The vast gen admin floor of the Hollywood Palladium has never been one
of my favorites; if you (like me) aren’t vertically gifted and happen
to get stuck behind some six-footer, the show’s basically over.
Sometimes, though, the music itself is so overwhelming that the visual
becomes unimportant. Such was the case with the Explosions in the
Sky concert on June 27th, with Eluvium and No Age as openers.
As a firm believer in getting good placement when I have pit tickets,
I always show up early for my shows, but even I was feeling the
boredom when the two-hour mark rolled around. I usually enjoy openers
and was looking forward to No Age, but in all honesty I wasn’t
thrilled to have to sit through an extra set and set change for this
Eluvium dude. Turns out it wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was pretty
incredible. Eluvium is not only the solo project of Matthew Cooper
but also a one-man symphony. He sits on stage accompanied solely by
his technology and unleashes a brooding, harmonious wall of sound that
stimulates deep meditations within the listener upon the human race’s
relationship with the universe. Well, at least for me. I’m sure I
wasn’t the only one.
I found that the best way to experience his live performance was to
simply close your eyes, as doing so eliminates the distracting plaid
patterns of the flannel shirts obscuring your vision and allows you to
just listen.
After a not-too-horrendous waiting period, I heard the opening notes
of powerpop punkrawk duo No Age’s set from my rather cramped seat on
the floor of the pit (for the record, sitters are not quitters. we
are loyal and dedicated fans). Feeling a mosh coming on, I stood up
quickly as to not lose a finger. Not to fear though, all attempts to
mosh made by some kid resembling Michael Cera were shut down by the
stony and utterly unappreciative faces of the surrounding Explosions
fans still recuperating from the Eluvium stupor. Even so, the high
energy guitar-drum fusion did not disappoint and played a solid,
danceable set that woke everybody up just a little bit more.
And then… the Exploding began. I’m barely restraining myself from
calling the four of them Gifts from the Gods as I fully realize it
would only be feeding their already large egos, but in all honesty,
when you make music that incredible, well, you’re kind of entitled to
be that way. Their distinct sound comes from the fact that most of
the time they play with three guitars and a drum set, although towards
the end one of the members would trade out his guitar for a bass with
increasing frequency. Doesn’t matter, they still blew us all away. I
honestly think that no other song could sum up the feeling of being in
love for the first time as perfectly as Your Hand in Mind does, and
yeah that sounds sappy but its true. Once you hear it live, you know.
You also know how Day Three off their free album
The Rescue takes you on a roadtrippin’ disaster right along with them.
Even though their purely instrumental songs will often bring to mind
your own past experiences, the key to having a truly great experience
listening to Explosions is to just let everything go and allow the
music to lead you somewhere new. So go get on that.
Explosions in the Sky- Day Five
Explosions in the Sky- Your Hand in Mine
