Can't decide between: Rush, Clockwork Angels tour, KeyBank Center, Buffalo, 2012. Too loud not to wear earplugs, painful really, but the earplugs destroyed the music for me. This was the show that motivated me to invest in a better pair of earplugs. Bob Dylan, Beacon Theater, New York, 2005. Had to strain to hear any of the lyrics though the aural mud and figure out what the hell song he was playing. I thought the lyrics were kinda the point with Dylan. Ugh.
I saw the North Mississippi All-Stars at the Borderline in London some years back but I have no idea if they were any good or not because the support act, the Archie Bronson Outfit, were so loud that by the time they had finished my hearing was completely shot. I went through the main set thinking there must be something wrong with the p.a. because everything was just a muddied mess. It was only once I was out of the club that I realised it was my hearing to blame because all sound was still a muddied mess. It took two days to recover.
Had to be the Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here tour at the Capital Centre June 10 1975. My ears were still ringing hours after the concert.
David Byrne's "Rei Momo" tour at the Pantages in Hollywood. Heroin loudness; so pure and loud that it didn't even hurt a bit. But I knew that the outcome would be tortuous. Front row seats without earplugs. I had my fingers in the ears the entire concert. Very, very uncomfortable.
Easily Acid Mother's Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO at the Hull Adelphi in 2014. It's a truly tiny club and the band were outrageously loud from the off. I knew they would be which is why I wore earplugs; made literally no difference! My ears were totally destroyed for a couple of days.
When they played upstairs in The Golden Lion,Tod, they very nearly blew the windows out of the building..................... And the kebab house across the road. Saying this as a survivor of a brutal MBV in the Apollo one time. Kev out of The Dub Smugglers has built a rig for Gnod in the past and one of his rigs is in The Golden Lion before it got its own power supply on a regular basis it blew the Lions main fuse,its loud and even after its upgrade Andrew Weatherall would take it as a personal insult if he couldn't blow something up.
I saw Damage Plan in a small 300-capacity restaurant/bar venue, a few months before DD was killed. The band was half of Pantera, the crew were all ex-Pantera including the FOH mixer guy. They couldn't have been nicer, and the mix was at a reasonable level for a metal show. Their crew chief told me "All the assholes went with Phil."
My Bloody Valentine in Toronto in 2008... nothing else has come close (not even MBV in montreal a few years later). Not as uniformly loud, but on both occasions I saw Mogwai play "like Herod"... the first time I wasn't prepared and actually thought the building was hit by a plane or bomb or something... the second time, I was prepared and was still lulled into a state of calm only to be scared, albeit less so, once again.
Oh not a chance. But it was honestly a good wake up call for me that I have to be careful myself. Had I not developed the ringing early on, I might be deaf by 30. I'm much more careful now and to be honest, it doesn't really ruin the fun at all!
Believe it or not , Journey with Arnel Pineda and we were on the lawn we left after 15 minutes or so just way to loud.. And Ive seen Sabbath, The Who, etc . This was painful
I saw AC/CD in a 2k seat theater on their Highway to Hell tour. I guess they were just turning into a "name" band. They pretty much brought an arena rig into a fairly small venue. It was ear blistering. Also, saw Kansas in tiny theater in Lawrence KS. Again, too loud to enjoy without ear plugs.
Rat Dog indoors anywhere in the 90s and 2000s. Ridiculous volume. But I still had fun at all of them.
Frank zappa Every time that we could see that he was about to play guitar, we would wince. He was twice as loud as led zep, and I was at a out the same distance both times. My head hurt for a week. Honorable mention to uriah heep. Their set wasn't earshatyering, but they blew off a horrible bomb at the end that blew my left ear out. Never been the same since.
Yes, back on Page 23 we talked about this, in May of last year. You, me, and Cryptical17 all had the same experience with Fleetwood Mac, being the loudest concert we'd ever heard. Who would've thunk that FM could be one of the loudest bands out there? And for me, up close and personal, it was painful. I'm still paying for that concert (tour rehearsal, actually), and will for the rest of my life. Tinnitus sucks, but it's too late to do anything about it. The lack of live concerts the past year has inadvertently probably saved many from permanent hearing loss. Myself, I doubt I'll ever be attending another rock concert the rest of my life. Classical music concerts or recitals, yes - but no more ear-splitting volume concerts for me.
The Prodigy on The Fat of The Land tour in 1997, supported by The Foo Fighters. The bass was so intense that you could feel your innards vibrate! And yes I’ve seen Mogwai play Like Herod, close but no cigar.
#1 Dickies and Ramones at Reseda Country Club summer '88. #2 would probably be Bob Mould (Black Sheets Of Rain Tour) at Moore Theater in Seattle or Dramarama at SXSW '04
Tina Turner - April 6, 1987 / Rotterdam There was no way you could sit and watch the concert in one position. I switched my head constantly, so that both ears were equally stressed. It was way too loud in the venue that isnt not that big (8.000). A radio dj at the time who was also there reported later that he had suffered permanent ear damage. Two others were KISS in 1999 (Pshyco Circus Tour) and U2 during the Elevation tour.
September 2010. An indoor festival at a very well known venue. I don't need to say who was playing because there's no glory in any of this. My hearing gave in after half an hour of the headline act, the sound had absolutely no definition or detail at all, just raw noise. I ended up suffering from hyperacusis for a couple of years which was nearly life-changing and I'm left with tinnitus which, if I allow it, is the loudest thing in the world. I can't handle anything more than 80db these days as a result but I came to terms with it and I can enjoy music at home and most things in normal life, so I'll settle for that.
Yngwie Malmsteen was actually my loudest and the only concert I've been to where it damaged my hearing, although temporarily. FM was just one for me that was surprisingly loud but not painful or anything like that. Like the other post said, McVie's bass was thundering.
Santana for me, too. Would have been 1974, I think. We made a tactical error in being close to the stage. When we tried to communicate, our shouting was reduced to a strange high-pitched buzzing noise. I remember a guy was trying to sell us quaaludes between songs, but kept falling down before he could finish his sales pitch. Yeah, 1974. A later loud show was Living Colour in a small club. It was a make-up gig for one they had to cancel when they hit it big and went on the road with The Rolling Stones. Very commendable that they decided to honor their commitment, on a day off from The Stones - but it seemed like they must have brought along the same amplification they just used in Soldier Field or wherever. Loud, and so packed you couldn't move. Fun, though, and they stuck around outside and chatted for ages - Corey Glover particularly was very friendly.
John Mellencamp at Great Woods Aug 1994. Only show I've ever attended where guitar solos actually hurt my ears. Plenty of crazy loud shows (Ozzy 10th row center Meadowlands 1984, Springsteen 7th row Spectrum 1988). But Mellencamp was really really loud...
