INXS at the Paradise club in Boston in the 90s. They were at the height of their fame. This was a special show at a club that holds a few hundred. They brought their stadium amplification out of some sense of perversity and ordered the air conditioning turned off. Impossibly loud. So loud I couldn't even identify songs I knew. I wound up with my fingers in my ears for most of the concert. My friends who didn't had ringing in their ears for a long time.
Deep Purple Mk II January 1972 Long Beach Auditorium (not Arena) California It was physically painful.
There's been a bunch but the one that comes to mind was electric hot tuna in a 600 seat club at the front table.
I went to many shows in the late 70's-80's that were way too loud. One show at the old Cap Center in MD had Angel, Frank Marino, Steve Marriott and 1 other band and they were all ear splittingly loud. The show that takes the prize for LOUDEST and 0ne of the very few concerts I've ever walked out of is Link Wray at the Wax Museum in DC back in '83 or '84? I believe I got a concussion at that one, head pounded for a couple days
Leftfield 'Leftism'at the UEA in Norwich on 24th of April 1996. Astonishing - not just the loudest but probably the best quality sound of any gig I've been to. How Leftism redefined dance music Your live shows got a reputation for being louder than Concorde. How bad was it? NB: The speakers were so loud your eyeballs would vibrate. Did you really make plaster fall off the roof of Brixton Academy? NB: A whole bit of the ceiling came down, not just a few chunks. You could see it all over the dancefloor. I've seen worse, though. We once shook a metal grating off when we played a soundcheck in a university. It came down and hit the floor. If anyone had been near it, they'd have been dead. I was terrified. And we brought a whole bar down in Amsterdam. When our sound man fired up the system, it all came down. Bottles, glasses, everything, flying off the wall. Who paid for it? I have no idea.
Talas - Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, July 19, 1985 (opening for Yngwie Malmsteen) followed by... Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith tour, Meadowlands, March 23, 1984 Neil Young & Crazy Horse, MSG, February 6, 1991
The Who. Civic arena in Pittsburgh. 1979. My ears are still ringing. Doesn’t help that I sat 20 feet from the Marshall stacks or PA or something. My ears rang audibly for a week at 16 years old. Same tone I hear now!
Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band at Alpine Valley in 89. At intermission my ears shut down but came back once the music started back up[was sitting in the 2nd row or so in front of Billy Preston].
Robin Trower was really loud at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis in the late 90s but he was cookin’ and just so upbeat ... he said “ this next one I’ve been playing a very long time — Bridge of Sighs” — he slayed it. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
Without question Living Colour! Saw them in a 2800 seat theater and my ears and head were pounding for a couple of days after.
Back in 1984 I saw Motorhead in a roller skating rink in the suburbs of Melbourne. Lemmy ambled on stage, put a six pack down on the drum riser, walked up to his mike and said "Hello skaters" and the band let rip. From that moment it was head in a jet engine stuff. After the first or second song, Lemmy actually asked the crowd if it was loud enough!
A John Entwistle solo concert in the late 1980s. After the first song he said incredulously to the crowd “You want it louder?” and turned up the volume even more. My ears for the next day felt like I had water in them like you get from swimming
Ted Nugent opening for Aerosmith at Winterland (San Francisco), 1975. He had the treble cranked up too, so his set was one long screech. Dick Dale at The Usual (San Jose) 1995, but it was immersive rather than painful.
The Jam 1980 CHICAGO. Playing a club with arena speakers. Yes it was loud. And before I started wearing earplugs
Megadeth at ISU in 1992? STP was the unknown band (at least by most) opening for them. I remember saying to my friends at the concert, those guys are damn good! Megadeth then gave the best and loudest concert I ever saw. Rust in Peace album pieces were my favorites (#2 favorite concert was Charlie Daniels band but certainly not second loudest).
Another baptism by volume from John Entwistle. He was backed by the local band Rat Race Choir. in a small club in NY state in the summer of 1990. A far cry from The Who shows I saw the previous summer.
Hot Tuna at the Stone Pony December 1989. A few years ago I accepted an invitation to see a Led Zep Cover band, Zoso, at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. It was uncomfortably loud. On the ride home my passenger inquired as to why I had the music so loud on the car stereo, I didn't find it too loud, then realized it was cranked to full volume. I've had tinnitus ever since.
Helmet original line-up on the Aftertaste tour at The Howling Wolf in New Orleans July 31st 1997 with Chris Traynor on 2nd guitar.
What an interesting thread. I'm inclined to think along the same lines as whoever posted that a lot has to do with the actual venue and where you position yourself during the concert. I've seen many of the artists mentioned in the thread: Aerosmith, Stones, Who, Eagles, Metallica, Cheap Trick, ZZ Top, Zoso & more, and never thought they were particularly loud to the point of being uncomfortable. Of course, it could be that my hearing was shot to begin with, but I don't think so. I haven't seen the Doobie Brothers mentioned yet, but for me, they were one of the loudest I've seen. Why? Because it was a GA show and the only seats we could find were right by the speaker stacks. Location, location, location.
