Talk is cheap at Explosions in the Sky’s first show in Columbia in nine years

If there was one overarching theme Sunday night at the Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri, it was, quite simply, talk is cheap. The four soft-spoken men (plus a touring bassist) that make up Explosions in the Sky didn’t  sing a single lyric, but the subtext of their blistering hour-and-a-half set spoke volumes.

It had been nine years since the seminal instrumental post-rockers last played Columbia (opening for …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead in 2002) and about four years since the band played Lawrence. Judging by the sold-out crowd, fans from KC and beyond were ready to be reunited. With a highly anticipated new LP dropping in just a few weeks and an impressive catalog of material built up since Explosions in the Sky’s last show in CoMo nearly a decade ago, the band made sure the fans didn’t leave disappointed.