You young guys who think you don't need earplugs may regret it later, you are doing permanent damage to your ears and you
will have tinnitus at some point in the future if you go to enough loud concerts without ear protection. I speak from experience, I have mild tinnitus from my younger days, not so bad that I lay awake in bed at night going crazy, but it's definitely there and it's not something you want. And I'm not some old fogey, I'm only 30.
I personally don't wear earplugs since I feel you lose a little something from the experience.
This doesn't have to be the case. Get some good musicians' earplugs that are designed not to disproportionatelyl block out all the high frequencies. Also, how you place the plugs in your ears can have a big impact on the sound. Pushing them all the way in for maximum isolation does indeed give things a kind of muffled sound, but you can place them so that they don't ruin the sound while still giving significant protection.
It also depends on set, though. To me, Nightwish didn't seem too terribly loud and I actually took my earplugs out during there set. But there's no way in hell I could have made it through Symphony X's set without earplugs.
I am all about instant gratification with little regard for the future.
The thing you have to realize, is that you may not be able to enjoy music to the same extent in the future because of hearing damage. Imagine how much that will suck.
Did you notice that Tom Englund of Evergrey wore earplugs as well
The smart musicians all wear earplugs these days. If an evening or two at a concert can do damage to your ears imagine what happens when you spend several months a year touring and exposing your ears to that several nights a week. Lots of musicians have learned that lesson the hard way and have significant hearing loss and other problems.
