A great show somewhat ruined for me by how loud it was: Guided by Voices on their Classic Lineup reunion tour in 2010, 9:30 Club in DC. Now I'd heard rumors of how loud GBV shows could be and this was my first time seeing them. They sounded great, Bob up there drinking from a bottle of Cuervo, high kicking and all. I'd been going to loud concerts for about 20 years at this point, but man, was I unprepared for this. I'd never been to a show before this one that made my ears physically hurt. I think we made it 3/4 through the show before leaving. My ears rang for well over 24 hours—that had never happened to me before. Definitely some permanent damage, and we were close to the back of the room. I plan on seeing them once again at the Black Cat in a couple of months. I'm currently looking for a proper pair of earplugs. I don't think I'll ever go to a loud show again without them.
I saw Angel (with Punky Meadows) in November 1975 at the Riviera Theater in Chicago touring behind their debut LP. I didn't care about Angel nor did most of the crowd. The music was uninteresting, the reception was lukewarm at best, and it took forever to dismantle Angel's set decorations. The loudest cheers were when the big backdrop finally came down. So why were we all there? For the headliners - Sparks on their Indiscreet tour! This would be the end of Ron and Russell's glam period and they were beyond sensational. A real feast and famine evening. Probably the strangest concert I attended was Roy Harper at the Birchmere in Alexandria VA in September 1998. Roy was completely solo and had been booked into the concert hall. However, ticket sales were so miserable that they moved him into the lobby, where about twenty of us fans got the super intimate treatment and some Q&A. Poor Roy. Lucky us.
Sugar - Town And Country Club , London - 1992 I was a massive Husker Du fan and convinced all my mates that seeing Bob Mould’s new band Sugar live (after buying and listening to their debut lp) was going to be amazing. The volume was SO loud that every song was so distorted that that the entire gig for us was ruined . You couldn’t tell what song they were playing . I spent most of the night apologising/being down in the dumps wishing the soundman could hear what we could do he’d sort the levels out !
Driving in to Newcastle on Tyne last month to see The Split Squad, and I was involved in my first-ever car accident, meaning that I missed the show, the only one they did in England this year. I was at a private Jefferson Starship show in London, where the organiser and those present had subsidised the band's appearance. All the way through, the same people who always seemed to get seats in the front row at JS's regular concerts stood at the front, while a guy in a wheelchair was sat to the side of the room. Just selfishness.
Two come to mind. Pink Floyd - Momentary Lapse of Reason tour at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento. I think I remember hating every minute of it and couldn't wait for the show to end. Couldn't leave because I was with friends and we weren't all seated together. I knew I should have gone to see Gaye Bykers on Acid that night instead. Tool - Berkeley Square in 1992 or 1993. Friends convinced me to go. I should have known better. I'm still not sure what people see in this band.
The Black Crows some time around 2006. I guess ticket sales weren't as strong as was anticipated. They moved the stage forward so the venue didn't seem as vacant as it would otherwise. The Crowes probably didn't like weak ticket sales and pretty much ignored the audience that was in attendance. They fulfilled their contractual obligation and played but the band pretty much stood in a circle and performed like it was a rehearsal session. Lost all respect for the Black Crowes after that.
Saw Traffic somewhere around 1972 at The Academy of Music in NYC. Chris Wood could not stand up, eventually slouching on the piano bench and then falling over a few times, once almost off the stage. He had to leave mid-show. The band was pretty unhinged from that and the show was terrible. My memory is that Winwood was on WNEW-FM radio the following day and promised a free show next time they toured because of the prior night's debacle. Don't believe they toured again with Chris Wood after that.
Primus in Petaluma, CA. Probably the 1990 Frizzle Fry tour. While standing near the stage pre-show, security saw my audio recording equipment. They wouldn't let me stay in the venue with my recording device on me, so I just bailed, missing the entire concert.
I was at that show too. I remember it well! I started out standing in front of the stage before showtime and for twenty minutes I had to put up with some guy's girlfriend complaining that other people, including me, were tall and moving into her line of sight. Eventually I turned to her and said 'we are all situated in the mosh pit - if you think any 'sight line' you might have is going to last more than fifteen seconds of the first song you are very much sadly mistaken'. The imbecile boyfriend then tried to start a fight with me, cut short by the lights going down and the first number 'A Good Idea' - sure enough, everyone in front of the stage moved about three feet to the left, then six feet to the right, repeatedly to the beat. As I caught my last sight of the two stunned lovers I shouted 'so long, arseholes - enjoy the show!' As you said, it was ridiculously loud. Whole songs came and went without any clue what they were, and I knew the album well by then. I moved throughout the venue, ending up in the upstairs gallery with earplugs, where the sound improved a little bit. I went down front for the last few numbers, and as we all left the venue the general feeling was that the gig was a rank disaster because of the high sound level. Heartbreakingly, one guy I spoke to on the way out said the previous time he saw Bob Mould, touring Black Sheets of Rain (which I love) with Anton Fier on drums, the sound was perfect. Incidentally, a Graham Parker show I saw around the same time at the Town and C0untry Club was similarly so loud we walked out - a soundman with specific views on volume levels who went on to pursue a career in CD mastering, perhaps?
Outdoor concert at Memorial Stadium in the summer of 72 . I can’t remember all the bands those were the days whe you could see 7 or 8 great acts for 5 bucks(sigh). I do know Dr.John was the headliner along with The Ike n Tina Turner Revue, Uriah Heep, the Doobies (long before they turned to sap with M.McDonald), ZZ Top and the rest are lost to history. A big thunderstorm comes up 2 or 3 hours in and the promoters decide its a good idea to try and put 10,000 people into an arena next to the stadium which held at best 3,000. Everyone is scrambling to try to get in and some fencing was knocked down and next thing I know Charlottes finest appears and are putting the billy clubs to kids left and right . After fortuitously avoiding getting my skull cracked I somehow made it into the facility but had to listen to the rest of the show out in the concourse with only occasional glimpses of the bands.
December 3, 1979 Walter Adams Jr. 22 Trotwood OH Peter Bowes 18 Wyoming OH Connie Sue Burns 21 Miamisburg OH Jacqueline Eckerle 15 Finneytown OH David Heck 19 Highland Heights KY Teva Rae Ladd 27 Newtown OH Karen Morrison 15 Finneytown OH Stephan Preston 19 Finneytown OH Philip Snyder 20 Franklin OH Bryan Wagner 17 Fort Thomas KY James Warmoth 21 Franklin OH
Never heard this story before. How did they think the Grady Cole Center would hold everyone at an event at Memorial Stadium? Just crazy.
Wait wait, so the show, moved from the stadium- and they moved it, the same day, like during the concert- to the adjacent arena? That sounds insane, even not on drugs-
KISS last year's concert in Moscow. I love the band dearly but Paul couldn't even talk not to mention sing. It was beyond painful, it was torture and I had my share of "bad voice" concerts.
It was Park Center which was used for wrestling and small events althiugh I saw Black Oak Arkansas there’re 2, MTB, Poco,Quicksilver,Foghat,Jamesgang(Tommy Bolin had just replaced JW) and ZZ Top. It is no longer there. Yep moved the concert lock,stock, and barrel right In the middle of the event.
Question - Is the sound level, esp. at the medium venues, determined by venue board operators or band personnel?
Back in the mid 80's, I sneaked into a rock festival in Belgium (by clambering through barbed wire) to hear Lou Reed (with Robert Quine) and Simple Minds. Clambering back out again, one of my hands sank deep into a human turd. Serves me right, I suppose.
I had exactly the same experience. Sounds like the Temples In Flames tour? Roger McGuinn opened and, though he wasn't great, he was the best thing about the concert.
Now THAT, Sir, is and was a can of worms indeed! Some artists tour with a soundperson. Sometimes that soundperson is allowed full access to the hallowed PA. Sometimes the artist brings their own PA and soundperson, many times both of these are allowed to operate without undue interference from the host venue. Sometimes not. My experience comes from the early and mid-nineties, of course, when I was promoting artists - everything may have changed since then, hopefully for the better. Incidentally, I found this about the venue we were discussing above, in a Guardian review article: The gig venue guide: The Forum, London