Seattlest: The World Has Turned And Left Us Here

cris

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:44:44 -0800

for me, it was seeing manu chao in san diego last july. it was amazing. i remember using those exact same words, that it was akin to a "religious experience" when i described the show to my friends. he's touring north america again this summer, so i urge everyone who can get to one of his shows to definitely check it out. it's a non-stop party.

Harris

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:48:55 -0800

For me it was Coldplay at Key Arena in January of 06. I KNOW they are mainstream, but I love them and snag along to each and every one of all their songs and they put on a gorgeous show. Chris Martin’s voice a cappella seriously brings on the waterworks. I'd love to see them at the Gorge. I’d probably have to be carried out on a stretcher afterwards due to multiple orgasms. Next religious experience will hopefully be RENT at the Paramount. I know it’s not a concert, but it is a rock musical (close enough). It'll be my 6th and 7th times seeing RENT when it comes next month, and a good cast = crying tears of sheer elation during Act 1, Scene 1 to a song appropriately entitled ‘Rent.’

Ryan

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:01:29 -0800

Coldplay. First US Show. At the Showbox. 2001.

Warmbowski

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:56:25 -0800

I do believe that the frequency of this intense experience becomes less frequent as we age. Personally, I attribute this to the fading of hormones and the development of masterful use of our frontal lobes as we progress toward menopause/andropause. I pine about the infrequency of these feelings 'welling up' as I age (almost 40). Nostalgic music can bring about these feelings a bit, but even seeing Robin Hitchcock not too long ago didn't bring it on very much. Concerts never really did it for me very much at anyway. They have always seem rather . . . impersonal. Occasionally, though, It still happens when I turn on Expansions (KEXP) while driving home alone on mooney, beautiful evenings.

David F.

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:08:03 -0800

I think it may be part of the aging process, Jack. Rock/pop music is often about fairly simple emotions. He loves her and she doesn't love him. Everyone wants to touch my humps. And so on. Adult lives usually get filled up with more complex emotions. We're still capable of feeling it, but I think it usually is less common as we have so many different things going on that same time. Rudolph Otto calls it the numinous shudder: "In this state, the soul, 'held speechless, trembles inwardly to the farthest fibre of its being[;] ... it implies that the mysterious is beginning to loom before the mind, to touch the feelings." I'm an atheist and do not think I have a soul. But, I felt that numinous shudder when my daughter was born. And when I saw the Waterboys in the early 90's. And, more recently with Coldplay.

Will D

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 01:01:45 -0800

December 2002, The Schnitz in Portland. Beck and the Flaming Lips. That show was the fulcrum on which the previous and next three months of my life balanced. The Lips also played one evening the previous summer on the pier, with De La Soul and like, Cake, or something. That show was sweet (not because of Cake) but it wasn't the religious experience that the show with Beck was.

jessica

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 23:33:22 -0800

PJ Harvey at the Showbox in 2004, I was blown away, and then cried. She defines the idea of a "rock goddess" for me. I'm hoping for a similar experience with Bjork at Sasquatch. I've loved both ladies since '95 and each show is/will be my first time seeing them.

josh

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:43:13 -0800

Arcade Fire at Sasquatch 2005 were pretty amazing. So was Sigur Ros as Coachella 2006. Definitely something great about the music mixed with the inspirational outdoor setting.

Sara

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:04:59 -0800

Crying Nut at the Han Woo Ri festival, in a mall parking lot in Federal Way, last June.

CK

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:58:53 -0800

I'm moving from Austin to Seattle this month and already have Sasquatch tickets. I love Austin City Limits and this looks like it might have it beat in experience making.

Jack

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:40:49 -0800

Sports? What's that? I'm a big Seahawks fan, but my wife is a bigger sports fan than I am (won the NCAA pool at her office!) And how could I have forgotten the Flaming Lips? Everyone I know who's seen the Lips have lauded their show as life changing.

Seth

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 19:01:15 -0800

Try sports, Jack--that feeling never goes away...last religious experience--the Seattle Prep/Mt. Rainier game at last month's WIAA state tourney.

Patrick

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 16:40:16 -0800

The last "religious experience" type concert for me was last years Sasquatch festival. The hail, the exhaustion and then trying to stay warm by dancing has hard as I could during the Flaming Lips. The Lips made that day so completely amazing that I could not ask for a better time. The Arcade Fire played sasquatch two years ago and they put on a great show then. I'm sure it will be amazing again. I got to get my tickets.