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Loudest gigs you've been to


JJTee

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I've seen Motörhead a lot of times starting in the 80's and until I saw PIL in the early 80's I thought they were the loudest band ever.

I was almost totally deaf for a few hours after PIL in Deinze in 1983 or 1984.

Then I saw Faith No More in the 90's, dead loud.

And then Magma a few times in the late 90's in small venues and they were louder than loud especially their only date in Luxembourg, which was even louder than Dinosaur Jr.

Magma was so loud that the dB meter at the bar, at the other end of the venue, was always clipping at 120 dB !

Now there are strict restrictions concerning power at venues over here in Europe and that's a good thing.

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brixton academy always seemed a little too loud, after the dead weather gig in 2009 I thought I damaged my hearing permanently (fortunately not, or so I think...), I answered the phone a lot back then at work and could barely hear what people said , shouting back, for at least three days

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I went to see Placebo at the O2 Academy in Birmingham 5 or 6 years ago.

It was painfully loud.

I saw a lot of the big heavy metal bands of the 80s and 90s back in the day and it was pretty normal for my ears to ring for a couple of days after those shows, but this was louder than anything I've previously experienced.

I stayed to the end because the friend I went with is a massive fan, if I'd been with anyone else I would have left.

That was the gig that made me decide I was going to start taking ear plugs to live shows.

Edited by Cato
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Good loud. Motorhead in 1980 at Newcastle City Hall on the recording for NSTH

Bad Loud. Motorhead at Brixton Academy 2005. Some anniversary gig (30 year?). Lemmy's bass had lost all semblance of melody and was just a treble attack. Had a few guests tho.. Fast Eddie and Brian May for Overkill, so not all bad

Plain Loud. Swans at Newcastle Riverside. Can't remember the date, but the PA was huge.. Girls outside crying it was so loud

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20 hours ago, meterman said:

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.

There's a wedding DJ in the North West (can't remember his name, but I'd know him if I saw him...and I'd groan) who we've been paired with a few times on agency gigs, and he brings 4x15 full range speakers with him (big old 3ft x 2ft x 2ft cabs...he stacks them) and seems to take it as a personal mission to be louder than the band every time. When we play as a trio, we're in-ears, triggered kit and using 2 x RCF 12s with a 12 sub, so we can go from very quiet to loud enough (we can bring more for bigger rooms, but generally people like this)...then this twonk kicks in with 120db of distorted bass and fizzy mush...and that's for Lionel Ritchie... He's a complete weapon. Oh, and he brings his missus to sit there with him, a la Yoko Ono. He's in his 50s...

TL:DR Wedding DJs can be Too Loud, too... 

Edited by Muzz
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As someone who's worked with a few bands over the years, from a dj perspective, if I've been in the venue

whilst the band is playing, I've lost an amount of aural sensitivity and, have, on occasions put too much

grunt through the system - easy to do if you ain't watching the  control settings !

😎

 

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Loudest gig I’ve been at- The Black Crowes, Wolverhampton Civic, 95. Guitars had 3 matchless stacks each. 
Loudest gig I’ve been involved with? I was involved in this world record attempt, the most people playing the same tune for as long as possible. I was 13, it was at Hereford leisure centre and every guitarist crawled out from under their rock with their boogie 22s, Marshalls etc, rolled everything to the right and went for it for 45 minutes. Horrible experience.

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On 23/02/2021 at 21:06, Sparky Mark said:

1979 - Gillan at The Kingdom Hall, Brunel University. John McCoy convinced me (and my internal organs) there and then bass was the way to go and he never seems to age! A wall of Marshall cabs crazy loud! (Some even had speakers in them I reckon).

2013 - The Subways at The Square, Harlow. Small venue at ear splitting volume. Rock & Roll Queen is brill. 

A mate of mine went to see Gillan at Hull City Hall, possibly on the same tour, and it nearly killed him. After the gig (which he said was just stupid loud) he came out of the venue and promptly walked in front of a bus, which he hadn’t heard due to his hearing being so affected. Took weeks to return apparently.

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On 24/02/2021 at 22:10, SteveXFR said:

Dinosaur o JR are definitely near top of the list of bands I need to see live. 

I love Dinosaur JR and seen them a couple of times at different venues but I will never see them again indoors.  I feel fortunate to have come out with my hearing intact, think there are thousands of people out there with permanent ringing due to Joe Mascis.  I love my music loud but he was totally ridiculous.

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I've just remembered a very unlikely candidate for this thread - The Strawbs. A band I played drums for (don't judge me...) supported them at the Robin II in beautiful, downtown Bilston, a few years ago. From what I gather, we seemed to be mixed to an appropriate volume for the room, but apparently no-one had told the Strawb's sound engineer that they weren't playing Wembley Arena. It was horrendous. A distorted, potentially life threatening tangle of noise. I packed my gear away and sat in my car in the car park across the road. Unbelievably, it was still too loud there, too.

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2 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

My Bloody Valentine at Bestival 2008, the field was shaking.

The (free) beer in my gut was re fizzing.

 

I’ve met Kevin Shields from MBV and J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr too, and they are both super laid back, mellow, unassuming dudes. Totally didn’t mind chatting with the me about gear, old records, back-of-a-transit-van touring, etc, and I’m sure they had plenty of other things they could have been doing with their time. Really sweet guys. 
 

But then you see / hear / wear earplugs etc to see them live and it’s a different story altogether. Horrible, painful loudness! 😂 Never ever again!!!

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Nazareth at Perth 2003. So loud i had to leave along with a full hall leaving a few rows at front centre stage that couldn't hear the full blast of the PA. The annoying part was the band sounded great from the lounge area.

It was at a HARLEY davidson bike rally.

There were a few i remember leaving Glasgow Apollo with ringing in my ears but i'm guessing at who they might have been. Thin Lizzy, UFO, Whitesnake, The Firm, ?

Might have been Rush but don't recall feeling uncomfortable at their gigs.

Dave 

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  • 2 months later...

UFO at Birmingham Odeon in the 80’s. 
they stopped the gig and made them turn down due to the plaster starting to shake off the ceiling. 
Although we always went home on the bus from there with our ears ringing after a rock gig. 

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