Loudest Concert

Last year I went to a show that included Korn on the bill.

That was the loudest thing I've been anywhere close to. They were intentionally setting things up so it would rattle the whole outdoor auditorium and there was an electronic bass sound that was particularly bad, I'm not speaking in exaggeration when I say it was rather physically uncomfortable. You could feel your guts moving around as if they were water inside you.
 
It's surprising that with all the technology and sound expertise that stupidly loud volume is still going on - GruntersDad post for example. Similarly, I've been to shows recently where the overall volume or sound mix just completely wrecked the show/evening. Why? One show a couple years ago was so bad that I emailed the House of Blues venue a day or two after the show to complain that the bass drum volume & sub woofer was so over the top that you could hardly hear anything else being played on stage. The mix might have barely been acceptable at a EDM pop-up rave or in a low-rider with a sub rattling all the car's rivits at a boulevard cruise, but I straight up asked HOB what the heck was the front of house sound guy listening to?!!! Like GruntersDad we left early at a show I really wanted to see but couldn't endure because of the total over-the-top sound.
 
Anybody ever seen Sunn O))) ? I imagine they are super loud, not in an ear shattering way; more like in a bone shattering way.

I saw them play with Lair of the Minotaur in a closet here in C-bus, and that is the perfect description of the show...perfect. Some might even say soul shattering

The loudest show I remember - in a "bad sound" way - was when I saw Caustic Christ open up for The Subhumans in a cement cave called The Basement here in town. That show was obnoxious loud...but it is punk. It was plug in the busted amps, bash the drums and GO sound....AWESOME!!! I am not complaining.

I hate the recent - meaning since the early 2000's - thing where at large shows, they have to pump all this fake bass and reverb into the sound spectrum. The only times I have ever been in a venue that holds more than 500 people in the past 20 years was for The Police reunion tour, and Rush.....and I HATED the sound at all of those shows because of the fake bass. I went, because when your idols are in town, you go to the altar and worship, but I would have liked to have actually heard the real bass drum, and bass guitar sounds...
 
Probably a tie:

1. Blue Oyster Cult / Aerosmith 1975 at Indiana Uniersity. BOC opened the show and was painfully loud. when Aerosmith came on Steve Tyler asked the crowd if they wanted it louder. You already know the respinse.

2. Ted Nugent, 1977. He was originally slated to play the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, but there was a scheduling conflict at the last minute, and they booked Terrible Ted at a 2500-seat theater. You would think that they would scale down the PA, but you would be wrong.
 
Ronnie James Dio. 1984. Lakeland Civic Center. SOOOO Loud. That plus as I sat in the upper level, I came home unintentionally stoned as hell.

The next morning (Sunday) I played tennis with a buddy and couldn't hear the ball hitting the ground right in front of me. Took about three days for my hearing to get back to normal.

Pete
 
Foghat, 1978 in Milwaukee. Stupidly loud. Lost some hearing at that one for sure. For the last 10 years or so, I wear hearing protection at every single concert and gig. Wished I had started doing this decades earlier.


I should have done the ear protector thing myself. Saw Foghat in 1986 at the Eddie Graham Theater in Orlando. As they were opening for Steppenwolf, they were the second loudest act on the bill. Great concert, though.

I've been to Laughlin during their biker weekends but dang, I'm pretty sure everyone except me and my buddy came to that Foghat concert riding a Harley. Most bikers I've EVER seen in one place.

Pete
 
Kiss 1984, Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie NY.
Mike B
 
I have extreme sensitivity to loud noises, especially unexpected loud noises. I would start choking people within a few minutes if I had to be in one of those loud concerts.
 
I have extreme sensitivity to loud noises, especially unexpected loud noises. I would start choking people within a few minutes if I had to be in one of those loud concerts.

that is the way I always felt about pot and cigarettes...I wanted to choke everyone in the stadium/club/house/bar/festival/ etc....
 
that is the way I always felt about pot and cigarettes...I wanted to choke everyone in the stadium/club/house/bar/festival/ etc....

I grew up in the 2nd-most-tobacco-producing county in the USA....and I have always HATED the smell of tobacco smoke. Pot is not as big of a deal to me. But I honestly feel like I’m being provoked to fight someone sometimes, when I unexpectedly smell tobacco smoke. It depends on the context. But it’s always at least slightly irritating.
 
I grew up in the 2nd-most-tobacco-producing county in the USA....and I have always HATED the smell of tobacco smoke. Pot is not as big of a deal to me. But I honestly feel like I’m being provoked to fight someone sometimes, when I unexpectedly smell tobacco smoke. It depends on the context. But it’s always at least slightly irritating.

my wife is the exact same way...she is almost militant Straight Edge....

I am the same way, but I actually lived through the douchebaggery of militant Straight Edge, and want no part of that on my rep. I will stick with normal sXe
 
Fugazi at Barrymore's in Ottawa, I think it was 1998. Goddamn loud. I shoved toilet paper in my ears. Great show though
 
Hey, I was in a band nobody's heard of with Joe Lally from Fugazi. We weren't very loud..

The loudest show I've seen was Motörhead at The Bayou in D.C. in the late 1980's. At the time, it was probably the loudest P.A. system in the world.
 
Hey, I was in a band nobody's heard of with Joe Lally from Fugazi. We weren't very loud..

The loudest show I've seen was Motörhead at The Bayou in D.C. in the late 1980's. At the time, it was probably the loudest P.A. system in the world.

who was it?
 
Fugazi at Barrymore's in Ottawa, I think it was 1998. Goddamn loud. I shoved toilet paper in my ears. Great show though

Cool. I played Barrymore's back in '98 or '99. That night will remain a highlight to me always.

As for the original question; I've seen Judas Priest in Ottawa twice, once in the 80's and again on their most recent tour. Painfully loud both times. My hearing has never recovered from that first show.
 
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