My Bloody Valentine in Seattle last night. I've seen 100's of shows & the finale of "You Made Me Realize" complete with "Holocaust" section was the loudest music I've ever heard. 15 minutes of what must be like standing next to a jet engine. The building was shaking. Awesome. People were standing around dumbfounded. I was wearing good ear plugs & my ears are still ringing. Their music is oddly beautiful. A fine show. Go see them if you can but wear plugs!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-24 16:26 by bv.

Ha ha - I can well believe it. I saw them in London on the same bill as Jesus & Mary Chain, Blur and Dinosaur Jnr and they were so loud that the chain in my pockets was jangling.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-22 15:08 by Silver Dagger.

Lou Reed's "Heavy Metal Machine"- LIVE - a couple of years ago was pretty loud, as well as disharmonic, too

I must have been visiting more than 1000 rockshows and one I still remember as fuckingg loud keeping my ears ringing for weeks was Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel in Stockholm Concert House, let's say 1975 (can't really remember if Steve's big hit 'Make me Smile' were released then)...

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That's quite a bill! Dinosaur Jr has hurt me before. That magic Strat tone. Like all of those bands. One show with JAMC I saw, they had so much dry ice smoke that you couldn't see the band for the whole set. MBV had been on the wish list for a long time. Glad I went but work is going to be no picnic today!

The loudest show for me were Oasis live in Frankfurt in 1997. They were completely coked up, the volume level was insane. If I had not brought earplugs I would have had to leave the venue. In the middle of the show Noel's amp boke down and the mainly english audience got aggressive. I saw them again in 2002 and 2005 and they played better.

testament. when the singer sang his voice shook my rib cage

The John Entwistle Band, in a small club, standing right under John's mic stand, about eight feet from his amps.







Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-23 03:30 by tatters.

Motorhead at Hammersmith Odeon, maybe 1986 or so. I felt really sorry for the elderly stewards even if they probably had cotton wool in their ears.

Crazy Horse during the encore to the Greendale show. I was in the 4th row. The Greendale portion was fine, but when they launched into Like A Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl, etc, the warhorses for the encore, it was deafening. I had earplugs and there was still that inner-ear distortion going on. Frightening. My ears didn't ring after that, they crackled. Yuck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-22 15:26 by Tate.

Speaking of Greendale; people love Greendale. Why?

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Tate
Crazy Horse during the encore to the Greendale show. I was in the 4th row. The Greendale portion was fine, but when they launched into Like A Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl, etc, the warhorses for the encore, it was deafening. I had earplugs and there was still that inner-ear distortion going on. Frightening. My ears didn't ring after that, they crackled. Yuck.

...are you sure that was Crazy Horse as band?
Was that in Europe, or elsewhere?

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rebelrebel
Motorhead at Hammersmith Odeon, maybe 1986 or so. I felt really sorry for the elderly stewards even if they probably had cotton wool in their ears.

...same here;
saw them midst '90s in Brussels, in Luna Theatre - wasn't able to pick up the phone for at least 2 days... (for I didn't even hear the friggin' thing ringing!)

I'll give an honorable mention to Cactus and Mountain. Cactus was the band that was built around the former rhythm section of the Vanilla Fudge, who Pete Townshend claims was the loudest band he ever saw, causing plaster to fall from the ceilings when they played ....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-08-22 16:06 by tatters.

This would have to be James Brown sometime in the late '80s in Los Angeles. My boyfriend took me to see him for my birthday, and I was in absolute agony it was that loud and painful....thought my ears would start bleeding. We left about 1/2 hour into the show.

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noughties
Speaking of Greendale; people love Greendale. Why?

Mean and Pure guitar-rock from a real rocker namely Neil Young. His songs even tends to have a melody which also doesn't hurts....

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MBV make sure you're given earplugs as you enter the venue...

There's some kind of association between loudness and quality, being badass, rocking, whatever. Instead of this glorification of noise, I think the bands should start being held account for the potential damage they cause to their fans. This is pure aggression, and when somebody states it got ear ringing even using earplugs, then something is terribly wrong in that show.

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Torres
There's some kind of association between loudness and quality, being badass, rocking, whatever. Instead of this glorification of noise, I think the bands should start being held account for the potential damage they cause to their fans. This is pure aggression, and when somebody states it got ear ringing even using earplugs, then something is terribly wrong in that show.

there's people getting paid for dealing with this during the shows....a rock'n'roller shall play play and play....

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Motorhead - Roseland - NYC

The Hellecasters at the Belly Up Tavern 1999...well documented as the loudest show in the history of mankind...I'm still putting my life back together

Cheap Trick at The Roxy in Atlanta - early 2000s

Honorable mention:

Ted Nugent in the 70s

The Ramones at the Channel Club in Boston. Nothing even comes close to it. For a couple of days after, it felt like I had cotton in my ears and I was really afraid it was going to be permanent. Though it cleared up, I'm sure that there was some lasting effect from it...

Zeppelin at the Bath Festival 1970--I've probably heard louder shows since, but not outdoors. You could hear it miles away.

metallica 2003 , pepsi arena, 2nd loudest john fogerty 1997

Swans - that was the only show where I've seen organizers selling and advising people using ear plugs - and for good reason - the noise was ubelieveble!!! But the show was great!!!!!!

George Thorogood was ridiculously loud when I saw him in a rather small place years ago. So much so we left.

The Outlaws were darn close in volume when I saw them in the early 80's.

Oasis at the Fillmore in early '95 not long after the release of their first album. My ears were ringing for nearly 2 days afterwards and I thought I had incurred permanent hearing damage...

mid 70'2 lake Charles la. grand funk railroad

ACDC by a long shot

didnt think music could be played that loud