The World Has Turned And Left Us Here

We’ve all heard it. Many of us have even said it. A “religious experience.” As in, “Seeing Tool at the Paramount was just amazing – like a religious experience.” It’s different for everyone. For some, it’s all about the environment of the show – the venue, the crowd, maybe the mushrooms you ate about an hour before the lights went down. For others, it’s all about the band. Maybe it’s Tool at the Paramount. Maybe it’s Phish’s 2004 final show in Vermont.

Maybe it’s all of the above. But when was the last time you felt that way about a show? – Felt so affected that you actually used the words, “religious experience”? And what does that mean anyway? Sure, it conjures up silly images of evangelical magicians with their palm on a blind man’s forehead, shoving him off his feet and into the arms of his fellow parishioners. But that’s the ridiculous part, right? Isn’t the part just before that – the part where the man feels the preacher’s hand on his head and actually believes in the power behind it – isn’t that it? Isn’t that the experience?

Thing is, it’s been a while since we’ve felt that way about a show. Is it our age? Does that feeling just go away as you get older – like most other bits of magic? Or is it the nature of the music and the shows? We have to admit, most of the shows we’ve been to lately have been small-venue acts like Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter at the Tractor Tavern. Now, that show was amazing. Perfect even. But I wouldn’t have called it a religious experience.

These days, we’re more passionate than ever about music, but that feeling doesn’t seem to creep up anymore. In fact, the last time we felt it was when we saw Weezer at Key Arena a couple years ago. Yeah, Weezer. A big part of it was nostalgia. We’ve loved Weezer since the Sweater Song days of ’94. Back when we were aching to feel a woman’s boobies for the first time. Back when we were just getting our learner’s permit. But it wasn’t all nostalgia. It was the show, man. It was the lights, the crowd, the explosions, the confetti, the little tears of joy we quickly wiped away so our friends wouldn’t see. That was our last religious experience.

Which brings us back to it. When was yours? And what made it so moving, so profound that you likened it to something holy? And are there any shows coming up that might actually deliver that feeling? Off the top of our heads, we can think of one possibility: The Arcade Fire at next month’s Sasquatch Festival. Not only because of Arcade Fire’s huge sound and even greater themes, but also largely because of the setting. You see, they’re scheduled to go on before this year’s headliner, Bjork, which means they’ll likely be playing at sunset. At the Gorge. It could be Ricky Martin up there, shaking his bon bons or whatever and it would still be beautiful in that setting. But it’s not. It's The Arcade Fire.

But we’re trying not to think about it. You can’t ask for a religious experience.

The Gorge at Sunset -- (Cropped) photo by Matt Velinder on Flickr.