Explosions in the Sky: They came. They saw the floor. They noodled. And it was still amazing.

Explosions in the Sky forgot their microphones so just skipped the vocals last night at First Ave. / Photos by Leslie Plesser

You have to hand it to Explosions in the Sky. Texas' instrumental rock band has made its mark crafting mood-setting, in-a-zone albums that are great for late-night homework sessions or romantic stargazing, which have in turn proven terrific for score music on "Friday Night Lights" (the movie and TV show). That kind of success hardly equates to a killer live show, though. In fact, it sounds downright antithetical: A bunch of joe-blow-looking dudes spending the entire night looking down at their guitars or the floor.

Last night's sold-out and ecstatically received First Avenue gig, however, proved that EITS turns into a different kind of beast in concert. The Austin quartet – a quintet on tour, with an added bassist who allows for three guitars all night long – sounded heavier and more dramatic than on record. Its 90-minute set offered one hair-raising moment after another, with the echoy guitar arrangements constantly finding new ways to crash into the drums like waves do to cliffs. The elbow-to-elbow crowd was kept on its toes the whole time, and in fact fans seemed desperate to find a long enough lapse in the music to insert their applause. Some of them danced. Some shook their heads intensely. Some just stood and stared. All seemed like appropriate reactions (although the latter response might've had something to do with the funny smoke that filled the room when the band took the stage).

Through it all, the dudes really did spend the entire 90 minutes looking down at their guitars. Munaf Rayani was even crouched over on his knees most of the night, except for when his amp went kaput early in the set and he had to quick fetch of opening band Wye Oak (the Baltimore drone-folk duo was also quite hypnotic). The rest of Explosions didn't even stop for Rayani to get situated.

"Last Known Surroundings," from the band's new album "Take Care Take Care Take Care," was an early highlight in the set that started out with a slow, heavy, pulsating sound and gradually spiraled out of control. "Your Hand in Mine," from the "FNL" movie soundtrack, came off like EITS's nearest thing to a pop hit mid-set. The group saved its two most intense songs for the end, with "The Moon Is Down" especially blowing the show apart like a bursting comet. No encore could've improved on that ending. Here's the set list: