Combined with his Don King hairstyle and a mustache that protruded well over his top lip, a general understanding spread throughout the room. We were about to witness something potent.

On the eve of the last day in March, an eager batch of music enthusiasts packed the Pabst Theater for what promised to be a very special evening with instrumental phenoms Explosions in the Sky.

The concert opener, Robert Lowe, known as Lichens, spun a dazzling web of sounds in a meditative and soulful performance created through seamless improvisation.

Combined with his Don King hair style and a mustache that protruded well over his top lip, a general understanding spread throughout the room. We were about to witness something potent.

Lowe’s 20-minute performance began as he projected a sparse flutter and chirp of bird calls into a microphone. Employing an electric guitar, a metal slide and his voice, he looped each additional sound into one massive, evolving chorus.

At times, his wordless melodies coalesced into dissonance, like the droning strings of a Japanese Koto. In this manner, he whittled away at accumulated sonic layers.

For the entirety of Lichens’ performance, the crowd maintained a state of silent and earnest attention, attempting to trace the origin of such majestic amblings.

Headliner Explosions in the Sky took the stage with the poise of seasoned musicians. Guitarist Munaf Rayani introduced the band, saying, “We’ve played in Milwaukee twice and each time seven people came out to see us. I’m not kidding. Those are real numbers. To be playing in such a great room for all of you means a lot to us. Thank you so much, really, thank you.”

They opened their hour-and-a-half set with a marvelous version of “Your Hand in Mine.” The transition between Lichens’ performance and this quiet opening song gave the audience a taste of the modesty of these four visionaries.

For nearly a decade Explosions in the Sky, a band from the sprawling metropolis of Austin, Texas, has been defining what it means to be an instrumental rock band.

While many influential bands of the same musical vein have come before them, their 2004 soundtrack for the major motion picture “Friday Night Lights” is largely responsible for exposing a mass audience to the wonderful world of instrumental rock.

Their performance played between quiet lullabies and the swells of gripping dynamics. However, due to the ignorance of fellow audience members who applauded during the quiet parts of songs, the dynamics were sometimes diminished. Frustrations aside, it was good to see a crowd possessed by such energy.

The show ended with a frenzied climax of blistering noise on “The Only Moment We Were Alone.”

When asked about the performance, a drop-jawed listener responded: “Epic.”

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