|
Bottom of the Hill June 6, 2003 Review by Jake Thomas I don't think words can do justice to how excited I was about this show. I saw Explosions in the Sky a few years back opening for And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, before I even knew who they were, and thought it was pretty good. Then I got their album 'Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever' and have listened to it obsessively ever since. And that's been some time ago when I got it, so that's a long time to obsess. The last time they played in town I couldn't make the show and was quite bummed, and it must have been for something stupid because I can't even remember what I missed it for. So this go around I was there or bust, and boy am I glad I was. It was unbelievable à they are a sonic firestorm on par with Mogwai or GY!BE, a force to be reckoned with. The fact that they haven't gotten their due is nothing short of scandalous. How can one band rock out with such intensity and still have the ability to reach into your chest and fuck with your heart? I'm by no means one of those emo kids (although if you came by my house the other day you could have busted me listening to Mineral), but they were so good it was almost enough to make a grown ass man cry. The Lilys were the closers for the night. After what I had witnessed with Explosions in the Sky, there was no way they were going to top them, but it was still pretty good. The band seemed pretty lacking in the Beachwood Sparks dudes that I saw with him last time, but I've been led to believe that the main man of the Lilys, Kurt Heasley, changes band members like most people change socks (but probably still not as bad as Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices). They played mostly new stuff which was all fine and good, but it would have been nice to hear some of the older songs from 'The 3 Way' and such. I watched probably a good three-fourths of their set before I left, my ears and skull still full of the beautiful sounds of Explosions in the Sky. Hopefully they'll play again real soon. I don't want to have to move to Texas. ©2003 playinginfog.com |