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Outdoors : Chemical Brothers at V last year, on at the same time as Oasis, you could hear them in Oasis' arena (thought I'd sneak over for 5 mins but shouldn't have bothered.
Indoors: Loop at Newcastle Riverside, deafeningly loud, loads of smoke and near constant strobe. Disorientating and awesome.
Exactly what JT said, including walking across for the end of Oasis to meet my mates!
The Chems play LOUD.
pearl jam in the astoria was fckin loud
my left ear went completely quiet during the last song, and i thought it was nothing... woke up the next morning and still couldnt hear anythin in my left ear :(
thought i had gone deaf but hurrah it came back ! 
best gig ever 
I was in the academy for the Orb soundcheck years ago. The bass actually knocked someone over! Edit: The sound of the bass, not the bass itself!
Motorhead, Ronnie James Dio, & Iron Maiden in 2003
Before that Skid Row & Guns n Roses back in 1991
James Thomas wrote:
Shug wrote: Rick Astley - Northampton Roadmender
Say it ain't so...
It must be true - it's there in black and white!
Err... green and white!
Digital Mike -The People's Moderator wrote: I just LURVE sucking boys cocks
What do you mean?
Diamond White wrote:
Digital Mike -The People's Moderator wrote: I just LURVE sucking boys cocks
Garrity is a cunt
Easy, Iggy Pop at the barrowlands in about 89, ringing left ear for days and i still think my hearing never returned to normal after that.
Gotta be The Orb, either Bangor leisure centre or Point Depot (where I also witness the bess toppling someone, and was myself wearing jogging bottoms, which were FLAPPING in the gust from the bins). But Hooky's bass sacred 7 shades of shite out of me at the apollo last year. I had NEVER suspected it sounded like that. Also, in terms of most damage to a building, any distortion you heard in there or hear on the webcast is NOT the speakers, they remained CRYSTAL clear, that WOOOO WWOOOO howling rumble is the fabric of the venue rattling. Was totally unprepared for it.
Also heard the Chems soundchecking, from half a mile away ( the far end of the forecourt of the garage that's at the ass end of the Point Depot carpark in case you know it) that was impressive, the depth of bass was beautiful.
APPARENTLY, the Orb recorded the bassline to the track Valley, AT RAF Valley in Wales, with a fucking HUGE concert PA ( and a bassplayer with a perpetual psychotic grin and hard on I'd wager) at one end of the runway, and a mic at the other. Must say, the sound ofthat bassline backs the tale up.
Teletubbies, outdoor concert at some amusement park. Tinky Winky was miming a blowjob on Lala while the latter was playing a guitar, and Po must've been stoned out of his mind 'cause he had his amp turned up past 11. And who knew Dipsy was going to sacrifice a live child right there on stage? 
I don't think I've ever recovered from that day....
Aphex Twin / Richie Hawtin / Underground Resistance - London 91' Recent gigs - Mogwai -Leeds Poly 99'
Taboo # 7 wrote: Teletubbies, outdoor concert at some amusement park. Tinky Winky was miming a blowjob on Lala while the latter was playing a guitar, and Po must've been stoned out of his mind 'cause he had his amp turned up past 11. And who knew Dipsy was going to sacrifice a live child right there on stage?
I don't think I've ever recovered from that day....
I think that would be acca dacca, the tribute band. they have all the right gear and it was indoors.
ministry in the early 90's at an outdoor concert maybe lollapalooza. One ear had trouble recovering. I can't remember which ear.
The loudest concert I've been to was Leftfield at Brixton Academy c.1996.
They reportedly took a 100k (i think) sound system in there, which resulted in plaster falling from the roof mid-gig. Ian Brown was i think in attendance, and left with a burst eardrum.
They were subsequently banned from the venue. I think at a couple of other venues in Europe they were arrested for dangerously high levels of noise pollution.
Great gig though
[darkgreen]Green[/darkgreen] wrote: Easy one..........Husker Du. Einsturzende Neubauten was pretty damn loud as well though.
no surpise about Husker Du. Bob Mould has pretty much lost a lot of his hearing
Surprisingly it was Marah at perhaps the best small venue I've been in for sound in Philadelphia - the World Cafe. The sound is amazing....unbelieveably loud.
Close second - REM on the Monster tour.....i was right next to the speaker stack for Mike Mills....my ears rang for three days.......
Chemical Brothers at the Big Day Out on the Gold Coast last year.
They even blew the speakers at the overflow tent.
All previous answers are off the mark.
The only correct answer is Mogwai. The most sonically pummeling band on the face of the Earth.
Add N to (X) Deftones (Not sure if it was loud, rather it was the scariest mosh pit i've ever seen and maybe thats why I think it was loud Jesus and Mary Chain
Gotta say for me it was Die Warzau sometime in the early 90's. Brutally loud for the room they played.
Black Flag at the Boathouse, Island Park, Cedar Falls, IA, 1984. You could feel it slice right through you. So loud it did not hurt.
Loudest thing I ever did. 50 rounds of .357 mag without ear protection. deaf for 2 days.
Did anyone see the guy who was on before New Order @ the John Peel Gig last year?? You could actually feel a wall of sound hitting you, dunno who he was but it was loud...
dave soligo wrote: All previous answers are off the mark.
The only correct answer is Mogwai. The most sonically pummeling band on the face of the Earth.
Hey, I said Mogwai! 
Snorri xxx
Diamond White wrote: I stood between Diggy Mike and Nick King at Brixton.
That was loud!
explains your total failure to hear the phrase "your round Col" then does it?
(sorry, just tryin to make yer ribs hurt a bit more to wake you up)
Anthrax in Stoke in 1989. They were officially the loudest band in the world at that point, I think. My mate's neurotic mum insisted we all wore earplugs. Which we did.
ROCK ON!!!
[Inserts "devil horns" smiley here]
dinosaur jr. with jesus lizard and nirvana opening at the gothic theatre (no longer there), denver, CO in july, 1991. especially jesus lizard...until the bassist passed out.
taxi wrote: My Bloody Valentine with Superchunk and Pavement opening.
each to their own, but whats the loudest gig you've been to?
Barney Army wrote:
taxi wrote: My Bloody Valentine with Superchunk and Pavement opening.
each to their own, but whats the loudest gig you've been to?
It has to be more then 10 years ago so I don't remember the exact year or the venue; I just remember after being up at the stage for Superchunk and Pavement, my friends and I went to the back of the venue for My Bloody Valentine and they were still the loudest band I had ever heard and so that was the loudest gig I have ever been to. I think it may have been at the Ritz in the early 90s.
Wait- CBGB's when I saw Jack Here play in the early 90s.
So it's a tie between those two shows.
Einsturzende Neubauten surprisingly, love & Rockets. It was so loud (and terrible) I don't think they could hear their own monitors.
AgentWood wrote: dinosaur jr. with jesus lizard and nirvana opening at the gothic theatre (no longer there), denver, CO in july, 1991. especially jesus lizard...until the bassist passed out.
the Gothic is alive and well! Nitzer Ebb playing there tonight - unfortunately, I'll be at work. Hopefully, they'll be putting a DVD from this tour together.
No sniggering at the back,but Gary Numan's "Berserker" tour at the Manchester Apollo.Not so much loudness,but the bass was that loud,that I could feel reverberating on my heart!
ummm... probably seeing Muse is the Ulster Hall in Belfast, i seem to remember that being fairly loud. Or the Manics in Liverpool last year. Although i was stood right in front of the speaker for that.
Frontline Assembly at the Opera House in Toronto, Die Krupps just about deafened us before Frontline got on stage.
Close second, Big Sugar. There's a reason the album is called "Hemivision". You're supposed to be able to hear above the sound of a Hemi engine. Either way, damn loud.
Uncle Liam wrote: ummm... probably seeing Muse is the Ulster Hall in Belfast, i seem to remember that being fairly loud.
Their Glastonbury 2004 was supposed to be amazing. Remember reading the news about their drummer's Dad being in attendance then passing of a heart attack w/in an hour of that show's ending. www.muse.mu
loudest gig. Punkish do at a smaller venue. Left my spine and knees like jelly. also couldn't hear properly for a day or two afterwards either. Don't know what they were called.. ouops. Got 'surfed over some rows at Pink Flyod in year 1980-noidea. The concert with that PINK floating PIG! But it was very loud at times.
Loudest has to be the Chemical Brothers at The Metro in Melbourne a few years back, esp during the Private Psychedelic Reel - had to leave or I would have been deaf. Close second would be Queens of the Stone Age at The Palace in Melbourne when Nick Olivieri was still in the band.
also: a band from Brooklyn called Black Dice are VERY loud. has anyone heard them? when I saw them play in a tiny venue two years ago, they weren't playing music as much as generating painful frequencies and test tones at punishingly high volumes.
It was like listening to machines slowly bleeding to death.
Actually, when the Longcut supported I Am Kloot in the Roadhouse, came onstage at 8am. That was pretty fucking loud.
Didn't the Mondays boast the biggest rig this country had ever seen for one of their tours in the early 90's.
Thing is, you only really notice something is loud when it's distorted, don't you? The back-room of the Ministry of Sound surely boasts the most hi-tec sound system anywhere in Europe but you can have a conversation with someone in there cos the sound resonates so cleanly. It only becomes a problem to the ears when the noises is muddied, no? And that's when you can't hear yourself think?
Mind, I saw Chris Cunningham DJ at the Queen Elizabeth Hall earlier this year. Ladytron were on in the main room but he was in the foyer. I've no idea how the fcuk he did it, or even to describe what he actually did, but somehow he dropped the sound at one point as if the entire room was collapsing in. Almost felt like you were nosediving in a plane! I saw people visibly duck and some turned to run away. Felt like your entire head was caving in. Very memorable moment! Never seen/heard anyone do that before.
I saw Front 242 in Philly about 8 years ago, and they were so loud that my ears were not only ringing but also buzzing, beeping, etc., for several days afterwards. Not good. After that I started wearing earplugs, even though they make me look like a dork.
Which was good, because about 5 years ago I saw Orbital in NYC and they were so loud I thought my internal organs were melting. But no hearing loss on that one.
El Jarvo wrote: Didn't the Mondays boast the biggest rig this country had ever seen for one of their tours in the early 90's.
Thing is, you only really notice something is loud when it's distorted, don't you? The back-room of the Ministry of Sound surely boasts the most hi-tec sound system anywhere in Europe but you can have a conversation with someone in there cos the sound resonates so cleanly. It only becomes a problem to the ears when the noises is muddied, no? And that's when you can't hear yourself think?
Mind, I saw Chris Cunningham DJ at the Queen Elizabeth Hall earlier this year. Ladytron were on in the main room but he was in the foyer. I've no idea how the fcuk he did it, or even to describe what he actually did, but somehow he dropped the sound at one point as if the entire room was collapsing in. Almost felt like you were nosediving in a plane! I saw people visibly duck and some turned to run away. Felt like your entire head was caving in. Very memorable moment! Never seen/heard anyone do that before.
Comes down to the frequency content. Human hearing is most sensitive around 1-5KhZ, notch those frequencies out, and people can talk amidst armageddon. Also, sensetivity to those frequencies changes as you get smashed. I used this to great effect any time I was baby sitting a club rig....you put a HUGE midrange cut into the EQ at the start of the night, meaning that as folks come in, the bass is BOUNCING and there is good top end detail, but 1. people can converse, and 2. you have all that midrange to feed back in as people get wankered, which gives the impression of turning the whole lot up, even tho it was already cooking at the start og the night.
BTW, a swept sine wave will do what you describe if it is loud enough. I would wager that with no more than about 2KW of speakers I could phyically knock you off your feet with a test tone oscilator or me Moog.
Queens of the Stoneage at some point after Songs for the Deaf came out.
I could barely hear for the next two days.
THE DAMNED saw them twice ca. 1977, from the back of the theatre was still struggling with my hearing the next day.
Er, the Cranberries in the Sundome in Johannesburg in 2003 - right in front of the speaker stack and the bleeders played Zombie....40% hearing loss in one ear bcos of that
Sisters of Mercy in Brixton a couple of times were pretty loud too...or I might just be getting old 
Loudest for me? Three really leap out :
Faith No More at Birmingham NEC in 92. The sound was immense.
Kraftwerk Tribal Gathering 1997. The bass was the ONLY time I could feel my body vibrate.
Nine Inch Nails in Birmingham 1991. I had tinnitus for two weeks after.
Steve Lea wrote: Er, the Cranberries in the Sundome in Johannesburg in 2003 - right in front of the speaker stack and the bleeders played Zombie....40% hearing loss in one ear bcos of that
When I was in the States with the Big Band, the 'bone player let the fuckin thing rip RIGHT into my left ear....it too has never recovered, bastard!
them ChemBros guys get pretty loud...
same for the Crystal Method...
and Ministry...and Helmet...
but the loudest gig I was ever at was My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult..
oldmonkey wrote: Joy Division at Malvern - unbearably loud guitar!
An unmiked vox AC30 with the volume past 6 then? ;)
Doctor? wrote:
oldmonkey wrote: Joy Division at Malvern - unbearably loud guitar!
An unmiked vox AC30 with the volume past 6 then? ;)
Fuck knows, I wasn't very old and it was all a bit too much volume wise! Maybe these days that wouldn't have seemed that loud, but it was definitely louder than the Black Sabbath gig I had attended at the same venue a couple of months before.
Birmingham Odeon. 198???
