Emerson, Lake & Palmer, San Diego Sports Arena, 1974. In addition to being incredibly loud, they had more jacked-up squealing highs than you would get at a Who or Stones concert, courtesy of Emerson’s synthesizer.
As for low frequency response, I saw King Crimson on the 1984 tour, and the pounding beats in the second half of “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part 3” caused my chest to resonate in sympathy. I actually saw two shows on that tour, in Berkeley and a few days later in San Diego, but this effect happened only at the latter show. I also once found myself at a Jethro Tull concert seated in the front row, but all the way off to the left–directly facing a bass bin. Every time the kick drum hit, I got a little puff of air in the face.
Dropkick Murphys, which was ridiculous because they’ve got all these songs with bagpipes and tin whistles and other instruments, and all you could hear was this wall of deafening guitar feedback. I’m not sure the guitarist could even hear everything correctly, he had his ear up next to one of the stacks for half the show trying to figure out if it sounded right. Not a good performance.
Motorhead concert, Madison WI, December 1985. It was in a gymnasium; I only went because my roommate was a fan, and really wanted me to come along. We were no more than 20 feet away from the amps, in a room that might have been 150’ by 100’.
You couldn’t even make out the music; it was just distortion and raw sound. I had a final exam in a Marketing class the next morning, and couldn’t even hear the professor’s instructions as the test started. My ears rang for two days afterwards, and my hearing has never been the same.
Cheap Trick in a small club, mid-80s. It felt like knitting needles stabbing my brain. I stuck my fingers in my ears but still left after a minute or so.
Nazareth at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, probably around 1981-ish. We were on the floor about twelve rows back on the right side, pretty much right in front of the stack of amps on that side of the stage. I’d been to concerts that still had my ears ringing the next day, but I think it took me about a week to get over that one.
Luckily they toned it down quite a bit by the time they started handing out earphones. They were still quite loud, but at least they were going for sound rather than loud. I still had to wear earplugs. I’ve worn earplugs at every concert ever since that Superchunk show in Ames, IA. I do not get the appeal of music that loud. The sound quality is awful, and I like my hearing.
**Foo Fighters **at Allstate Arena in Chicago three or four years ago. It was so loud that I got a severe migraine (which I almost never get).
A close second was **They Might Be Giants **at the Showbox in Seattle. I was right in front of one of the front center speakers where most of the high-end sound was coming out, hurt my ears for days.
Surprisingly, Tangerine Dream in the late '70s. Surprisingly, because I’d always played their albums fairly quietly (it being cosmic music ‘n’ all). It was good, though.
But why do these bands play *so *loud? (God, I sound old.) Most people here seem to have not terribly enjoyed the experience.
Alice Cooper, around 1990. I could feel my teeth vibrating and my skull felt like it was in a paint shaker. It took about a week for my hearing to stop sounding muffled.
Between that, and the few hundred other concerts over the years, I’m amazed I can hear at all anymore.
AC/DC. As if the speakers (which I was right in front of) weren’t loud enough, I thought the cannon … For those about to rock … FIRE! BOOOOM!! … was going to kill me.
I hate hate hate loud music, and did even in my youth. It has been so many years since I have been to any concert that might have been loud that none spring to mind.
I’ve seen a lot of shows, in lots of venues of varying size. Tool is probably the second-loudest I remember, beating out Metallica, Van Halen, Rammstein, GnR, etc. The only concert where the volume made me physically uncomfortable was The Mars Volta at the previously-mentioned-in-this-thread Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. I think that show gave me some permanent damage. Sounds were muffled for at least a week. I was sure to bring earplugs to see them a year or two later at The Pageant in St. Louis, but I think (and thought at the time) that the acoustics of the Aragon were pretty terrible. Lots of hard surfaces and harsh reflections.
Led Zeppelin, c. 1969, at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. Or The Who, same venue, pre-“Tommy.” If that didn’t ruin my hearing, sitting all up close to all the blues bands in the ghetto joints in South & West Side Chicago for the next 15 years surely did !!!
I also ruint some brain cells along the way … :eek:
I saw Black Angel with Roky Erickson November, 2008, at GAMH, about 600 capacity. Our ears were ringing for a while.
Old school. Blue Oyster Cult in the 70s at the Cow palace. Great LOUD show. And Boston at the Oakland Arena within a year or two of the BOC concert. Very, very loud.
And one more recently. The Plimsouls at the Red Devil (a bar with a stage). They followed a band called Sub Image who raised the roof. After the reaction from the crowd, Peter Case and The Plimsouls really turned it up, as if they were on a mission.Probably the best club performance I’ve ever seen and heard. Loud and spirited.
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time Tour 1986, so loud you could feel it more than hear it.
My ears rang for a week. The next tiem they toured the local authority imposed a volume restriction (so we heard, although it was never formaly stated).
Sanctuaryat a hole in the wall joint in NM called the Sunshine Theater.
They apparently didn’t like the sound in the place (which was odd, the room had pretty good acoustics. I played there a couple times and it always sounded great on stage) During the last song or two the sound guy cranked the volume up.
It was insane. I lasted about 30 seconds before having to leave.
The back wall of the room had cloth padding on it for acoustics. On the way out the door I noticed that the back wall was *bouncing * about two or three inches.
Elite Tauren Death Knight at BlizzCon 08 in the Anaheim Convention Center.
I don’t know if it was the sorta screechy acoustics of the place or if they just had the sound cranked up beyond all reason, but I was way in the back and had to go find something else to do because it was too painful to listen to.
My ears are ringing just thinking about it. I’m not kidding.
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.
I permanently lost a decent chunk of the hearing in my right ear at a Jethro Tull concert. It was a bit like being stabbed in the brain by a flute solo (and my own fault for leaning against one of the floor to ceiling speakers), but even so, Jethro Tull wasn’t even close to the loudest.
That honor goes to one of the Winters. Johnny? Edgar? Who can remember? That thing was LOUD!