― Maciej Kasperowicz (Maciej), Sunday, 30 April 2006 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Sunday, 30 April 2006 22:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― AaronK (AaronK), Sunday, 30 April 2006 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Aaron A, Sunday, 30 April 2006 23:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Sunday, 30 April 2006 23:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Sunday, 30 April 2006 23:14 (eighteen years ago) link
MIA was followed by LCD Soundsystem, at appropriate volume.
― dee eff (dee eff), Monday, 1 May 2006 00:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Paul (scifisoul), Monday, 1 May 2006 00:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― twoheadedboy, Monday, 1 May 2006 05:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― S- (sgh), Monday, 1 May 2006 05:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― shieldforyoureyes, Monday, 1 May 2006 07:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Monday, 1 May 2006 11:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Monday, 1 May 2006 11:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― something less threatening (heywood), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alone, Jealous and SSRI'd (kate), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alone, Jealous and SSRI'd (kate), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:52 (eighteen years ago) link
Otherwise, probably standing in front of Luke's Jazz Chorus at a Rapture show. Dude sure does like the "bright" switch.
― Eppy (Eppy), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― antonio, Monday, 1 May 2006 18:55 (eighteen years ago) link
I WAS AT THIS SHOW. Lupos in downtown Providence, November 2001, I believe. Great show!
― Bill Magill, Monday, 1 May 2006 18:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― So Ho La (So Ho La), Monday, 1 May 2006 23:45 (eighteen years ago) link
after a while my ears must have got used to it and the gig was one of the best and most powerful things i have ever witnessed with gira rolling about the stage almost completely naked. in hindsight, it was really stupidly loud. probably illegally loud but at the time i loved it.
i went to see them in glasgow the next night but it was cancelled as the venue there refused point blank to let them bring the pa into the building.
the next loudest thing was jeff mills also at the edinburgh venue circa 1997 when he played at a club night i did there. he had had some of his tracks cut onto metal acetates (which he would play and then throw onto the ground - i guess they were pretty indestructable). the process of having them cut onto metal (something i have never seen before or since) meant that they were about twice the volume of normal vinyl. the club was notoriously loud to begin with but this was just insane. i was standing behind him and smelled burning and looked round and saw that he had literally caused one of the monitors to go on fire. as was mentioned in one of the whitehouse posts above, the air took on a weird texture. for the whole night i had been unable to find my friend sam. she had been up for a couple of nights so i figured she must have gone to sleep in her car. at the end of jeff mills' set, she emerged from beneath a pile of coats under the dj riser. she had slept through the whole thing!
― stirmonster (stirmonster), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 00:36 (eighteen years ago) link
The most OTM thing on this thread.
Most unexpectedly loud band? Cocteau Twins. The shows around 84/85 were very, very loud indeed and considering some of the venues they were in it's hard to see how they got away with it.
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 07:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― not taking this seriously, Tuesday, 2 May 2006 08:24 (eighteen years ago) link
I also once played a gig with a band in Iowa called Scorched Earth Policy whose guitarist was plugged into a speaker bigger than the club's mains. During soundcheck the mix guy confidentially showed me that the power on the board was completely off and it was still completely deafening. God Bless you, Scorched Earth Policy!
― Major Bloodnok (Major Bloodnok), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 23:48 (eighteen years ago) link
Motörhead on their 'The Wörld is yours' tour, ~50 meters from stage.(pic shows deciBel for android)http://s7.directupload.net/images/101206/temp/57ig5czy.jpg
― meisenfek, Monday, 6 December 2010 14:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Sunn 0))) in 2005 in manchester for sheer brain busting volume in a 100 cap venue. Every time a pint was put down it shimmyed off the table onto the floor. Gigs/clubs are so so anal about volume levels in london now it was amazing to be blown away in berlin recently at mikz and berghain
― straightola, Monday, 6 December 2010 14:48 (thirteen years ago) link
BORIS
― kanellos (gbx), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:07 (thirteen years ago) link
neds atomic dustbin 94
― I've got a bush like a 50 year old Serbian (chrisv2010), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, I think Motorhead is probably the loudest band I've seen.They brought their own monitor set up and it was bigger than the house PA.And it was at the biggest club in town. They were great and really loved their reception from the locals.
― Trip Maker, Monday, 6 December 2010 15:18 (thirteen years ago) link
MBV at Ricky's in Leeds in spring 88. A tiny nightclub with its speakers in all four corners of the room. So loud it was hard to tell which was up or down. It was actually quite frightening. Got the hearing in my left ear permanently damaged by Airbourne at the Borderline a couple of years back, but I think that would have been fine if I'd been able to get a bit further away from the speakers. Since then, my left ear starts hurting if things are getting too loud, and the most pain caused has been by, of all bands, Fleet Foxes at the Roundhouse. Had to stick finger in ear, so it looked as if I was harmonising.
― ithappens, Monday, 6 December 2010 15:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Boris were ridiculous when I saw them. I'm not really a fan of metal; I just saw them because the show was cheap and I was in Milwaukee that day. When they handed out earplugs at the door, I knew about what to expect. Whenever you took the earplugs out you would just get overwhelmed by noise. It was just physically painful to be without them.
Most shows I've seen in general have been too loud. Maybe my ears are just weak but every time I go without earplugs I find it hard to really have a good time. Plus knowing that your ears will ring for a couple of days after plus you might get permanent hearing loss is kind of a turn off. I wonder why they don't just turn it down a notch. The only two shows I saw that were not too loud were Kraftwerk and Sufjan Stevens (yeah, I know). I dig trying to drown out conversation but why make it physically painful?? (/cry)
― frogbs, Monday, 6 December 2010 15:37 (thirteen years ago) link
MBVBoredomsDino Jr
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Swans (duh)
― let's all go down the strand.....galifianaaakis (MaresNest), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:15 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't remember them being ~quite~ as loud as Boris, but i saw lightning bolt at the same venue and my buddy had significant tinnitus for over a WEEK afterwards.
― kanellos (gbx), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:17 (thirteen years ago) link
sunn O))) and oval
― am0n, Monday, 6 December 2010 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
MBV was pretty loud even in a big venue.
― got electrolytes (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
my hearing was numb for a good 5 days after seeing lightning bolt
i saw a band called diet pills in a show my friend put on in my town and that was pretty face melting. none of the amplifiers were mic'ed either. http://www.last.fm/music/diet+pills/_/Sun
― jumpskins, Monday, 6 December 2010 17:26 (thirteen years ago) link
seen a few of the famously loud bands, but they all paled in comparison to, oddly, wire, which felt like a literal beating to the eardrums. also oddly, flaming lips c. 2003? gave me my scariest incident, as for a couple of days afterwards the hearing in my right ear was pitched up.
― Antoine Bugleboy (Merdeyeux), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:33 (thirteen years ago) link
black keys were also very loud
― I've got a bush like a 50 year old Serbian (chrisv2010), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Motorhead, hands down. I could feel my ear drum flapping in like a piece of wax paper in my skull. Actually left early because I could not take it, which was my official entry into middle age.
― thirdalternative, Monday, 6 December 2010 17:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Envy @ ATP a couple of years back. I was bellowing inanely for days after that, with no concept of what actual sounds sounded like any more. Battles were on in the venue next door and had to turn their sound up to be heard, which just encouraged Envy to get even fucking louder.
― ailsa, Monday, 6 December 2010 17:54 (thirteen years ago) link
Flaming Lips were known for playing v loud live back in the day, but I suppose it was odd they were that loud in 2003, long after their "makeover".
― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:55 (thirteen years ago) link
why make it physically painful?? (/cry)
Four years and 150-some posts before somebody asked this!
― The animal magnetism of Tim Pawlenty (Dan Peterson), Monday, 6 December 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
mogwai was one of the 1st answers way upthread, and yeah, when i saw them in 2000, they just about killed me. was at a medium sized club with a large dance floor, and by the end of their set, the crowd was pushed back like 20 or 30 feet from the stage, most of us out front or in the hallway leading in. overwhelming and quite painful, though they'd built up to that point over the course of the show - wasn't constant throughout. never seen MBV, but i've heard tales, and wonder whether mogwai were paying tribute.
flaming lips in the early 90s were loud as hell, but maybe not quite at ear-destroying mogwai levels.
speaking of ear destruction, the most damaging show i've ever seen has to have been the hellacopters in 1999. they were incredibly loud and i was incredibly drunk, near or in front of the PA for much of the show - a constant wall of piercing feedback throughout. when fu manchu came on afterwards, my ears were ringing so loudly that i could barely hear them. they were still ringing two or three days later, by far the longest post-show noise hangover i've ever experienced.
― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Monday, 6 December 2010 18:21 (thirteen years ago) link
Azusa Plane were damn loud when I saw the.:-/
― Trip Maker, Monday, 6 December 2010 18:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Dinosaur Jr in 1992, I couldn't hear for days after.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 6 December 2010 18:35 (thirteen years ago) link
In the non-metal category, loudest band I think i saw was Little Feat in the late 80s early 90s time frame. Killer band.
Quietest band: Im so used to going to hard rock/metal shows when I saw the Allman Bros. a couple years ago, I could barely hear it. They needed to turn up a little bit.
― Randy Moss' dog's personal chef (Bill Magill), Monday, 6 December 2010 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
when The Body played at my store in october i honestly couldn't believe how loud they were. i tried to go up close, but the evil wind coming from their amps pushed me back. they were set up to play in, like, a medium-sized hall. in my basement.
― scott seward, Monday, 6 December 2010 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
in the case of a lot of ppl listed itt I think the answer is basically 'because they're sociopaths'
― Princess BigSam (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 December 2010 18:47 (thirteen years ago) link