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The Absolute Loudest Band Ever....

#141
You probably wont believe this, but the loudest concert I've ever been at, is actually - Electric Light Orchestra in the 70's. I kid you not. I have heard that others thought this too. An editorial in a Audiophile magazine claimed he got his hearing loss at one of their concerts. Not exactly what you think. But it was so loud, that they made the actual speakers distort in the FOH PA, and thus, produced square waved spikes in the air for us. That's when I got my perennial tinnitus in my left ear as I sat up the left bleachers in a hockey rink. Think of the high violin bow tones screeching in your ears at 130 db...perhaps a crew revenge on them!! Heard that no road crew worked for them twice. They got treated as animals. Or worse. That's what all the reviews was about, the volume. Nice laser show though...didn't get blind....;)

Motörhead was a new age act compared to that.
 
#143
Led Zep tribute band called Zoso. I did not stay for the whole show. It was more aggravating than enjoyable. I thought it was exceptionally stupid when the lead singer would talk about "when I wrote this song...". Cheesey, to say the least. :rollno:
 
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#144
I've seen lots of loud shows over the years: The Who, Deep Purple, KISS, BOC, The Ramones, Nazareth, Mountain, and a few others. But, the loudest was Black Oak Arkansas at Cincinnati Music Hall: a beautiful 100 year old theater with BOA using their outdoor system. We were dead center, first balcony. Hello to a lifetime of tinnitus.
 
#145
I do have sensed a thing, when seeing Gary Moore, and Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin played loud and thunderous but clear. This was in 1979. So did Gary Moore. Loud as h**ll but everything in the mix was sorted out even before the first number. And, 80 percent of this was due or thanks to the rooms acoustics in the first place and sold out "seats". It seems that whenever bands play lousy acoustic halls that are very "lively" they seem to cover up - or try to - bad acouctics, with loudness.
 
#146
covermego said:
"Can we have everything pouder than everything else......"
- Ian Gillan of Deep Purple
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Pouder? ok it was louder.... sorry to be the party pooper. But it was originally Ritchie actually. You can hear him in the background saying it first, and Gillan laughs at it and repeats it through the mike, just to get the comment heard...
 
#147
Honch said:
Pouder? ok it was louder.... sorry to be the party pooper. But it was originally Ritchie actually. You can hear him in the background saying it first, and Gillan laughs at it and repeats it through the mike, just to get the comment heard...
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Yes.....pouder. No, reappy ...... POUDER !!!!! I'm right! I'm Bpoody wepp right!!!!!
Good point about Ritchie........ I used to blast it from some old Fisher speakers ....... now I put the headphones on and I hear much, oh, much much more........ thanks a pot for petting me know of my pousy piteracy. - Penny
 
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#148
dave64o said:
I saw Yes at The Spectrum in Philadelphia not long before it was imploded. That was the only time I've ever been to a rock concert and seriously wished they would turn the volume UP. People around us would talk in a normal voice and that would drown out the music, almost as if the PA wasn't even on. I have no idea why it was like that at that particular show because I've seen Yes more than any other band and I always thought their sound was pretty good - both the volume and the mix.

I saw Deep Purple a few months ago in Laughlin, NV, and was a little nervous because I forgot to bring my earplugs with me on that trip. Turns out there was no need for earplugs - their sound was outstanding.

I can think of two shows I've seen where I remember extreme volume levels. Not long before they broke, I saw Living Colour in a small club just outside of Philadelphia (for anyone who remembers Steve Mountain's Cabarets, this was at the old 23 East Cabaret. I miss those venues!). The "room" with the stage was in the back past the bar and it might have held 250 people. GREAT show, but the volume level was way more than was needed for a venue that size. Then several years ago my wife and I saw The Smithereens at a smallish venue in Philadelphia (World Cafe Live) several years ago. There wasn't much gear on the stage but somehow they hit a volume level that made my wife walk outside a couple of times. It was still a great show, though. :D

I do have a general complaint with live sound over the last several years. It seems like sound men insist on mixing as if they though they were a dance club DJ. In general the volume levels seem higher than they were when I was young, but if the mix is good a simple set of earplugs can offset the volume level so the show is still enjoyable. But the real problem is that the level of the low end in general, and the level of the bass drum in particular, has simply gotten out of control. My wife has lost interest in going to rock concerts with me because the mixes are often awful and the insanity of the bass drum levels is nauseating and, unfortunately, ear plugs can't help with that. I wish she could go to more shows with me, but I can't blame her for declining most.
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I also saw YES but at the Wells Fargo Center about 4 years ago and just before intermission we had to leave. It was so loud I thought it would set off my pacemaker. The bass was kickin big time, which I liked but I just couldn't take it for 3 hours.
 
#149
For me, the loudest band I have heard is Mahogany Rush. This was compounded by the fact that I was about ten feet from the stage. Frank Marino used two full stacks of Sunn 4x12s and two Acoustic cabinets with 15s and a horn. Their bass player, Paul Harwood, had a batch of JBL cabinets with the big scoop and I could only barely hear him. In the mid to late 70s I went to lots of really good shows and they were easily the loudest band of all of them. The weird thing was they were an opening act for Blue Oyster Cult who were not nearly as loud. FWIW, they were the middle act and Bob Seger opened. It was a really good show.

-edit- I forget the when. I think it was 1975. Possibly 1976.
 
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#150
At risk of sounding like everyone's dad, I feel like someone should acknowledge just how totally idiotic it is for bands to play at such stupefying volumes, much less take pride in doing so. Granted that sometimes it is to some extent unavoidable -- if it's a large room or outdoors, and you want it to be loud in the back, it's gonna have to be crazy loud up front -- but it seems clear that for most of the bands mentioned in this thread that isn't the issue. Even putting aside the obvious danger of hearing damage, it just doesn't make any sense to me why anyone would want to be so loud that the audience is pinned against the back wall, hiding out in the hallway, or going home early. I get that there's a kind of rush or sense of awe you might feel in response to an immense wall of sound -- I assume that's what some of these bands are going for, and why some of them compete to be the loudest -- but once that's over, it's just pain.

I should add that I personally like my music loud -- basically, as loud as I can stand it without earplugs. When I play, I like to be able to feel the air move out of my cabs when standing in front of them. But there's loud, and then there's stupid loud.

Love, Dad
 
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#151
Lobster11 said:
if [...] you want it to be loud in the back, it's gonna have to be crazy loud up front
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With modern PA's (AKA flown line arrays) that's a lot less true than in the bad old days.
I should add that I personally like my music loud -- basically, as loud as I can stand it without earplugs.
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When I'm doing sound for a "loud" band that's what I aim for. If they want/need it louder I'll get out the earplugs for that gig but "fire" them afterwards - I have no desire to be part of the problem. As far as it being louder up front than in the back when I'm using my "conventional" system I can somewhat mitigate that by setting the bottoms of my mains up at my usual six feet - I'm mystified why most "providers" want their mains partially blocked by the up-front punters? Bar gigs generally don't need/want even coverage - the punters can move themselves around to the volume area they want and I always try to steer the sound away from the bar where the staff is trying to hear the orders. More often that not I have folks coming up and thanking me for not hurting them. Unfortunately the band and their "followers" are often hearing damaged so want it louder than that. Can't win :( . When I first got back into music a few years back after a 20 year layoff I figured a good sound guy was more valuable than a mediocre bass player - well, now I'm down to about 1 sound gig a month and play in 7(8?) projects :D.
 
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#152
covermego said:
Yes.....pouder. No, reappy ...... POUDER !!!!! I'm right! I'm Bpoody wepp right!!!!!
Good point about Ritchie........ I used to blast it from some old Fisher speakers ....... now I put the headphones on and I hear much, oh, much much more........ thanks a pot for petting me know of my pousy piteracy. - Penny
Click to expand...

LOL, :D You're definitely not alone, since it has been a "meme" that has translated, or "overheard" that it is of Ian Gillans origin. Everybody thinks like that, just look up the quote on any google.

Everything Louder than Everyone Else - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia states it's a Gillan thing.

Invalid Link Removed nerdy, anorak, geeky debate of who said what, first...

Everything Louder Than Everything Else - Straight Dope Message Board Where they think it's the sound guy mumbling, and then Gillan repeats it.

It has been an Ian Gillan thing for ages. Not until the advent of remastered CD's and high definition headphones, one could detect that it really was someone else on stage, in the band, and those who knows Ritchies accent and twang, knows that it was him...so it's not an Ian Gippan thing...;)
 
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#155
One band that I've thought played damm loud, when I was seeing pics of old Grateful Dead in the 70s. When they toured with their PA behing them and it was called "the-great-wall-of-sound". They did so too, but as standing in front of any PA induces feedback, they used to play out of phase, with all mic wiring and speaker wiring. So outdoors, they further back you stood, the better the sound. The sound was the most precious like a mile away. Way behind the last lines of the audience. Neighboring villages couldn't understand where the "noise" came from. And damm loud too. The sound waves intertwined in phase at that point. They went out in their gardens and thought it was their neighbor teenage kid that threw a party...they didn't even see the outdoor gig from there. Or knew it was around.

You could very well stand up front without earplugs.

3.Wall_.jpg


But, at least, they'd got rid of the feedback...
 
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#156
The loudest concert I was ever at was when I saw Ted Nugent while I was in high school.
I don't know the dBs--but it was quite loud.
At school the next day a teacher was trying to get my attention and thought I was intentionally ignoring her, until my friend told her I was at the Ted Nugent concert the night before--then she got it, and my friend let me know the teacher was trying to speak to me.
 
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#158
For me it was Boston at the San Diego Sports Arena in 77 or 78. After 3 songs, my girlfriend and I moved out to the mezzanine concession stand area, and after a couple of more totally indecipherable songs, we headed for the car.

...the only show I've ever left because of volume...
 
#159
jjmuckluckjr said:
The Black Flag, 1985-86 at City Gardens in Trenton. The place was a concrete tunnel and the Flag had a new sound system, one of the first with LED display. 4 bands, each got a little louder. Right before the Flag came on they played The Knack's 'My Sharona'. The bass in that song blew the air out of your lungs. A saner man would have retreated. All I can say is, huh what, I see your lips moving.

Ahh, the joy of youth, blowing out your ear drums and paying for the privilege. :bassist:
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Is that the same infamous concert that they played with Venom?

 
#160
Rugmaster said:
Is that the same infamous concert that they played with Venom?

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No. It was with Gone, Greg Ginn' s other band. I was at that Venom show, what meat heads. There's a cool book called "No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes", by Amy Weulfing. The title is from an actual sign that hung on the front door. I lived in Trenton at the time and City Gardens was my bar. The band's that came through that joint was unbelievable and I was lucky enough to be there. Only CBGBs could match that lineup. John Stewart from the Daily Show was a bartender there as well. Check out the book, you'll be jealous.
 

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