Loudest Show (or Complete Bill ) You Ever Saw

Third World, my ears were ringing for days.

Deep Purple was pretty damn loud

David Byrne at the Tower theater(92?) was surprisingly loud 

Jack White at the Hult center in Eugene.  Loud and awful, i left early. 

I stopped in at Mexicali to pick up tix during a Joe Bonamassa set.  It was oppressive.

Ludicrous, especially for that room.

As far as a whole show, Dylan/GD at Giant's Stadium was pretty loud.  I think we may have lined up especially well with one of those forklift speakers.

Two shows come to mind right away. One of them, Black Sabbath 8/5/75 in Asbury Park was pretty close to painful. I remember going into the concourse for ear breaks. That show was also the one where I saw some dude, higher than anyone should ever be, crawl into one of the cabs and either go to sleep or pass out (probably this). At the end of the show he came out and there was blood down the side of his head. The second onw was a show by Matthew Sweet at Trax in NYC. Ivan Julian was playing lead guitar for that show. People in the audience were complaining that his guitar was too quiet in the mix and the sound people could not get it right. Ivan proceeded to turn his two monitors away from him and towards the audience. I was sitting at one of the only tables in the joint that night directly in front of Ivan. I do believe that one was so loud that some my beard hairs got turned around and became ingrown! 

Aerosmith at Jones beach maybe 1995 or 96.  Blew my left ear drum out.  Also Johnny Winter at the Emelin Theater in Purchase, NY.  He turned it up to 11   Ouch!

"Jack White at the Hult center in Eugene.  Loud and awful, i left early. "

Lol, Orange, I had the exact same experience, only here in Chile. We went to see Robert Plant opening for Jack White, one of these Lollapalooza side-stage show kind of things. Robert Plant was amazing, totally hypnotized me.

Then, after an hour and a half of fumbling with the stage equipment so it would all be the special pretty bullshit stage setup that Mr. Diva White wanted, Jack White came out. He was so loud and distorted that it was completely unenjoyable. We left after three songs. First, he made us wait with all his diva bullshit (compared to Plant, a true road warrior with little to no stage setup at all), and then that ridiculous sound. Fuck Jack White. I lost all respect for him at that point...

Hot Tuna at the Palladium NYC 76-77.

Funny thing, Javs, I saw him later on the same tour at Radio City, but with the all female band, the hult was the all male band.  The sound was less cacophonous, and it was a much better show. Not that good,  but better than awful  

Allman Brothers Band, '95 Radio City Music Hall

the Ramones @ the Backdoor (or possibly Montezuma Hall) early 80s.  right in front of the speakers on Johnny's side. my hearing is still a little fucked up.

Great thread!!! (Shhhh...)

And I'm sorry for your loss. 

I remember the GD at Laguna Seca '87 being extremely loud from where I was standing. Bruce Hornsby's piano was especially piercing (as an opening act). All of the speakers were at the sides of the stage, so they turned up the volume to reach the top of the hill, I figured.  In '88, they added speakers midway up the hill, though I remember the ground shaking during "Victim..." (I think it was Brent's synth).

In 1990, I attended a GWAR gig at a small pub in Edinburgh.  That night I passed out with ears ringing and visions of dripping blood dancing in my head...

John Zorn's saxophone is too loud for Slim's.

Megadeth at the Ritz in NYC 1992. They had the sound system just turned up way too loud & it sounded like shit. I left after 3 songs. I can't stand Megadeth, but they were playing with Suicidal Tendencies who I love & ST opened with a smoking set.

Lenny Kravitz at the Riviera in Chicago ... sometime in the early 90's

Tesla and Def Leppard c. 1987 

My ears are still ringing.  Now granted, this was my first arena hard rock show so I probably lost some hearing on the spot and subsequent shows may have been louder, but that was painful. 

It was also the largest chick to dude ratio I have seen at a show.  Every trailer park teenage girl in the greater Jacksonville metro area showed up in their "I want to be a ho" finest. 

Honorable mentions to KISS and Metallica. 

Hot Tuna -- Mid Hudson Civic Center back in the 70's. My ears are still ringing

If it's too loud you are too old

Saw Beck the other night in Holmdel nj, it too was surprisingly loud. I was 8th row right in front of Jason Faulkner, and a stack of speakers. 

I saw some Ministry shows back in the late 80's that practically left me deaf.

The Who @ BCT -  1970

Everyone leaving the building that night couldn't  hear a thing.

Montrose

AC/DC Back in Black tour 1979.

Couldn’t hear well for weeks. Definitely resulted in hearing loss. Great show!!

Gov't Mule in late 80's. Warren's Soldano amp turned up past 11.

Warren Zevon solo on the Furthur Festival tour in '96. Piercing 12 string electric guitar.

Sunn O))) at Neumo's (a warehouse styled club) in 2006 in Seattle.  

Dinosaur, Jr. at the Showbox Marketplace around 2010.

Two that stand out.  Hot Tuna, Trenton War Memorial fall of 77.  Had to leave early as it was a school night, heard the show a 1/2 a way driving home.  Next was David Bowie and Tin Machine at the Warfield I think 97 or 98, ear splitting, but clear.  If its worth playing, it worth playing loud!

If it's too loud you are too old<<<

If you can remember what you heard, you weren't there, man...

In order

Led Zeppelin Freedom Hall Louisville KY 1977

Queen/Thin Lizzy Louisville Gardens 1977

The Who Riverfront Coliseum Cincy OH 1979

Sleep/Sunn O)))/Boris - Mohawk Austin, TX 2016

My Bloody Valentine/Dinosaur Jr./Screaming Trees - Ritz NYC 1988

Pink Floyd - Carnegie Hall 1972

I have to agree hot tuna in the late 70's st suny Binghamton gym and the black crowes 92 in Barton hall. The more people left, the louder the crowes played. I caught the crowes in a small auditorium in Geneva 2002, I was prepared with earplugs. The guy sitting in front of me looked liked the dude on the Maxwell tapes, hair blowing back in front of the speakers. Also, early mule circa mid 90's helped with hearing loss. I'm sporting a hearing aide in my right ear these days, hope to keep the left ear working

Honorable mention -

Dixie Dregs at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley 1978

Rod Stewart at Shoreline in the mid-90s

Jane's Addiction at Shoreline about five years ago

Winner -

Kanye West at San Jose Arena two or three years ago. Unbelievable & endless deep bass assault. I left early and could still hear it outside the venue. For a major arena that's amazing.

Robin Trower at the Fill-mo. My ears haven't stopped ringing. 

Oh.  I forgot Richard Thompson at Tarrytown.  We had to retreat to the vestibule for a few electric numbers.

That thing where you can actually feel your eardrum vibrating is freaky.

Heard kind of a "whoosh" sound, as opposed to ringing, most of the following week.

John Entwistle at The Chance in Poughkeepsie.  He had a wall of monitors behind the band, there were so many we thought they had to be fake. They weren't.

Nektar at The (Show) Place in Dover NJ back in the 70's.  Their speaker set-up was intended for a theater, this was a club.

Deen Ween band opening for Primus at The Capitol in Port Chester. Just Deen being Deen. He was playing barefoot with a beer standing on the floor next to his pedalboard. If he knocked the beer over, THAT would have been interesting.

1) Ludacrist warming up for Eminem ,,,my shorts where waving in the wind that the speakers where making

2) Rush Hartford 90’ 1st row,,From the first note of “Force 10” I covered my ears , Getty came over and gave me a look like “ Bro that ain’t gunna work” 

Ted Nugent, Van halen, ....Black and Blue

> John Zorn's saxophone is too loud for Slim's<

Saw Masada in a club in philly, it was loud and amazing. I even played the part of the babbling, star struck fan as i approached Mr Zorn after the show. Masada was easily the best act i had seen in that club, and i told Mr Zorn just that...he was uninterested. 

Tried to think about this one for a day and it’s tough to narrow down. I can only remember leaving these shows in pain, and after having not been able to enjoy myself because of the volume. And I like it LOUD.

1. Bulletboys at the Palomino Club in Tarzana sometime maybe around 1998

2. Bon Jovi at the New York State fairgrounds, around 1989. New Jersey tour

honorable mention (I stayed for the whole show, it turned into a riot)

3. White Zombie / Pantera at Pioneer center in Reno, 1996?

I don't imagine any of these were louder than average, but....

Early 90s, ABB with Dickey, Warren, and Woody at Shoreline, 2nd row, the rows curve slightly,  and we were right of center far enough that my right ear was aimed right at the stack.  This was before I started bringing protection, I had to jam bits of napkin in my ear to survive.

Early-mid 80s, the Stone.  I think it was to see Jerry or Zero, but whoever it was there were 2 opening acts.  It wasn't that the performers were so loud, but they played the house music between acts just as loud as the performances, so it was non-stop hours of volume.  Couldn't even talk during the breaks.

Mid 70s, ELO (surprise), Cow Palace.  It's not that the overall band sound was so loud, but we were up high enough on the side that speakers were aimed right at us.  Those 2 amplified cellos bowed in unison rearranged my intestines.  I could see how sound could be used as a weapon!

19.5 I was at that Lenny Kravitz show at the Riv and yes sir it was a loud one!

Jucifer. 

James Gang, 1971, Syracuse War Memorial

it was so loud that my eardrums HURT

strong ringing in my ears lasted for more than a week

I'm sure it permanently damaged my hearing

I've been to probably 2000 shows since then, and nothing else even came close to being that loud

One I know for sure, blasted my ears was some Lynyrd Skynryd conglomeration in the early 90's.

Also, working at a couple venues I always brought my ear protection.  Bad sound guy.

 never said turn it down at a concert

The loudest by far was Jethro Tull around 1990 at James L Knight center in Miami

I like eeee

Minor league arena football games are really loud.

1990, ac/dc,  Rockford metro center...eleven-point-eleven

The Ramones at RIT sometime in the 80’s.  They had a large sound system for larger venues but were in a smallish space on campus, it went past 11.  Also I remember the Black and Blue show in Rochester was super loud, Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult.

https://youtu.be/nHHTxfZOH1Y