CMW Critical Conclusions for: Explosions in the Sky

Canadian Music Week ended with a huge bang from mainstay of the post-rock movement, Explosions in the Sky, at The Rebel, aka swankier Sound Academy. The new roof really makes the venue look “classy”. They closed things out this past Sunday at CMW.

Photography access is overrated. Explosions in the Sky @ Rebel for Canadian Music Week (Copyright: PeteHatesMusic)

First Impressions: LOUD. The sound wall blew my ears off and kept doing that all night. Most of the crowd knew this though as there was a sea of earplug being inserting as the band got on stage.

Stage Presence: On the flip side, compared to the sound wall of hearing loss, the band sent out super chill vibes for the most part, especially with the eerie but fitting fog machine and light combo. Out of place a bit was the bassist who was rocking out more than most, but he was definitely my favourite dude on stage.

Crowd Reaction: Crowd reaction matched the stage presence, cool, subdued, post-rocky (???) vibe. Not significant amounts of cheering (though honestly if there was you probably couldn’t hear it over the music).

Last Word: Riveting concert from mainstays of the genre. They played their hits from their long list of albums including some of their work from movies (though I might have been confused which song was which since they all melded together seamlessly). The melodies and guitar interplay were amazing, and took you to a land where time signatures do not matter. If I was there just for the music, I’d give a 10/10. However, the whole concert experience with the often quiet Toronto crowd and the blaring hearing loss-inducing sound, brought the whole experience down a notch. 8/10.