Loudest gigs you've been to

[Strawbs664]

Has anyone mentioned UFO yet? Southampton Gaumont 1985. I was 14, had seen Maiden & Kiss in the last year or two, so knew what to expect, but UFO took things to a new level. Still remember it as being fairly clear though with little distortion just mind numbingly loud. At 14, I loved it!

[BigRedX]

And thinking some more on the subject the other massively loud gig I have been to, was one a band I was in played.

In the late 90s we'd been booked as support to a minor indie band (whose name escapes me) at the Coventry Student's Union Christmas Party in the newly finished Union Building. We'd arrived late to find the headliners already set up and sound checking. The wave of sound hit me in the chest as I can through the doors into the room where they were playing and I had to retreat back outside until they had finished it was so loud.

Because of the design of the venue, on stage the sound was completely disconnected from the FoH, so if you couldn't hear something in the foldback, your couldn't hear it all on the stage. I have no idea if my band were as painfully loud as the headliners were during the soundcheck, but AFAICS the most of the audience had left to check out the entertainment in the other rooms in the venue, and those that were left were stood a long way back from the stage.

[meterman]

I remember Acid Mothers Temple being painfully loud, at Tmesis in Manchester, early 2000’s. They were also hopelessly rubbish which didn’t help. I went outside after 20 minutes and could still hear them above the traffic noise. I’d rammed my earplugs so far down my ears, one of them had got stuck and my mate had to try and get it out by using a house key, then a biro pen top, etc. Folks in the street thought we were a performance art duo and we drew quite a crowd, until eventually a very kind passing lady offered us a pair of tweezers from her bag which did the job 👍

Can attest to Notting Hill Carnival being crazy loud too. I used to live in a road in the middle of it, with a sound system about 20 metres away and another on the corner where our road joined Kensington Park road. The bass from both was oppressive even indoors with the windows closed 😂 Have played live at Carnival too, and it’s not much easier onstage either. But above all else, it’s the whistles that get you. Thousands and thousands of whistles. Tinnitus for dayssss...

[JJTee]

22 minutes ago, meterman said:

I remember Acid Mothers Temple being painfully loud, at Tmesis in Manchester, early 2000’s. They were also hopelessly rubbish which didn’t help. I went outside after 20 minutes and could still hear them above the traffic noise. I’d rammed my earplugs so far down my ears, one of them had got stuck and my mate had to try and get it out by using a house key, then a biro pen top, etc. Folks in the street thought we were a performance art duo and we drew quite a crowd, until eventually a very kind passing lady offered us a pair of tweezers from her bag which did the job 👍

Can attest to Notting Hill Carnival being crazy loud too. I used to live in a road in the middle of it, with a sound system about 20 metres away and another on the corner where our road joined Kensington Park road. The bass from both was oppressive even indoors with the windows closed 😂 Have played live at Carnival too, and it’s not much easier onstage either. But above all else, it’s the whistles that get you. Thousands and thousands of whistles. Tinnitus for dayssss...

The thing with NH Carnival is the context. Utterly skull crushing, organ rearranging  levels of bass 5 metres from someone’s living room window! 

[meterman]

14 minutes ago, JJTee said:

The thing with NH Carnival is the context. Utterly skull crushing, organ rearranging  levels of bass 5 metres from someone’s living room window! 

Spot on. It’s hard to describe it to folks who haven’t lived in amongst it just how crazy it is for the two and a half days it’s on.

Our last carnival was in 2018 and we’d moved up to Notting Hill Gate by then so the sound systems were just a distant rumble. But the whistles were as loud as ever. I can still hear them now, from France. Or maybe it’s just tinnitus 😂

[LeftyJ]

Vanden Plas at Bospop in 2000 or 2001. They played a fairly small tent, and it was wickedly, painfully loud! The ringing in my ears lasted for 3 days. I didn't stick around for the entire set. 

[Rich]

6 hours ago, bartelby said:

I saw Dinosaur Jr a few years back* in a tiny venue in Bristol, I started the gig about 6' in front of J's stacks (a Hiwatt and 2 Marshalls, each going through 2 4x12"s, his monitor was a Fender Twin at pretty much, his, ear level). After a song or two I went to the back and sat on a shelf. 

*it was 2013 too, according to the date I uploaded the video I shot:

 

Looks a lot like the Fiddlers..? Love playing there.

[bartelby]

6 minutes ago, Rich said:

Looks a lot like the Fiddlers..? Love playing there.

Spot on.

[jazzburger]

On 23/02/2021 at 14:26, JJTee said:

Anyone else got any notable experiences, good or bad?

Loudest live gig - Thin Lizzy's last gig at the Hammersmith Odeon in the mid-80's. I was in the first 5 rows somewhere and when they had 5 guitarists on stage at the same time, it was painful. I had pronounced ringing in my ears for about 3 days and I've lived with tinnitus every day since.

Loudest DJ gig - DJ Cheese at Brands Hatch banqueting suite - again the mid-80's. Low ceilings and nowhere to get away from whatever his PA was pumping out. I was so shattered I can't really remember driving home to West London.

I was phenomenally stupid in the 80's.

[fingers211]

Loudest gig ; AC/DC - 31st October 1978 Edinburgh Odeon.....deaf for 3 days whilst in Rosyth with RN...they thought I was just being a smart derrière, but I couldn't hear a thing !!

Motorhead 1980 Portmsmouth Guildhall was just a loud mess....!!

Edited February 24, 2021 by fingers211

[Dapper Bandit]

Supported Conan a few years back. They were punishingly, unpleasantly loud. Bassist ran two full stacks, guitar ran 4 full stacks. Their first note pretty much cleared the shelves behind the bar! As braggadocio, it worked splendidly but this was a small bar. Couldn't differentiate between notes and the only hint of rhythm came from the triggered kicks being pumped through the PA at top volume. Must have been in the region of 120db+ in what was essentially a village pub. Not fun.

I also saw Motorhead once and they were obviously very loud.

[MB1]

17 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

Listened to a whole Springsteen gig once at old Trafford, was ace.

I was 3 miles away in my garden.

“You can’t even get a bit of peace and quiet in your own bloody garden these days!”

[MB1]

Ted Nugent at The Free Trade Hall for The Cat Scratch Fever tour..................LOUD!

Sounds/NME reported

“If world war 3 had started outside...nobody in the Free Trade Hall would have known!”

[Bolo]

21 hours ago, casapete said:

I had severe ringing in my ears for two weeks afterwards, thought it had done irreparable damage TBH

Even though the ringing often fades, the damage is real and irreparable.

[jazzburger]

2 minutes ago, Bolo said:

Even though the ringing often fades, the damage is real and irreparable.

I'm afraid that's true. I had a health check maybe 12 years ago and they found 40% hearing loss in my left ear - that's the one where the tinnitus drives me nuts at night. If I'd known back then what I know now...

Edited February 24, 2021 by jazzburger
typo

[Monkey Steve]

oh, I forgot one that I was involved in!

A mate of a mate who is something dull in the music biz (like, accounts) was leaving his job for pastures greener, and was thinking about setting up as a promoter/manager/whatever as a sideline.  He thought he had all the contacts, but he certainly had none of the experience, so I was roped in to help him set up a gig in a pub in London, on the promise that two of my bands could play (for one it was a good opportunity for a laugh, and for the other it was an early gig, in London no less) and we added a third band which had members from both of mine.  In practice I ended up doing all the technical stuff and was effectively running the gig

A fourth band was then added to the bill, a lad from the organiser's office was in a band and they have never played a gig, so could they open?  Fine, they can have half an hour and need to be there on time for the soundcheck.

The other bands all soundcheck, the sound guy who has come with the PA does a good job, it's all running well. Then the openers arrive.  Late.  Despite having been told just to bring instruments and breakables, and that they will use everybody else's amps (mostly mine as i was playing bass in one band and guitar in another) and would get a line check, they insisted on playing through their own gear.  They then insisted on turning everything to ten to get "their sound".  And they insisted on playing three songs, in full, for their soundcheck.  I made the point that their set was finishing on time regardless of when they started so they were only wasting their own set by insisting on playing more than what was needed for the soundcheck. Kids just won't listen.  Sadly they turned out to be more rockstar attitude than actual rockstars.

The gig was in a smallish cellar bar, so I left the soundman to it and went up to the main pub for a beer.

I came back down five or ten minutes into their set, and it was unbearably loud.  I looked at the soundman who shrugged and explained that only the vocals were coming through the PA so there was nothing he could do about it.  He'd told them, but they wouldn't listen.

I watched as a steady stream of people came in, winced, and left, and other than a small, dedicated table of WAGs the venue was empty.  Quite a feat given that the organiser was charging a tenner a ticket and it was sold out (and in the end they didn't bother checking tickets so it was rammed to way over capacity when the other bands played)

[meterman]

Has anyone else played a gig, and when you come offstage the sound guy or DJ starts playing music that seems 10x louder than your set was? Like, crazily loud?
Is it the venues way of getting artists out of building ASAP? Often wondered about this when playing club gigs.

[MacDaddy]

 

The Exploited - F**k Reading 1994.

Motorhead - supporting Alice Cooper, Wembley Arena 2007.

[Sandypjb]

Dave Lee Roth on the ‘A little ain’t Enough’ tour at Whitley Bay Ice Rink back in 1991. Stupidity loud - Just a wall of distortion so really not enjoyable. Some other band played there a while later and managed to take half the ceiling tiles down with a few air cannons 😜

[funkypenguin]

Meshuggah - Manchester Academy 2013. The loudest and most aggressive gig ive ever been to!

Ben

[Bassybert]

Saw Oasis at the Exeter Westpoint on their Be Here Now tour in 97 I think. It was by far the loudest gig I’ve ever been to, like proper ear splitting - had ringing in my ears for days. Seen them a few times and they’ve always been a proper loud band. 
 

Saw Senser sometime in 95 and was in the mosh pit for most of the gig. That was proper loud but definitely in the top 3 gigs I’ve been to just insane. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Bassybert

[JottoSW1]

14 minutes ago, funkypenguin said:

Meshuggah - Manchester Academy 2013. The loudest and most aggressive gig ive ever been to!

Ben

Am looking forward to Albert Hall next year! Never seen them live and hope that Fredrik Thordendahl will be there. Something about this Band. Most of the imitators fall short or sound like parodies of themselves. Helps that they're all ace musicians.

[funkypenguin]

1 hour ago, JottoSW1 said:

Am looking forward to Albert Hall next year! Never seen them live and hope that Fredrik Thordendahl will be there. Something about this Band. Most of the imitators fall short or sound like parodies of themselves. Helps that they're all ace musicians.

Yeah, between Thomas Haake's kick drums and Thorendal's right hand it was one of the most brutal gigs I've ever seen! 

[SteveXFR]

Has anyone mentioned Motorhead yet? 

[BreadBin]

1 minute ago, SteveXFR said:

Has anyone mentioned Motorhead yet? 

Pardon?

🤭

Edited February 24, 2021 by BreadBin