loudest band you've ever seen

- Neil Young & Crazy Horse on the 1991 tour w/Sonic Youth

- Borbetomagus and Merzbow (co-billed but not collaborating) at Tonic; when Merzbow pressed "play" on his laptop it was like a jet suddenly taking off from the stage

- Pantera, and their soundmix was for shit, too, so it was just raw pain

- Keiji Haino solo guitar at CBGBs

- High On Fire

Surprisingly not all that loud: Fushitsusha (though I was wearing earplugs)

All three were just painful. But too fun to leave.

Also, RATM at Roseland Ballroom in '99 counts as the most intense show I've attended. Loud, heavy and exhausting.

Way louder than Dinosaur Jr, Mogwai, etc. the times I saw them.

I couldn't hear my own voice for 2 days.

"These guys aren't so loud!"

"What?"

"I said, THESE GUYS AREN'T SO LOUD."

"WHAT?"

"NEVER MIND."

Also Peter Brotzmann. Holy SHIT.

Also, JAMC and Sugar seconded.

More oddly, Pale Saints.

i remember the SCARIEST loud noise i ever heard at a show. it was gwar in a small club in 1989 and they let off some pyro explosion that should NEVER have been let off in a club that small. scared the living hell out of me. a very loud exlosion going off 10 feet from your face will do that though.

The Camaros broke up, and their guitarist is in Bionic now, but I doubt they sound as loud as that show I saw.

Rammer's still around, probably just as loud.

Let me second this. Saw the same show. It hurt so good.

Mmmmmm. Broadcast did that when I saw them supporting Yo La Tengo about 4 years ago.

Good loud: Beasts of Bourbon reunion show at the Lava Lounge.

though i hear bailter space at the same venue just a few months later may have been even louder...

I imagine their volume levels were somewhat tame by today's standards.

My Bloody Valentine (at Hammerjacks! ... in Baltimore!)

No so Loud
High Rise
Motorhead

'Twas meh.

Kitchens of Distinction - Ears ringing for two days.

Test Department - Ears ringing ringing for three days.

was like 10 drills digging into the brain
excess alcohol and substances were of little help

Loudest shows I ever saw - Manowar, Motorhead, Merzbow, Sunn O))), Swans.

The Who in 1975 were pretting f'in loud too, I was in the very back of Riverfront Coliseum where the sounds rezound off the ceiling.

Saw John Cale's Sabotage tour myself, which I remember as a great show but not super-loud though he did have a "metal" gtrist IIRC.

Loudest good band: Primal Scream seconded.

All of which does beg the question, does the volume serve the music? I remember a My Bloody Valentine gig in Belfast round '89/90, having badgered a group a friends to accompany me making all sorts of outlandish (but justified) claims for their music. There was the mosh-pit and then a gap with most of the rest the audience cowering at the back of the hall. The gorgeous melodies under the noise got lost. There were times I barely recognised the tunes. I got some frosty looks during a post-gig party.

With other bands, like Sunn O))) the physicality of the volume made more sense somehow. Feeling it in your bones.

Black Dice at ATP

at the 2011 Animal Collective ATP? I recall feeling that the entire inside of my head felt it was going to vibrate into dust.

Motorhead at First Avenue

Or maybe that one early 00s noise band where the dudes wore Donny Darko type creepy Rabbit heads? Can't think of the name

does the volume serve the music?

there is definitely such a thing as 'too loud'. I was at a Cannibal Corpse show once where the volume was painfully loud to the point of damaging and while I had a good time, my ears paid for it (I should use earplugs).

same thing with Noisem once - they requested their volume be pumped up, and it made their music incomprehensible to the point of me not giving a shit.

mbv / boredoms were predictably loud as fuck on the occasions i've seen them live but, less predictably, prince and 3rdeyegirl were also super-loud when i saw them in glasgow last year, enough that some feebs next to us left after a few songs

Or maybe that one early 00s noise band where the dudes wore Donny Darko type creepy Rabbit heads? Can't think of the name

― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi shakedown), Thursday, November 26, 2015 10:02 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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