# What was the loudest concert you've ever been to?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-loudest-concert-youve-ever-been-to/488661>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 7, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-loudest-concert-youve-ever-been-to/488661 "2009-03-07T16:55:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-loudest-concert-youve-ever-been-to/488661/81 "2009-03-10T05:27:56Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Oddly enough, the same tour, except in St. Louis at the old Kiel Auditorium. The opening act was Joe Cocker, and because Zepplin wasn’t on the bill, the Who played an extra-long set. I was in the 6th row, directly in front of the amplifiers. My ears rang for two hours AFTER the show was over.

If your ears only rang for two hours after the show, it wasn’t all that loud. Some of us are talking about lifetime damage.

Not saying it didn’t hurt you at the time, though. 😉

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**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-loudest-concert-youve-ever-been-to/488661/82 "2009-03-10T06:10:23Z")

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> [@SP2263](#):
>
> It was not only the loudest the acoustics were so bad I could not even tell what song they were playing.

After years of going to Christian rock concerts in very small venues, I was surprised to go to “real” concerts and discover that the sound was TERRIBLE.

I spent my night with the Ramones in the famous Hollywood Palladium against the sound board in the back, because there I could tell what FREAKING song they were playing. We went to the top of the balcony in The Palace in L.A. so we could even hear the guitar of King’s X.

I think it’s a union rule that the sound engineer be half deaf. He then mixes for himself, and somehow can’t hear the bass guitar and drums hitting resonant frequencies in the venue.

It’s the audience who suffers.

The reason I could still sort of hear the mosquito sound from my students at 38 was the inviolable practice of putting toilet paper in my ears to cut the sound at (I think) every show. No band was worth my hearing. I’ve been proved right.

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