pretty sure Greet Death, The Moon Is Down and A Poor Man’s Memory were all played.

After overhearing someone mention it at the gig, and confirming it from a news article on their official website, it seems the band are planning on taking an extended, possibly permanent, break after their current tour (“After June 2008 we plan on dropping off the face of the earth for awhile so these will probably be our last shows for quite some time. We hope some of you can make it out.”).

Should you have the chance to see them before they do, I couldn’t recommend it enough.