And yet, that was precisely one of the stated goals of LHC. Observing things is not a bad way to find new physics: Radiation was observed before there was a theory for it. Electrons were also generated as a "ray" before people had any concept of electrons. We've observed the microwave background without knowing about the big bang, or cosmic expansion.

Most new physics starts out as experimental observations. Einstein's theory of relativity is one of the amazing (partial) exceptions.