Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Dazzle Ships tour Hammersmith Odeon (think it's called Apollo now) early 1980s. 1983 or 1984. By this time I'd seen at least 30/40 gigs in the same venue including plenty of Heavy Metal and Rock. There's 2 tiers in the Odeon. I was upstairs, which to begin with annoyed me as I wanted to be downstairs. By the end of the gig I was glad I was upstairs and a little further back. It's, by miles, the loudest gig I've been to.
If we’re strictly talking SPLs, most punk rock shows I went to in the ‘90s and ‘00s are a tie for the loudest and longest ear ringing I have experienced.
Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn. The PA was stacked, not flown and I was in the fourth row near the stage right stack, no ear plugs. Also, although I didn’t care for them, somehow I got a free ticket to see Grand Funk Railroad at the Aragon ballroom around 1971. When I opened the door to the concert room the bass was so loud I could literally feel it uncomfortably kicking in my chest and I decided to pass and went home .
Bunch of us went to see ZZ Top with George Thorogood & The Destroyers opening up. So when The Destroyers sax player hit his opening note everybody's hands went to there ears, swore my ear drums were pierced. Luckily I grabbed a handful of ear plugs from the car before going in and when the woman behind saw me put them in ask if I had any more ( They were all gone in 5 sec )
Mountain at Fillmore East Mission of Burma anywhere Husker Du at Maxwell's Ramones at CBGB Early days at CBGB (before the remodeling) I'd position myself at the end of the bar where they had this old (and big) Voice Of The Theater speaker perched. My right ear was never the same.
I was there! Upstairs too! Loudest gig I ever went to though was probably Queen at Milton Keynes. Teardrop Explodes were (surprisingly) one of the support bands and kept having bottles thrown at them.
This is the right answer. Seen them in a small theater in Bologna in 2016, and was sitting in third row seats, 3 meters away from the stack of speakers on the right of stage. I had earplugs on, but halfway through the 2 hours and 15 minutes show (that is, 3 songs in) I decided to move to the back end of the theater for my best enjoyment. Meanwhile, everybody else decided to move in front of stage to have their brains fried by extreme amplification, and have a better look of Gira beautiful face.
Heavy Japanese psych noise rockers Boris, on the Smile tour a decade and change back. Even louder than MBV or Motorhead, and playing in a much smaller venue than either (for my fellow Ottawa residents: this was at the Babylon club on Bank St).
Same, but the few time I saw them, it was indoors - and yeah, even with earplugs, it was deafening. More recently, Jim James, on his last tour. Lennon/Claypool opened for him, and they're sound/volume was pretty much perfect, then, not only was James unnecessarily far too loud, he was so loud that things that should not distort (vocals, keys) were distorting badly. It was so bad, we HAD to leave 3 songs in. It was literally painful, and not only have I been to plenty of live shows (Motorhead!), I've played in bands where I had to crank myself to hear over the drums in a small rehearsal room. And JJ was even louder than that! Which is a bummer, as he puts on a great show.
Not been to many but one springs to mind. Jean Michel Jarre Chronologie Concert Tour At the Old Wembly Stadium in London 1993. I was in the front right hand side next to the speaker stack, ears also ringing for a day or so.
Metallica Poor Touring Me 1997 USA I was still in my youth, and Metallica was in the round. I was on the floor with a wall of sound behind me, and speakers above me. Attended in a relatively “small” coliseum, while the amps and speakers were set for a large Stadium. Still have hearing problems to this day.
I forgot it mention Anna Von Hausswolf was supporting, and her and the two pals on stage were as loud and as mesmerizing as the main attraction, although a little more pleasant to the sight.
Early to mid 80s, Triumph with Mountain opening for them. Even my 14 year old ears could tell it was too damn loud. I was half-deaf for days afterwards.
Metallica - 1989 Justice tour. My ears rang for two days. Also, recently, The Stones in Philly in 2019 were piercing loud. I think they called it "No Filter" because there were NO filters applied to Ronnie or Keith's guitars - they were raunchy and rough, but I loved it!
Definitely felt it in my whole body the next day after seeing them a few years ago. Good stuff. Other loud ones: Hum & Swervedriver on the same ticket. Saw them 3 times in 5 nights and I'm pretty sure I came away with permanent changes to my hearing.
The Who at Gaints Stadium. 3rd night. Literally could not be further away from the Stage that night. Last seat in the last row of the Upper Deck. My ears rang for days.
The Dead Kennedys at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ - 1985, (no longer there) Trivia - Jon Stewart of the Daily Show fame bartendered at City Gardens