I've never considered the Stones to be a particularly loud band.

I have never found the Stones to be a particularly loud band. The two shows I remember being the loudest I have ever heard were Neil Young with Crazy Horse at the old Cap Centre in Largo, Maryland in 1991, and Springsteen with the E Street Band at the same venue in 1984. Both played so loud my ears rang for a few hours after each show, but, damn those shows were great.

Never had a problem with ringing ears to a Stones concert , but after a Johnny Winter gig back in the days , I had the ringing for several days after..., but it was worth it >< John Fogerty play loud to but with no ringing after though and together with his sons & the rest of the band he gives some awesome shows these days , absolutely up there at the same level as the Stones IMO

Not

Loud

Enough

It depend on where you standing/sitting or hanging around in the open field I enjoy the sound but in arena's if your standing in front it's way to loud .............

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I probably have more damage to my hearing from playing walkmans full blast back in the day vs. a few loud concerts.
But when you combine the two, lucky to have any hearing left at all.
No doubt my hearing has suffered a tiny bit, but that can sometimes be a good thing.
When my wife is nagging me for instance, this is what I hear:

Charlie Browns teacher



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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

not worried ….
can still recognize a great song from 500 paces upwind ….



ROCKMAN

Yeah I'm still pretty good considering all the loudness I've experienced over the years
Perhaps some people have more tender eardrums than others, but I think mine are sort of bionic reinforced with supernatural powers haha.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

I thought that they were a lot louder this year than last year. Last year in Hamburg and Munich the sound was relatively quiet (it was louder in Paris though) but Prague this year was one of the loudest concerts I've ever been to. Stuttgart was also quite loud. Even Bjornulf wrote in his Review that he had to use earplugs for Prague.

I remember the Stones in Vienna in 2014 as particularly loud. I was right front of stage but went back to the rear of the stadium somewhere around the middle of the show (and finally put in my ear plugs). On the way I bought a tour T-shirt, had to communicate with the merch girl using pen and paper, because we couldn't understand each other. I also found the sound unpleasantly distorted.

Otherwise: Zappa in Vienna 1988 was possibly the loudest indoors concert I've ever been to. Another ear plugs case.

Dream Theater, around the late 90s/early 2000s, wasn't so super-loud but still too loud for the PA they used. Whenever the bass player hit a deep note, the vocals went to pieces.

But they needn't even be horribly loud to give you a horrible sound: King Crimson this Summer was one of my worst indoors sound experiences ever. During the first set you could hear only half of the players. I mean, it's nice to watch Tony Levin play the bass but every once in a while you would also like to hear him. It got a bit better in the second set. Just wondering if there was a problem they couldn't get fixed or if they simply skipped the sound check. It was the first of two nights, maybe the second night was better.

too old to rock & roll, too young to die

The Stones do not play loud, but Motorhead suredid.

Interesting question, and twigged a memory.

Saw them twice at Perth Arena in - 2014!

Went with friends to both shows. After the forst show my mate said "they were too loud for that Arena". I didn't think about it or that it had been.

Second show though, I too though, wow that's loud when they started Doom & Gloom and then when they hit the wailing in Gimme Shelter...it WAS boomy.

Rod

Keith and the winos Town and country club dcemeber 18th 1992 was by far the loudezt show I have ever been to but it was very clear the sound guy did work for the stones for a bit his name was benji I think

Yes...they are too loud.

But too loud is just right !

I haven´t yet experienced a Stones show that has been too loud. In fact, when they played in Gothenburg in Sweden 1982 the warmup act J. Geils Band were louder.

The worst (loudest) shows: UFO in 1978, Gary Moore in 1984 and Motörhead in 1990. Lemmys excessive bass cacophony convinced me to never forget the earplugs...

When we talk about loud & too loud with respect to specific shows I think we're often talking, not in absolute terms, but in terms of whether the volume was right for the venue.

They have often played large indoor arenas at levels which the acoustics aren't able to deal with...which is then perceived as "too loud"

Zeppelin in '77 was absolutely the loudest concert I ever attended.

Few things are more humiliating than having to return from a concert before it`s over because it was too loud, on top of having payed for it. I suspect the "Voodoo Lounge" tour at Valle Hovin, Oslo, Norway, was above the level of pain, and made people back off. However, soft concerts can be too loud too. I`m thinking of the "Hver gang vi møtes" gig in Frognerparken, Oslo, Norway in 2012. There was just one troubadur on stage with an acoustic guitar and it was terrrible. Ear plugs? Ear plugs are for machine noise.

I don't find the Stones particularly loud, especially since the stopped using subwoofers. Some small club shows are much louder than stadium shows.

I saw the Who in 1975, at the old Boston Garden,sat in the 15th row dead center,that was the loudest show I ever went to,the Stones sound to me has all way's been spot on.

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rara
I don't find the Stones particularly loud, especially since the stopped using subwoofers. Some small club shows are much louder than stadium shows.

They haven't "stopped using subwoofers" per se ...but your point is a good one.

The improvements in sound reinforcement technology in recent years have given the impression of lower volume levels partly because there's less distortion.

A distorted signal at the same dB level will always sound subjectively louder than a clean one.

[...and better controlled bass reproduction won't result in quite the same urge to vomit as your stomach turn itself inside out ! ]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-11-08 14:57 by Spud.

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Spud

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rara
I don't find the Stones particularly loud, especially since the stopped using subwoofers. Some small club shows are much louder than stadium shows.

They haven't "stopped using subwoofers" per se ...but your point is a good one.

No, rara is right. They don't use subwoofers anymore.

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ab
The Stones do not play loud, but Motorhead suredid.

Motorhead was the only band I wore ear protection for for many years, but I usually took them out for the standard Ace of Spades/Overkill encore.

The roar in a mid-sized theater was absolutely overwhelming.

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keefriff99

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ab
The Stones do not play loud, but Motorhead suredid.

Motorhead was the only band I wore ear protection for for many years, but I usually took them out for the standard Ace of Spades/Overkill encore.

The roar in a mid-sized theater was absolutely overwhelming.

Out of hundreds of shows I've seen the loudest thing I've ever seen/heard was "You Made Me Realise" with apocalypse outro by My Bloody Valentine. People just stood there stunned. It was literally like standing close to a running jet engine. Settled the encore question nicely. Honorable mention: Midnight Oil in a club. The main set was really loud then they turned it up for the encore. I felt something pop in 1 ear. It still wasn't MBV though. Glad I wore earplugs for that one!

Is Lisa too sexy??
jeroen

I am surprised by the many people who play music to their ears with earplugs etc. Many times I am sitting on the train or on the underground, several seats away, and I can still hear the music from the airplugs. If exposed by that kind of volume for more than 1-2 hours, again and again, the hearing will be seriously damaged. And there is no way to replace it. Tinnitus will ring in your ears as long as you live.

Bjornulf

I am surprised by the many people who play music to their ears with earplugs etc.

same here .... and cant believe it when they are
wearing earplugs/music and walking busy streets & pedestrian crossings …. SLAM!!!!



ROCKMAN

VH on their 93 tour. So loud. But man it was good.