Loudest gig you've been to

The Manics, are they still going ?

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.

Either Motorhead, the Damned or Killing Joke. All indoors and all way too loud for me !

Actually, when the Longcut supported I Am Kloot in the Roadhouse, came onstage at 8am. That was pretty fucking loud.

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.

Christopher Owens wrote: Motorhead.

same here cheeers Chris and other louders, hehehe

Steve , have you got an ORGONE ACCUMULATOR

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!

Joy Division at Malvern - unbearably loud guitar!

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.