Bands that at one point or another have blown my mind

Ok, given the fact that I come from South America, it'd be pretty silly not to mention a couple of bands from down there

Soda Stereo @ Estadio Nacional (1997)
Roger Waters @ Estadio Nacional (2002)
Cafe Tacuba @ Teatro Providencia (2002)
Babasonicos @ Teatro Providencia (2003)
Aguaturbia @ Sala SCD Bellavista (2004)
Chemical Brothers @ San Carlos de Apoquindo (2004)
PJ Harvey & Morrissey @ San Carlos de Apoquindo (2004)
Los Jaivas @ Kennedy Center Milennium Stage (2005)
Cerati @ State Theatre (2006)
Tool @ Verizon Center (2006)
Patti Smith @ 930 Club (2007)

MUSE and Flaming Lips

Originally posted by SPARX:
Unfortunately my experience with Bowie was quite underwhelming as I caught the Serious Moonlight tour. What a crap release that was. I'd have loved to have seen him in his hey day. Live @ Tower Theatre in Philly being a great live release IMHO.

My first Bowie show was on the Serious Moonlight tour. I thought it was great. That Glass Spiders tour wasn't all that impressive though.

Wow, it looks like a vast majority of us have just lucked out when seeing mind-blowing shows.

Or, we're easily open to hyperbole. Shrug.

I've had other things blown at shows (or just, blow) but never my mind…

Brian

Is that your way of saying you'll be at BLOWOFF tonight?

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
I've had other things blown at shows (or just, blow) but never my mind…

Brian

Flaming Lips was amazing.
I was REALLY impressed with the Yeah Yeah Yeah's.
But the only band that blew my mind was Iggy and the Stooges at the 9:30 Club. That was the only time where during a concert i thought to myself, "I'm actually witnessing one of those once in a lifetime concerts."

I could blow all of your fucking minds

I used to like Muse until I discovered they were sympathetic to the 9/11 denial "movement."

But as for mind-blowing, I'd have to say Bauhaus at the Club a few years back is right near the top of my list.

A few… some coming to mind…

Flaming Lips
Muse
Queens of the Stone Age
The Hives @ Black Cat [!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
Gogol Bordello
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
M.I.A. @ Sonar
Wolfmother @ Black Cat & 930
The White Stripes
The Killers [Total surprise]

iron maiden
AFI
gwar

I took the original title of the thread to refer to bands that had a period of time where they could seemingly do no wrong with what they released as opposed to particular shows but since that's the direction that the thread has taken I won't veer off course haha; however I'm going to change it up slightly and list shows that kicked my ass where I had very little to zero knowledge about the band beforehand, sometimes those are the most rewarding.

Melvins DC Space Summer 1990
(If you know the volume of the Melvins and knew the size of DC Space then nuff said)

Five-Eight 15 Min Club DC Summer 1993
(actually the openers Kepone were pretty goddamned amazing as well)

Dwarves 9:30 Club Fall 1990
(Best 20 minutes of live punk rock I've ever seen hands down, will still kill for a video of this show as I saw and collided with at least 2-3 people filming)

Ernie Isley Riverpark Tulsa OK Summer 1990
(opening for SRV and IMO blew him off of the stage which I know is blasphemous given SRV's deceased status but I saw Ernie Isley again at the Ritz in DC 2 weeks later after begging them to let my then-underage ass in and it wasn't a fluke)

Shudder To Think 9:30 Club Summer 1990
(I wished I had seen these guys a little earlier on as opposed to catching them when I did but in retrospect I was glad I got to see them a few times before the original lineup started to disintegrate)

Nation of Ulysses St Stephens Church DC Fall 1991
(Starting off riffing on Coltrane and then descending into chaotic noise for the next half an hour but it worked)

Eric Gales Band 9:30 Club Summer 1991
(Opening for King's X, I think he was like 16 at the time and I figured he was destined for future guitar god greatness but haven't heard much from him in the past decade unfortunately)

Chris Duarte Club Dada Dallas TX January 1994
(Why this guy doesn't get more recognition is beyond me, what he can do with a guitar is beyond all fucking comprehension)

I stand by my notion from the other thread, that while I have seen some AMAZING live shows, I just don't get the whole "mind blowing" experience. Maybe I just don't do the right drugs or have enough booze in my system, who knows?

There have been a handful of shows over the years that have been life changing in the sense that I was sincerely won over as a lifetime fan, but I've never left feeling like I was just witness to something so unique or ground breaking that my mind was blown:

Clutch (9:30 F St.)
Ray Lamontagne (9:30 V St.)
Alice In Chains (Ritchie Coliseum)
Tool (Hammerjacks)
Teenage Fanclub (Hammerjacks)
Prong (The Bayou)
AC/DC (The Capital Center)
The Jesus and Mary Chain (Lalapalooza â?¢ Lake Fairfax)

Originally posted by Shadrach:
I stand by my notion from the other thread, that while I have seen some AMAZING live shows, I just don't get the whole "mind blowing" experience. Maybe I just don't do the right drugs or have enough booze in my system, who knows?

There have been a handful of shows over the years that have been life changing in the sense that I was sincerely won over as a lifetime fan, but I've never left feeling like I was just witness to something so unique or ground breaking that my mind was blown:

Clutch (9:30 F St.)
Ray Lamontagne (9:30 V St.)
Alice In Chains (Ritchie Coliseum)
Tool (Hammerjacks)
Teenage Fanclub (Hammerjacks)
Prong (The Bayou)
AC/DC (The Capital Center)
The Jesus and Mary Chain (Lalapalooza â?¢ Lake Fairfax)

I think you might be taking the whole "mind-blowing" concept a bit too literally/seriously. It's pretty much as hyperbolic as saying a performance was life-changing.

Orbital (9:30)
Chemical Brothers (Nation)
Stereophonics (Morfa Stadium: Wales, UK)
Mogwai (Black Cat)
Art of Noise (Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco)
Coldcut (9:30)
Curve (9:30 Club F Street)
Faithless (9:30)
The Prodigy (9:30 Club and HFS'tival)
Kraftwerk (9:30)
Manic Street Preachers (V97 - Chelmsford UK)
Tripping Daisy (9:30 Club F Street) (1994)
The The (Lisner Auditorium)
System 7 (Big Top Festival - Capital Ballroom)
Basement Jaxx (9:30)

Originally posted by Shadrach:
I stand by my notion from the other thread, that while I have seen some AMAZING live shows, I just don't get the whole "mind blowing" experience. Maybe I just don't do the right drugs or have enough booze in my system, who knows?

There have been a handful of shows over the years that have been life changing in the sense that I was sincerely won over as a lifetime fan, but I've never left feeling like I was just witness to something so unique or ground breaking that my mind was blown:

Clutch (9:30 F St.)
Ray Lamontagne (9:30 V St.)
Alice In Chains (Ritchie Coliseum)
Tool (Hammerjacks)
Teenage Fanclub (Hammerjacks)
Prong (The Bayou)
AC/DC (The Capital Center)
The Jesus and Mary Chain (Lalapalooza â?¢ Lake Fairfax)

Just curious…was the Clutch show when they opened for Jawbox? And Prong when they opened for Flotsam and Jetsam?

Originally posted by Relaxer:
I think you might be taking the whole "mind-blowing" concept a bit too literally/seriously. It's pretty much as hyperbolic as saying a performance was life-changing.

But I think that's the whole point…to move beyond "great shows" and think about the ones that were just completely over the top, taking you places you never thought music could go, making you totally rethink everything you thought you knew about music, changing the way you experience every aspect of listening to music from that point forward. It's more like a religious experience than anything else.

Of course "mind-blowing" is hyperbolic. "Life-changing" doesn't need to be though.

I agree that a concert can be life-changing (but then, a 10%-off sale at Olssons can also be life-changing). The point I was making was that Shadrach was crapping on the "mind blowing" concept, but then says he's had life-changing experiences, and I'm saying that they're the same thing, in terms of how we're using the concepts.

forgot to include:

underworld (1999 warfield)
delgados (2003 bimbos)
nick cave (1998 warfield - some girl actually crapped her pants during this show….)

Originally posted by wanderlust j. marshmallow:
sigur ros (2001 fillmore SF)
bjork (1998 warfield SF)
portishead (1998 warfield SF)
pj harvey (1998, 2001, 2005 warfield SF)

this thread is so ghey.