Van Halen on the 2004 tour at Freedom Hall in Louisville. So loud it was distorted and my ears were shot early in the show.

Allman Brothers At The Gorge in George, Washington summer of 1997

so loud I we didn't enjoy it

should have walked out

Jack Pearson was in the band and I've always understood why he left.

[Edited on 5/24/2017 by DeadMallard]

The Ramones at the Hollywood Paladium. We walked out. Couldn't take it anymore.

No contest.
Lynyrd Skynyrd.
1974. Academy of Music NYC 14th St.
3rd row center.
I recall Ronnie saying "We're gonna play it just like Duane and Berry played it in NYC".
Then all hell broke loose.
The band was taking turns swigging from bottles of Jack that were sitting on the amps.
They showed no mercy.
I couldn'.t hear for three days after.

In college at Illinois State -

ZZTop (couldn't hear out of one ear for 2 days......)

Deep Purple/Nazareth - right after Blackmore left - only concert I have been to where people left half way through - was so loud and distorted we didn't know they were playing Smoke on the Water.......

Recent -

Mule/Jackie Greene at the Vic - was so loud upstairs a lot of people left - it was painful. Went downstairs and it wasn't as bad - Joe Bonamassa sat in for Trying to Break Up Somebody's Home.....

I sat in 3rd row for The Who at Giants Stadium in 1989 and we left after the fourth song as it was unbearable.

Cheap Trick - a few years back at Paramount Theatre in Huntington, NY. Terribly distorted and painfully loud. Had to leave it was so bad/loud. Still like Cheap Trick, but don't like their sound man!!

[Edited on 5/24/2017 by mikesolo]

Thin Lizzy at the Tower in 76 or 77.

Hot Tuna Electric - Academy of Music 1974 - split my skull. Ears rang for days.

The Who - Seattle Kingdome 1982 - dazed couldn't find car, ended up hanging out with some Canadians

The Meat Puppets - Mason Jar, Phoenix 1991 - Could feel the air moving

Satchal - The Wall Street Bar, Murfreesboro TN 2004 - Local Murfreesboro group. Awful. No ear damage because I fled in five minutes as my eardrums began to implode.

Hey Brer,
I think I was at that show with you. I remember Hot Tuna was very loud.

The Black Crowes

Deep Purple

But, no one comes close to seeing Stanley Clarke in a club/bar. Absolute pure decibilic pain.

Motorhead -(96?) Ears rang for a week.. I guess getting a concussion didnt help

Dickey - Every time ive seen him.

Stevie Ray Vaughan, U Cal San Diego gym 1985...of course I may have been in a bad spot too being so close to the speakers.....

The Who@ New Haven coliseum dec 1979

.... but a fantastic recording came out of that show:
The Who
1979-12-15
New Haven Veteran's Memorial Coliseum

Source: Audience

Lineage: Master Cassette>Nakamichi 670 azimuth-adjusted playback deck>Nakamichi outboard Dolby B>Wavelab 96/24 1ch mono>
Taping Gear: Teac M-100>Sony 153SD (mono, Dobly B on)
Taped and transferred by JEMS

All of them before I realized I should maybe wear ear plugs, which by the way was way too late.

Strictly due to proximity to the wall of speakers: 3rd or 4th row for an AC/DC show, '79 or so, thought we were doing great being that close, unfortunately it was off to the side of the stage, directly in front of the wall of speakers.

For any of you who don't have ear issues yet, wear ear plugs !

I have some from this company, very reasonably priced, do it, now ! https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/hearing-protection.html

Living Colour around 1994 or 95 at The Moon in Tallahassee. A lot of times the 'loudness' of a band is where in the room you are located, but Living Colour was just loud. The entire venue. As someone earlier described it, you could feel the air move. And the bass and drums felt like you were being kicked in the stomach.

Vince Neil solo band opened for Van Halen around 1992. Had front row seats at Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta, and Vince Neil was overbearingly loud (and overbearing). But I was right in front of Steve Stevens and think I was more in the line of fire. Van Halen, surprisingly, wasn't nearly as loud.

Some ARU shows in the 90s were brutally loud. But again, I was often in the line of fire as I liked to be as close to stage as possible for them and they were playing lots of clubs then. The volume knobs on Jimmy's Marshalls are stuck on 10. Perhaps 11. So standing in front of him wasn't always the smartest idea for future long-term hearing.

[Edited on 5/24/2017 by Zambi]

That would be Dickey Betts and GS at Jaxx's in Springfield, VA.

Damn loud and damn good.

The occasion of pulling a double header, miss enigmajean, mr. john ott, and myself: Mule in DC on Pennylvania Ave. then hop on the train to john's car over to the Betts gig.

Great night.

About 2 or 3 years ago I started wearing ear plugs to concerts. That would make me 37 or 38 at the time and I realized that my hearing had really started to drop off from all of the shows and I needed to do something to preserve them.

Dickey and Warren ABB probably. Seats were it also, by the big stacks, by the front. Like someone said, feel the air move. I remember later in the show Nobody Knows twin guitars going off, and it felt like a survival test... twin chain saws trying to slice my head in half.... I see why espionage used db torture interrogation....

Grinderswitch-1975-opened in MSG for ABB.
Sonny Landreth-opened for Mule at Beacon-just shrill sounding.
The Replacements-opened for Keef-walked out & happily returned for a superb Keef & The Winos show.
ABB-1979(?)-terrible show-so loud we left...
The Raconteurs-deaf for 2 days.

Smashing Pumpkins. Infinite Sadness tour MSG. I swear that was the beginning of the end of my hearing.

Absolutely the loudest - Grand Funk Railroad

Several Dickey shows - love his bands, but wow...do they play with volume way loud.

That would be Dickey Betts and GS at Jaxx's in Springfield, VA.

Damn loud and damn good.

The occasion of pulling a double header, miss enigmajean, mr. john ott, and myself: Mule in DC on Pennylvania Ave. then hop on the train to john's car over to the Betts gig.

Great night.

I was already at the Dickey Betts show when you all showed up.....
Loud - but not as loud as a Dickey Betts show in Dewey Beach, DE
I made the mistake of standing right at the stage for the first set with no ear protection. At the set break I went outside and heard this loud buzzing everywhere. At first I thought the transformers on the telephone poles were going bad or something, then i realized it was my ears going bad.

I also remember around those years that Dan Toler would try to get the folks up front to wear ear plugs....

ELP Brain Salad Surgery tour - in quad. The show ended with a single note moving from speaker to speaker (imagine a circle of sound) that kept getting faster and faster then culminating with a loud explosion/flash. I saw several people fall down from the dizziness that it caused.

ABB - "five band band" era. Atlanta (old sports arena building). They were VERY loud back then!

A show I didn't attend: Van Halen (probably about 1984 or so). A guy told me he had to go to the hospital because the bass/percussion knocked his heartbeat out of rhythm.

Black Sabbath Heaven & Hell Tour...

Dickey & GS 2004 or 05... in Cincinnati. The marshall's were barking that night.

quote:

quote:The Who@ New Haven coliseum dec 1979

.... but a fantastic recording came out of that show:
The Who
1979-12-15
New Haven Veteran's Memorial Coliseum

Source: Audience

Lineage: Master Cassette>Nakamichi 670 azimuth-adjusted playback deck>Nakamichi outboard Dolby B>Wavelab 96/24 1ch mono>
Taping Gear: Teac M-100>Sony 153SD (mono, Dobly B on)
Taped and transferred by JEMS

Wow, id love to hear that one again!

PM me your addy and I'll send it to you

Kiss 1977 (my first show)
AC/DC 1980 (I had a tooth pulled out earlier that day, I thought the rest of them would fall off from the volume)
Motley Crue (my clothes were flapping!!! A lady behind me lent me ear plugs thank god!)

I was in the 7th row for TTB at the Beacon 2 - 3 years ago. Had to leave as it made me physically ill (the loudness)

I'll add to my list Gov't Mule at the 40 Watt club in Athens in April 1998. It was the after-show for the WSP "Panic in the Streets" free concert, and I couldn't believe how loud a trio could be. Great show too at a 500-seat club.

I also remember Driving & Crying being incredibly loud at the 2001 Christmas Jam. Could've been my seat location though, but it was a teeth-rattler.

I bought professional musicians earplugs after that, maybe in 2002 after seeing EasyMichael at an ABB show somewhere - maybe Charlotte or Raleighwood - and he highly recommended them. Best $100 (?) I've ever spent. I really wish I had done that 10 years earlier and saved my hearing. The professional plugs lower the decibels fairly equally across the frequency range so the show is more listenable and balanced, as compared to throwaway foam plugs that cut out the high-end making the concert sound bassy and boomy. Well worth a call to the local audiologist for a price quote.

Led Zeppelin, Nassau Coliseum 1975
Johnny Winter, Calderone Concert Hall, 1975 (5th row)

my ears rang for weeks

I now have Etymotic ear plugs I bring with me to shows, use them as needed