The Ramones in St Louis 1995. I stood right in front of Johnny's guitar and had tinnitis for 3 months. My right ear still cant handle being in front of the stage w/out ear plugs.

Led Zep summer 1977@Largo, MD. No question...people were literally fleeing from the drum solos because they were SO GD LOUD!!!

Mötley Crüe (Theater Of Pain Tour 1986)

Thunderhead (early 90s)

David Bowie (Sound & Vision Tour 1990)

Jeff Scott Soto (in a small rockclub in 2004)

AC/DC (late 80s)

etc.

Skid Row, Idid'nt want to see them but they were opening up for Guns n Roses. The LA Forum i think in 1990. It was ear piercing i actually had to leave the building and go burn another one,until GNR came on.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-11 02:26 by stonesfrk.

What the F#*K is with Motley Crew. I could feel Tommy Lee's drums slam into my chest. Other than that my ears finaly hurt after the John Fogerty concert last August.

Hard to believe, because I've seen the Who, Kinks, Grand Funk, etc., but the absolute loudest band I ever heard was Canned Heat, in 1971.

Runners-up: Motorhead, Strokes ( I swear), Dinosaur Jr.

Winner: Black Flag. Hands-down the most punishing two hours of my life. Great show, but my ears rang for a couple of days afterwards.

Good Lord, that's easy! THE WHO, all 4 times! I'm still ringing from them and they were years ago! The second loudest was Aerosmith, 2001 in Saratoga, New York. We were in row 7 and the sound was distorted it was so bloddy loud...it HURT!

It was the Who in '83 and numerous Ramones shows UNTIL the 2nd 02 Stones show in London this year - did anyone notice? They've never blown me away with volume before - and I was standing in the same place as the 1st and 3rd show. Seeing Prince the next night prolonged the problem...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-11 03:30 by little queenie.

mickschix Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good Lord, that's easy! THE WHO, all 4 times! I'm
> still ringing from them and they were years ago!
> The second loudest was Aerosmith, 2001 in
> Saratoga, New York. We were in row 7 and the sound
> was distorted it was so bloddy loud...it HURT!


Ya know I think Aerosmith was my second loudest also (CCR being first). Same tour in DC. Deafening!!

Ket Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mcparty Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Kinks!
> > Oakland, CA (Kaiser Auditorium)
> > 1981?
>
> wow! I was at that show can't remember it being
> that loud perhaps it was but I remember thinking
> it was great!

I was at that show as well and also don't remember it being loud. What I do remember being loud was ACDC. I forget the year, but it was right after Let There Be Rock was released. At the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. A now defunct small club. I remember it well,because that was the show where Angus Young jammed on our table.....I also have a Motorhed memory. They were at the Exotic Erotic Ball one year and I didn't pay much attention to them. But they were so loud you couldn't hear yourself @#$%&.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Black Sabbath by FAR.....way far....ears still ringin' from that one from 30-odd years ago...

Hot Tuna during their three album hard rock phase with Bob Stealer on drums and the lead player from Blues image trading leads with Jorma. They had Orange amps. I've heard a lot of loud bands but they were brutal!

keithfan64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hot Tuna during their three album hard rock phase
> with Bob Stealer on drums and the lead player from
> Blues image trading leads with Jorma. They had
> Orange amps. I've heard a lot of loud bands but
> they were brutal!


Hot Tuna was my loudest concert ever too! It was the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium (California) in 1976 or 77. I remember, I was saying 'What' a lot for weeks after that one.

Many shows I have stood next to the speakers, but I do not count that due to my stupidity or desire to see the band.

tatters Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Another Honorable Mention:
>
> Aerosmith, without Joe Perry, but with Brad
> Whitford and another guitarist, playing a surprise
> club gig in 1980. They brought the EXACT SAME PA
> they were using for ARENA GIGS at the time! It
> literally filled the club, wall to wall and floor
> to ceiling. I was about ten feet from the stage
> for the first set and five feet from the stage
> during second set. Close enough to see the guitar
> strings vibrate and look down Tyler's throat.

Same thing when KISS did a short club tour for Revenge in 1992. They played the Troubadour (capacity 400) but brought in extra PA, about the same size one they have at the Palladium (capacity 3500). Didn't recognize the first song til Paul started singing and I could also feel it like wind. It was also the fastest selling show I had ever attended.

Other loudest shows are Motorhead, Faith No More, Ramones and Cheap Trick.

Grand Funk Railroad...saw them twice in around 1974 and 1975.....I was in the first 10 rows....unbelievably loud...uncomfortably loud and I was only 15 at the time!

I saw the current lineup of Mountain a couple years ago and couldn't resist the temptation to go and stand right in front of Leslie's Marshall stacks. Then I got scared and put in ear plugs for the first and only time in my life. When they played "Sunshine Of Your Love" I thought "Oh, hell, I've GOT to hear THIS" and I took out the ear plugs and this unbelievable ROAR of noise came rushing into my ears. Fantastic. The next song was "Mississippi Queen". I got scared again and put the ear plugs back in. That MIGHT have been my loudest concert ever, but I guess I'll never know.

Mountain back in '70, for a comparison referring to tatters.

Cheap Trick at Metro in Chicago 1998...peeled the paint off the walls during "Gonna Raise Hell"...they always have their amps turned up to "eleven"...

Gonna Raise Hell.....A great Cheap Trick song I had forgotten about. Good rocker.

Stones at the Astoria. Deafening. I was lucky to be in there but it was TOO loud for such a small place.

Increasingly these days every gig I go to I need to waer plugs or it hurts. Why do these guys stand behind rows of flashing lights on a fancy board at the back of the hall and produece sound that is painfully loud?? Are THEY deaf?

I have nuffin' to contribute here,
since I believe there is too much talk about too lour concerts.
I think we're all gettin' old.
A little Tinnitus is no big deal, I think I've had that 20 years before
it became popular. Always stood near amplifiers or speakers,
depending on if I was on-, off- or backstage.
And sometimes when ma kids scream simultaneously in one ear,
I get like the creeps. More loud gigs, I'd say!

Motorhead, Hammersmith Odeon, about 1983. My ears were ringing for two days afterwards.

Ears Of Spades?

Living Colour - Brno, Czech republic (24.3.2004)

UFO 1977 at a small place in Stockholm. I went to see them partly for Michael Schenker, but his guitar was so loud you couldn?t actually hear any notes, just a deafening, screeching noice. It was truly unbearable and I left after three songs.

definataly motorhead, it was so loud it was distorting and you couldnt really tell one song from another, im all for turing the volume up but u gotta keep the quality

none of them, I can still hear
so weak

Without any shadow of a doubt, it would be the Who at Manchester Apollo in March 1981. I was front row, dead centre, and was basically deaf to the world throughout the following day, with a ringing in my ears for a further 24 hours after that.

They were so loud, that it was actually difficult to distinguish one song from another!

John Fogerty was very loud when I saw him (2004) but very clear and excellent!

"No Anchovies, Please"