LOUDEST Concert and Tinnitus

Hot Tuna (electric obviously) in the mid - late 70's.  Louder than all of the others - Stones, Who, etc

Someone mentioned a Clapton show from the Journeyman show. Saw one of those at the Hartford CC and while not loudest I've heard, the sound was extremely harsh and I had to leave well before the end.

Had 3rd row far left seats at the Beacon Theater for an Allman Bros. show in the 90's. We were right in front of a speaker stack on the stage and I couldn't hear a thing when the show ended. Good sound but really really loud.

I've been to over 100 Grateful Dead and Garcia Band shows and the sound was great at most of them. Sometimes it would take the sound guys a few songs to get things just exactly perfect but once they did it didn't get much better. Often extremely loud but the sound was so clean it rarely felt uncomfortable. And when Lesh's bass was dialed in it was heaven.

I've had pretty severe tinnitus for at least 40 years, mostly due to having a lot of ear infections and other issues when I was a kid. All the concerts probably haven't helped but I don't think they've made it much worse either. The brain is usually pretty good at blocking it out most of the time.

I'd like to add one more concert that was way too loud to be even considered music and that was a Lou Reed concert. Nothing sounded right, let alone relatable to the music I knew. It was just painstakingly loud to the point where I tried to walk out but my friend was so bummed out about it that I just sat there with my hands over my ears.

My ears were ringing all the way home. Right now I'm scratching my head as to just what it was that started all this nonsense regarding concerts so loud that it hurt and how that became a rite of passage of sorts. I remember seeing Talking Heads and their Stop Making Sense tour and how much fun that was and never once did I have to cover my ears.

All the best,
Nonoise

I used to have a recording studio and at least half my projects were hard core bands in the Portland area. I went to see most every band I recorded at one or more of their live shows and the sound levels were punishing. Fortunately I had discovered Etymotic earplugs (ER20) and I wore them religiously. I ordered a couple dozen pairs at a time directly from the manufacturer because I would give a pair to each member of the bands I recorded along with a lecture about protecting their hearing. When the guy from Etymotic found out what I was doing with them he gave me a huge discount.

Before I learned to wear earplugs I walked out of an ELP concert in Spokane because it was stupid crazy loud and I couldn't take it any more. After about 20 minutes my two buddies and I just looked at each other and instantly knew what all of us were thinking. We walked out. Prior to my hardcore experience that concert took the prize.

I was able to escape tinnitus, at least so far (I'm 67), because I knew that my dad and my brother fought tinnitus and hearing loss because of their military service. I would break off the filters from a couple of cigarettes and stuff them into my ears to get some relief before I learned about high quality earplugs. I made absolutely sure that my kids always had earplugs when they went to live shows and they have thanked me.

I’ve had tinnitus for at least 40 yrs—first noticed it hiking in the desert Southwest in 1986 and I was in a dead silent box canyon hearing the most astounding loud ringing in my ears! Mine was caused by blasting music in my parents’ and then my own car. It was the 60s and we all turned up the AM radio as far as it would go. Loudest concert I ever attended was Stones Steel Wheels tour in DC around 1989. RFK Stadium was LOUD sound was CRAP  but we stayed for the whole 4 hrs! Did not help the tinnitus. I’ve more or less gotten used to it though it does seem really loud these days.