JJTee Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Following on from the 'Gigs you've left' thread, I thought we could share our experiences of the loudest gigs we've endured (or left). My contenders are: Megadeth, circa 1991, Rust in Peace tour, Hammersmith Odeon. Absolutely deafening; ringing ears for at least 3 days. Way, way too loud - but I was 16 and didn't know any better, so we stayed irrespective. Just unpleasant, so much high end. Prodigy, 1997, Brighton Centre, Fat of the Land tour. When the bass dropped in at the start of Smack my B*tch up, I could literally feel my eyeballs vibrating and was genuinely concerned. It was just a physical, pounding wall of bass. Me and my mates just stared at each other in disbelief! Notting Hill Carnval. Not a gig asuch, but if you want serious bass, then standing next to some of the floats with kilowatts of amps and loaded with subs is an experience to behold. I also remember squeezing through a crowd at the focussed epicentre of three huge stacks of speakers, that was the Aba Shanti dub/roots sound system. An all-enveloping world of bass that has only been matched by the Prodigy. Anyone else got any notable experiences, good or bad? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Sleep in the Button Factory in Dublin, around 2012ish. Stupidly loud. I had good ear plugs and, if I hadn't, I would have left. There's rock 'n' roll level and then there's permanent hearing loss level and Sleep were wafting in the latter. I was amazed by how many people were there without hearing protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 LOUD - Motorhead @ Hammersmith, several times... quiet - Sylvian & Fripp @ Albert Hall, could here a pin drop.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Lamb Of God, who were supporting Heaven and Hell. A few years back, might have been Wembley, can't remember. A huge wall of noise, I went outside in the corridor until H&H came on. The one and only time I have seen Ronnie Dio live, what a character he was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 James Brown 'warm up' music at the Barbican I had the distinct impression that the sound system was being pushed past twelve by some spotty, funk music hating, child. 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Motorhead at the ABC cinema in Chester when I were nobbut a lad... Swans at the Mean Fiddler (wot a bleedin racket!) Barf Roco in our living room in a housing co-op place in Vincent Square, Pimlico. In hindsight, 10kw PA with full backline and miced drums was a touch overkill in a 5x8m room... Riot police turned up, and somehow either Jimbob or Fruitbat (can't remember which!) from CarterUSM broke their arm falling down the stairs. Happy days! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 The Black Crowes at Riverside Club in Newcastle around 1990. Unbearable. And I've seen a lot of loud bands. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Ozzy at The Leas Cliffe hall, circa 1988/89. Zak Wilde on guitar. It was too loud, even in the bar. Shame really as I was interested in seeing Zak play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Motorhead , Birmingham Odeon , 1982. So loud that I slept through the alarm and missed my paper round the next morning. They came on, played the songs and left, it felt a bit odd. Tensions in the band must have been high , Fast eddied had left a month later. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christhammer666 Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 airbourne - sheperds bush empire. was up in the third circle they had a wall of marshalls and every single one was on angelcorpse - Camden underworld wall of death metallic bliss but had serious hearing problems for days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Strapps, at The Marquee (when it was on Wardour Street), 1976. The glory days of Marshall 8x12 stacks in a club slightly larger than a double garage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strapps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Oddly it's not the ones you'd expect that I've found the loudest. Fun Lovin' Criminals have been ear bleeding loud every time I've seen them. Likewise Carter USM usually reassembled my insides, but I did used to spend most of the gigs upside down with my feet in the air. Sultans of Ping made up for ability with volume (and gold spandex). The loudest I think though were the Manics when they were still a four piece touring Generation Terrorists, in a small hall with stage about a foot high. Ah, fun times. What? Fun times. Eh? FUN TI.... oh never mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Motorhead, De Montfort Hall, sometime mid-2000s. I wore earplugs but by the time they got to Ace of Spades, I wanted to hear it in full effect. I took the earplugs out but lasted about 20 seconds. Savagely loud. Various death metal bands in the cellar venue of the old Coach House pub in Swansea throughout the early 1990s. It was the days of white puffy trainers, black drainpipe jeans and Marshall stacks, which is perfect for gigging in a tiny, low roofed cellar bar with bare stone walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JottoSW1 Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 38 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said: Motorhead at the ABC cinema in Chester when I were nobbut a lad... Swans at the Mean Fiddler (wot a bleedin racket!) Barf Roco in our living room in a housing co-op place in Vincent Square, Pimlico. In hindsight, 10kw PA with full backline and miced drums was a touch overkill in a 5x8m room... Riot police turned up, and somehow either Jimbob or Fruitbat (can't remember which!) from CarterUSM broke their arm falling down the stairs. Happy days! Live just down the road from Vincent Sq in Great Peter St. Probably heard you. 🤣🤣 If you knew Carter USM I guess you remember John Beast.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 (edited) The spice girls 😁, no Motörhead, it was awful Edited February 23, 2021 by Reggaebass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 The Georgia Satellites at Rock City in Nottingham in '87. Flaming Lips at The Foundry, Birmingham in '96. My hearing never recovered from the Satellites gig, and just to mock me, Dan Baird released a solo album a few years later called "Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 (edited) 25 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said: Various death metal bands in the cellar venue of the old Coach House pub in Swansea throughout the early 1990s. It was the days of white puffy trainers, black drainpipe jeans and Marshall stacks, which is perfect for gigging in a tiny, low roofed cellar bar with bare stone walls. My old band played there with local louts Acrimony. Loud gigs: Probably too many to mention. Usually in tiny venues with massive PA's & amps. Edited February 23, 2021 by Skybone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JottoSW1 Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 (edited) Michael Schenker Group (Assault Attack Tour) Hammersmith Odeon. Ears zinging for days. My Bloody Valentine. Roundhouse. Don't know why I went only liked one Song. They were dishing out earplugs at the door. Took them out experimentally and started tasting earwax at the back of my throat. Pendulum - Brixton Academy. Pulverising and would have enjoyed it more sans the irksome Aussie MC. EDIT. Nine Inch Nails at the Royal Albert Hall a couple of years ago. Going to see Meshuggah at same venue next year, expect that'll be a contender too 😂🤣 Edited February 23, 2021 by JottoSW1 Added NIN & Meshuggah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el borracho Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Kiss at Newcastle City Hall in 1983. I was actually in pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbiscuits Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 12 minutes ago, Skybone said: My old band played there with local louts Acrimony. Loud gigs: Probably too many to mention. Usually in tiny venues with massive PA's & amps. My band played there a few times around 1991/92 and I didn't half sweat in my cowboy boots.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DylanB Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Velvet Revolver at Brixton were so loud I couldn’t tell which key some of the songs were in. Just noise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 A couple that were painfully loud, as opposed to just leaving my ears ringing for a day or two afterwards (pretty standard for any heavy metal gig in the '80's & '90's) Super Furry Animals at Guildford Civic - couldn't tell you what tour or exactly how long ago, but something like 15-20 years. It was unpleasantly loud throughout the gig, and towards the end the volume slider got pushed even higher. Seemed to be some sort of attempt to make a psychedelic swirling maelstrom of sound. Completely failed. People were genuinely hiding behind columns - the worst view in the place suddenly became the best place to be. I stuck it out, but they'd cleared out half the punters by the end. Airborne at the Hammersmith Odeon/Apollo/whatever - must have been 2009 as it was the No Guts No Glory tour. We'd all seen them at the Astoria on the previous tour and loved them, but at Hammersmith a few months later it was just way too loud to be enjoyable. It seemed to be macho posturing - you like metal so just see how loud we can go! Really put me off them...as did the album they were promoting, a step down from their debut. Never really been that fussed about them since Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odysseus Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Motorhead at Plymouth Pavilions a few years back. Jesus that was loud.... and I had plugs in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 (edited) Tony Williams Lifetime at the Marquee, with Jack Bruce on bass. I got there early to get one of the seats at the front. That wasn't a good move. They all had Marshall 200 watt stacks and used every last watt. It took 3 days for my hearing to recover. Since then, one of the loudest experiences, after Santa Pod, was seeing the Saints in NOLA a couple of years ago. The sound system must have been on 21. It was painful and I spent the whole match with my fingers in my ears! Edited February 23, 2021 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 MOTORHEAD AT HAMMERSMITH ODEON, JUNE 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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