Once you’ve been to enough concerts, you come to the unfortunate realization that they can’t all be great. It’s painful, standing at shows watching an artist try but fail, an audience disengage.

But once you’ve seen enough live music, you can also feel very quickly when you’re in for a treat. When the music starts and everything clicks — the sound and lights, imagery and atmosphere, artist and crowd. These are the nights where faces are beaming and hearts are full, and the power of music is no question at all.

When this happens, everyone in attendance can’t help but know. And last Saturday night, it happened.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor took control of Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall in a way I haven’t seen in too long. The performance was mesmerizing, a packed house glued to the stage. The sound projected through those many speakers was so surreal that everyone just stood together listening, being blown away.

The eight musicians in Godspeed You! are masters of their crafts, their instruments alive with emotion. With percussionists, guitarists, bassists and a violinist — it’s a small, but mighty strong, symphony.

To hear the band lock-in is a thrill. Quiet beginnings build to epic heights. The musicians layer on top of one another, intensely focused on creating a sound that soars. As a witness, you’re gifted rock-infused orchestra songs of 10+ minutes that shake you to the core.

There are no lyrics — no vocals at all — yet the audio lacks nothing. The band hardly moves on stage, yet you can’t look away. Behind them is a split screen, showing hypnotizing visuals of branches and birds, tunnels and train tracks, dark landscapes for you to explore in and get lost.

The images dance with the notes and punctuate the spaces between, establishing a carefully-crafted world enclosed by the concert hall walls. The fullness of sound, the wonder of imagery — it’s art that forces you into the moment while letting your mind run free.

And wow, did this Toronto crowd respond. We stood in silence, phones forgotten in pockets. Immersed in the ride, in awe of what music can do. There.

What a pleasure to be there when it happens.

Thank you, Godspeed You!