― bob george (Lee is Free), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― jeremiah q. fuckface, Friday, 28 April 2006 17:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― xcaliberostos, Friday, 28 April 2006 17:08 (seventeen years ago) link
High on Fire.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― bijoux (bijoux), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:17 (seventeen years ago) link
― nerve pylon (flat_of_angles), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
more recently, Clinic were extremely loud and skreechy...
― hank (hank s), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― ath (ath), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― hugaboo (space hard), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:32 (seventeen years ago) link
― Matt Carlson (mattsoncarlhew), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:32 (seventeen years ago) link
louder than the loudest: the who...in 1989, believe it or not.
oddly enough, when i saw fushitsusha they weren't that loud.
― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― 6335, Friday, 28 April 2006 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― patita (patita), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― that's so taylrr (ken taylrr), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― bmus (bmus), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― JW (ex machina), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:54 (seventeen years ago) link
yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― christoff (christoff), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― ghost dong (Sonny A.), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― ath (ath), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Washable School Paste (sexyDancer), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr. Gene Scott (shinybeast), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link
I also remember Zeni Geva being pretty loud.
― Raw Patrick (Raw Patrick), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― jergins (jergins), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mr. Silverback (Mr. Silverback), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mervin Heinz, Friday, 28 April 2006 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Trace Henry (Trace), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:12 (seventeen years ago) link
We have meeting rooms at work intended to hold six people. They contain the same fire alarms as are used in open-plan areas. That's pretty much what it was like. Very hard to make anything out with or without earplugs. There's a level beyond which it becomes a stupid ordeal. I remember the first UK Swans tour being about the same, but with an utterly brutal moshpit to boot. Lovely.
― Soukesian, Friday, 28 April 2006 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Paul Nachtway, Friday, 28 April 2006 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Harpal (harpal), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:21 (seventeen years ago) link
x-post: Metallica weren't that loud when I saw them on that tour at the Capitol Centre in Lanover as Crazy Horse were in the same venue on the tour that became Arc/Weld.
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― prince rupert, Friday, 28 April 2006 18:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sean Braudis (Sean Braudis), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― JW (ex machina), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:35 (seventeen years ago) link
- 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)
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:36 (seventeen years ago) link
All three were just painful. But too fun to leave.
― undeadsinatra, Friday, 28 April 2006 18:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― JW (ex machina), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― rizzx (Rizz), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link
acts, even
― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link
Predictable maybe, but true. Now I think about it Isolée was absolutely deafening at a club in The Hague a few years back
― stevo-rd, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:42 (eight years ago) link
Flying Lotus. So loud I literally couldn't hear wtf was going on and left (it was at ATP so someone else was on).
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:44 (eight years ago) link
Six By Seven (at the LA2)Napalm Death (at the old Marquee)Sunn O))) as well, but it's a different kind of loud; a sort of body-consciousness loud.
― Poacher (Chinaski), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:54 (eight years ago) link
Not to derail the thread, but has anyone been to a show where speakers *actually* blew out Back-To-The-Future-style?
Twice: Borbetomagus, and Khanate. Both at Tonic.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:02 (eight years ago) link
Hahaha, I saw Khanate at Tonic and the dust was like flopping off the brick walls and landing on me
― bricc baby hitlo (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:04 (eight years ago) link
I've seen plenty of SunnO))) and Swans shows, but I still think Black Dice at ATP and certain Melvins nights may have taken the cake for me
― bricc baby hitlo (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:05 (eight years ago) link
hank williams jr.
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:05 (eight years ago) link
Borbetomagus
― Modern French Music from Failure to Boulez (askance johnson), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:08 (eight years ago) link
oh, and also: earthless (luna lounge, cmj, circa 2007)
― fact checking cuz, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:11 (eight years ago) link
Six By Seven in 2007 may we be my answer too
― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link
oddly, procol harum were freaking loud at the cw post dome. grand hotel tour. i think steeleye span opened; i wish i could go back in time and see that one again. i'd bring plugs.
― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:15 (eight years ago) link
Battles at Supersonic '07, the bass was so loud it gave me mild but permanent tinnitus in my right ear. I was trapped by the crowd right next to the PA, which didn't help obviously, but I didn't have the same problem with more outright hostile bands like Oxbow
― ultros ultros-ghali, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:31 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, I saw Sunn O))) there (with Chrome Hoof and Sunburned Hand of the Man) and it was like a gentle rain from the ceiling all night.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:32 (eight years ago) link
you guys should check out strep torso if you get a chance. he's a hoot! he filled my basement with amps when he played at the store. lovely smell of burning wires after he was done. still not as loud as The Body when they played in my basement, but he got pretty damn loud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1WRxhjGuZM
― scott seward, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:34 (eight years ago) link
this was actually the last time i really feared for my ears at the store though. my pal jeff making the walls bleed. i ran for some plugs. overwhelmingly loud given the size of the store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-woo46kDNc
― scott seward, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:38 (eight years ago) link
sounded awesome though.
apparently 誤訳侮辱, Whiney & i mighta been at the same Khanate show! (s.o'm was a coworker, supernice guy)
othwise bloody valentine
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:52 (eight years ago) link
He never fails to bleed walls.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:57 (eight years ago) link
Helmet opening for Sonic Youth in 93Astro/Solmania (not sure which was loudest, I was outside) in 2007 (?)
― sarahell, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 18:27 (eight years ago) link
Black Dice or Deerhunter
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 18:49 (eight years ago) link
are we accounting for venue size here? I can't remember how loud Jucifer actually are.
― welltris (crüt), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 19:02 (eight years ago) link
idk but Swans weren't that loud when I saw them ... nowhere near as loud as those Japanese noise acts I mentioned
― sarahell, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 19:07 (eight years ago) link
Unsane at CBGB in the 90s. Decent show but damn, tinnitus for weeks.
― yes wave (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 19:14 (eight years ago) link
Is there a connection between loudness and Blowing the Other Band off the Stage? Like, there must be acts who use volume purely to distract from a dull performance?
On that subject:
They make a hell of a racket for a two-piece.
...and they make a hell of a racket for three people.
Do some reviewers really not understand what an amp does? Not to say that a review shouldn't mention if a concert is really loud, but "hell of a racket" often seems like a cliché/filler sentence.
Anyway, to answer the question, probably some no-mark band at Donington. But I hear the Ting Tings are pretty loud.
― flyingtrain (sbahnhof), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
Tricky (97)Whitehouse (08)Spectrum (08)
― gaudio, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:24 (eight years ago) link
I saw Tricky in '97 too - don't remember him being particularly loud, but maybe Irving Plaza has stricter volume restrictions than wherever you were. I do remember him performing in total darkness.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:32 (eight years ago) link
total darkness indeed, and loud too, extremely loud. saw him that year in lisbon
― gaudio, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:36 (eight years ago) link
I saw Tricky in the fall of '98. Not very loud, and in a not-very-large venue.
fwiw, openers Whale blew him off the stage (and were no louder, but were far more intense).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:05 (eight years ago) link
whale rule.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:09 (eight years ago) link
daft punk was really loud idk otherwise i dont go 2 noize shows
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:12 (eight years ago) link
The Sunn O))) show I saw in Atlanta was loud, but not in my top 5 loudest.
― phở intellectual (WilliamC), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:12 (eight years ago) link
merzbow
― no lime tangier, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:15 (eight years ago) link
High On Fire, one of their earlier tours, where they played to almost no-one except this one dude standing in the middle of the floor, grinning, fingers in his ears.
My Bloody Valentine that last tour. As they were about the begin and we all put in our plugs, my one metal friend paused. "Aren't you going to wear earplugs?" I asked. "I want to see how loud it is first," he answered. Thirty seconds passed. "Yeah, it's loud," he said, putting in his plugs.
Nine Inch Nails "Downward Spiral" arena tour. Ears rang for days.
Metallica 1997, Poor Touring Me tour (with the collapsing stage). Convinced this is the one that hurt my wife's ears enough that she rarely goes to shows with me.
I recall one Mogwai set that sounded like a plane taking off.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:19 (eight years ago) link
Lol I was just coming here to post HoF. They blew my earlobes off last year. Guitars like chainsaws.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:20 (eight years ago) link
Ex Models, at a small local club. it was a three piece, with kid millions on drums. very loud, and very effective (muddled properly)
Thrones, in somebody's basement. Sandy, Utah. with a bunch of high school kids, it was awesome.
MBV (obligatory), in 2009? Santa Monica, California. the sound was mixed properly for the venue.
more recently, Autechre at the Bluebird theater, Denver, Colorado. it was loud, but very clean/clear. didn't need earplugs for most of their set.
Ween, back in the 90s, at a local club. it destroyed my ears.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:34 (eight years ago) link
loudest band i have ever seen was ruins. at one point it was so loud it was giving me weird visual side effects.
― the late great, Thursday, 26 November 2015 07:50 (eight years ago) link
Hijokaidan!― jed_ (jed), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:35 (9 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 26 November 2015 11:57 (eight years ago) link
Back in the day it was definitely Killing Joke.
― Caput Johannis in Disco (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 November 2015 12:55 (eight years ago) link
when No Age was touring with the guy doing live samples, that was pretty amazingly loud.Otherwise MBV (obligatory) and the Replacements.
― campreverb, Thursday, 26 November 2015 13:19 (eight years ago) link
Not a band as such, but Squarepusher was exceedingly noisy the other week.
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Thursday, 26 November 2015 13:21 (eight years ago) link
Winnebago Deal...and Mansun
― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 26 November 2015 13:22 (eight years ago) link
Saw MBV and Swans too and they were loud, obviously, and I had my own earplugs and they handed them out at the shows too, but Embrace in 1997 and 2000 were probably just as loud, and everyone I've ever seen at The Cavern in Exeter has left my ears ringing for days afterwards, probably just by dint of it being a sweaty stone cellar.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 26 November 2015 13:49 (eight years ago) link
Like many others my previous answer (Black Flag, Curve, and Yes) is revised to MBV. If I had to pick any one show it would be the one at the El Rey where someone had a seizure during the soundcheck.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 26 November 2015 14:00 (eight years ago) link
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.
― stevo-rd, Thursday, 26 November 2015 14:12 (eight years ago) link
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.
― Merdeyeux, Thursday, 26 November 2015 14:32 (eight years ago) link
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
― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 26 November 2015 15:02 (eight years ago) link
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.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Thursday, 26 November 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
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
― hand of jehuty and the blowfish (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 26 November 2015 15:28 (eight years ago) link
― Amira, Queen of Creativity (upper mississippi shakedown), Thursday, November 26, 2015 10:02 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
White Mice?
― flappy bird, Thursday, 26 November 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link