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What was the L O U D E S T concert you ever attended?


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The thing about Miles and loudness in his comeback period was the prevelence of low, low frequencies from Marcus Miller. I recall a 1981 concert in Chicago at the Auditorium Theater during which, part way through, I was alarmingly overcome by a sudden wave of deep depression (utterly novel to me). A while later I mentioned this to Martin Williams, who said he'd had a similar experience with that band and added that a CIA guy he knew had told him that the CIA had determined that large doses of ultra low frequency sounds (below the level of audibility) can cause sudden onsets of depression, and that the CIA had (or planned to) make use of these techniques.

So can we expect jazz rock to be deployed in the war on terror? :wacko:

I think they used (or tried to use) those techniques some time ago on Noriega in Panama.

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guys who said electric miles.....

was this really the loudest show youve ever been to or was it cause electric miles was the only electric concert you guys ever went to...or was electric miles genuniely really really land

The engagement Michael and I were referring to was in a relatively small place. It was loud.

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Been to a few painful shows - Ziggy Marley, Iron Maiden (too close to the stacks), some punk band my friend took me to see at the Heidelberg in Ann Arbor back in the early 90's.

The stage volume at a couple of organissimo gigs got a wee bit out of hand. :wacko:

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guys who said electric miles.....

was this really the loudest show youve ever been to or was it cause electric miles was the only electric concert you guys ever went to...or was electric miles genuniely really really land

No, it was loud. I saw most of the late sixties rock bands The Who, Lou Reed, Mountain, Jefferson Airplane, etc. Mile was loud with those two guitarists and that bank of Marshall amps. If you put on Agartha and play it at toip volume with headphones on, it was that loud.

Great show by the way.

MILES 1973 Video

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Humble Pie around 1972, with Peter Frampton in the group. Stacks of Marshall amps in what was once a movie theater(Capitol theater in Passaic, NJ) and I could feel my internal organs vibrating and seeming to shift around from the volume- only time I got an upset stomach from a concert. Opening act was J. Geils Band and they blew away Humble Pie(two encores for J. Geils!!), so once humble Pie came on with the painful volume the place started to empty.

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Loudest: Kieran Hebden/Fourtet SOOOO much bass in a small club -- nuts. Ear plugs didn't help

2nd loudest: Amon Tobin, the Brazilian drum-n-bass guy. The was pleasantly very loud, well EQed. There was a straw in my empty glass that vibrated back and forth.

3rd loudest: Acid Mothers Temple at the 7th Street Entry in Mpls. TINY club, Marshall double stack turned ALL of the way up, me and friend standing 8 ft from it. Never felt a guitar in my bones like that before.

4th loudest: Peter Brotzmann/Nasheet Waits duo. I sat literally 5 feet from his horn. He plays so fucking loud. OMG. Primal.

5th loudest: Motorhead at First Ave. But, I honestly was hoping it would be louder.

I wear earplugs at almost all shows, and I most definitely bring them to all shows, just in case. If forced to go to a nightclub, I bring them there, too.

My grandfather has very little hearing as a result of gunfire & mid 20th century agriculture. As a result, my parents put earplugs in my ears when they needed to, preserving all of my hearing. I have only had ears ringing at one point. It was horrifying. I even wear earplugs when I vacuum the house.

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Guest Bill Barton

Huh? What'd you say?

A performance of John Cage's 4' 33" in a Sheffield steelworks.
:lol:

#1: A triple bill of Arrow, Third World and Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Spectrum in Montreal. Arrow was painfully loud. I walked out about 1/4 way through. Came back for Third World who were great but the sound guy was still cranking it up too much. Thank goodness he finally toned it down for Ladysmith!

#2: The Pat Metheny Group years ago at Dartmouth College's Spaulding Auditorium. Way too much amplification for the size of the hall...

#3: The Billy Cobham/George Duke Band in Burlington, VT (I don't recall whether this was at The Flynn Theatre or the infamous Memorial Auditorium.) The music sucked too at that one. The only saving grace was John Scofield on guitar. And the roadies were serious jerks. A loverly evening.

#4: The Allman Brothers Band post-Duane playing in the freaking hockey rink at Dartmouth. This was an impenetrable wall of mid-frequency noise. I remember climbing up on the bleachers behind the band to check out the drummers doing their thing. About 40 feet away I could see them clearly but couldn't hear a thing that they were doing through the audio muck.

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The more I think about, I can't remember (huh?) what the loudest concert I've seen has been. Many contenders over the years.

Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Overkill, Motorhead (who I mentioned earlier), Danzig, Soundgarden, Kreator, Destruction, Black Sabbath, Wrathchild (America), Queens Of The Stone Age, Sepultura, Ozzy, Corrosion Of Conformity, Whiplash, Anthrax, Voi Vod, Faith No More, Savatage, Forced Entry, D.R.I., High On Fire, Nuclear Assault, Exodus...many others I was either too high or drunk to remember...

I had my hearing checked about a year ago, my left ear is good shape, my right ear has some hearing loss in the upper registers...amazing considering how many of these shows I went to without ear plugs.

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...

#2: The Pat Metheny Group years ago at Dartmouth College's Spaulding Auditorium. Way too much amplification for the size of the hall...

I second that. I saw eight PMG shows in the '80s and '90s, and they all had a perfect sound. But the last show I saw in the late '90s was way too loud. Maybe it's due to the fact that they play a lot of open air shows and can no longer handle things when playing halls...

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My Bloody Valentine, and I'd lay money down that it was the loudest show of any mentioned in this thread.

Agreed - saw them in Toronto about 3 weeks ago - reported on this already. I was quite prepared with plugs and ear protectors.

130 dB baby!

I second that commotion! Passed on the recent reunion tour but saw them open for Dinosaur in 1992.

Close second: Keiji Heino in Oct of 2007 (Prague, CZ). Bananas.

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