LOUDEST Concert and Tinnitus

Memories fade, but I tend to remember the loudness of concerts by the amount of days afterwards where my ears continued to ring. I also have to say that volume level varied a lot as to where I was sitting...or standing.

Anyway --

Led Zeppelin at the Shrine Exposition Hall (or was it the Rose Palace?).

Blind Faith at the same locale.

Whole bunches of bands at the Whiskey. They liked it loud at that joint.

The Who. I always wore earplugs to rock concerts even though by buddies often chided me for it. (They're half-deaf now, or worse.)  But the earplugs weren't sufficient with the Who, so I actually had to walk out and miss the show. Not a joke.

Eric Clapton at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta for the Journeyman tour. I noticed my ears rang for weeks. My seat was about 26 rows and I felt I was getting direct sound and tons of reflection off the roof. Like a beam.

I have slight tinnitus but able to ignore it most of the time. I do sleep with white noise which mitigates it at night.

fortunately as as a young adult I began wearing ear protection to concerts. 

Grenade practice at basic training, I dropped one and my ears rang for the next decade.

Hot Tuna at Rutgers University in NJ. I sat with my right ear up against their wall of speakers and that ear has never recovered. I sometimes have tinnitus but luckily it’s not too bad.