Earplugs at concerts back in the day

I'm 85 and have been to over 2,000 concerts in last 60 years and have near-perfect hearing without using anything .
Of course they were all Classical  Music outings .

Dear Schubert. Good for you. You're my Dad's age. Keep well.

A few years ago, while attending the Montreal Jazz Festival, my wife & I joined our son at a Trombone Shorty concert in one of the clubs, and the music was so loud, you couldn't hear anything.  You could see that the singer was singing into the microphone, but you couldn't hear any vocals, you could see the horns playing, but it was too loud to hear them, etc.  The waiter brought over a pair of ear plugs which attenuated the volume enough, so we could make out some of the singing and instruments.

That's become one of my "pet peeves", that so many sound reinforcement people have the volume up higher than the room can accomodate.