speaking of earplugs, what's the loudest and quietest band you've heard?

Loudest = Motorhead @ The Vic (forgot the year, maybe 99 or 2000)

My head and heart were throbbing the entire set.
God damn that Mikkey Dee!!!

Quietest = Dream Theater, I guess, since that's the one show that comes to mind. I remember being able to have a full conversation throughout their set without having to raise our inside voices to outside voices.
 
But if it's loud and you put ear plugs in you make it quieter. :p

Anyway, I like a loud show but FFS, I want to hear things.

You'd be surprised how your ears almost immediately adjust to ear protection and it seems loud, but it isn't as damaging to you. (Your ears won't ring afterward.)

Btw, I can't stand earplugs, they actually block out too much for my taste. I go with cotton or tissue.
 
the loudest for me would be In Flames at the Roxy in ATL. It was so loud you could not even tell what they were playing, but you just knew that it shook your whole body.

I kind of miss the Roxy:cry:
 
Loudest was Iron Maiden on the Powerslave tour at Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena). I was in the second to last row on the top balcony center stage. They started a song that was something like "Where Eagles Dare" or something else equally well known, and I couldn't figure out what song it was for at least 30 seconds. It was WAY too loud.
 
The quietest show was Rite of Strings at an outdoor amphitheater...I was sticking all my empty (glass) beer bottles under my chair, and quickly ran out of room...when I went to try and stick another one under my chair, I knocked over all the other empty bottles in a chain reaction from hell...you could definitely hear the commotion of glass bottles falling over and rolling down concrete steps drowning out Stanley Clarke's stand-up bass solo...if you were at that show, I'm sure you're thinking "oh, YOU were THAT GUY" because EVERYONE heard it :lol:

Shit, that's a great story! :lol:


For quietest, this might be cheating, but the Draco and the Malfoys acoustic show last September.

Wha....?!

(I'm assuming this was NOT Tom Felton (actor) acoustic, was it?)


Loudest show I can remember was Jackyl at the St. Petersburg Civic Arena. It was a New Year's Eve show with three openers; one of them was a friends' band, Mutha's Day Out, hence why we made the journey down to Tampa/St. Pete. They had the PA set for a decently large hockey arena, which would have been fine...except that the show probably only sold about 50% of the arena's capacity, and the 'slapback' from all the unused concrete risers and seating made the sound truly hellish. After about two minutes we all took refuge backstage, and proceeded to steal the Screaming Cheetah Wheelies' leftover Oreos and orange juice. :lol:

Quietest show I've ever heard that was definably a "metal" show would be Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a few years ago at the Gwinnett Arena near ATL. I had my earplugs in, as I always do....and after half a song I popped them out and listened in wonder. The audio was at a perfect listening level. As someone said, this was surely because they draw a...diverse...audience, but it was great to hear. :kickass:

Honorable mentions: Riverside at PPUSA, Porcupine Tree at the Masquerade. Both had incredibly crisp sound, not so much 'quiet' as well-balanced. In the latter case, PT actually brought their own mixing board with them and had it set up next to the venue's regular board. :D (This was after that truly awful-sounding show at the Roxy, so apparently they were taking no chances.)
 
Loudest - Van Halen's 1984 tour at the Omni in Atlanta. But not just because the band was loud. When VH opened, the crowd exploded and you could not even make out what song they were playing for the 1st 1.5 mins. It was deafening and insane.
 
Quietest show I've ever heard that was definably a "metal" show would be Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a few years ago at the Gwinnett Arena near ATL. I had my earplugs in, as I always do....and after half a song I popped them out and listened in wonder. The audio was at a perfect listening level. As someone said, this was surely because they draw a...diverse...audience, but it was great to hear. :kickass:

I have a feeling one of the reason's TSO's sound is so good is the amount of sampling and triggering Paul O'Neill does. It's ridiculous how little "balls" there are at TSO shows. They do some really rockin', fairly heavy instrumental stuff, but it just sounds like easy listening music. :lol: It's great for sound quality, but bad for everything else I think.
 
I have a feeling one of the reason's TSO's sound is so good is the amount of sampling and triggering Paul O'Neill does. It's ridiculous how little "balls" there are at TSO shows. They do some really rockin', fairly heavy instrumental stuff, but it just sounds like easy listening music. :lol: It's great for sound quality, but bad for everything else I think.

I certainly think they're "holding back" audio-wise, but I also don't have any problems with that, in view of the audience.
When we saw them MANY years ago now at the Tabernacle, it was the last show on the tour and they played "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo)" for a second time, but at full, balls-out Sava-volume, as the show closer. :headbang:
I kept thinking the two older women sitting behind us would freak out and leave hastily, but they managed to stay for the whole thing. :)
 
I have a feeling one of the reason's TSO's sound is so good is the amount of sampling and triggering Paul O'Neill does. It's ridiculous how little "balls" there are at TSO shows. They do some really rockin', fairly heavy instrumental stuff, but it just sounds like easy listening music. :lol: It's great for sound quality, but bad for everything else I think.

They're a band playing Christmas music...not Motorhead.
 
Yngwie Malmsteen. Numerous times. Back when he used to drink,it seemed like the drunker he got,the louder he got. As if that wasn't enough,he always turned that delay full throttle at the end of his unaccompanied guitar solo, so that it made a painfully high-pitched,piercing shriek.
 
It's funny how it's easier to remember your loudest concert than your quietest one. In that respect, for me, WWIII was easily the loudest ('90 or '91). I saw them in a little club in San Antonio and Tracy G's guitar tones felt like icepicks in my ears. Granted, there might have only been about 20 of us there for that show, so the sound was geared for an expected bigger crowd. I honestly expected to pull my fingers away from my ears and have them covered in blood!

However, it was worth it when Vinny Appice saw me air drumming like a madman along with him, pointed his sticks at me, and then called Jimmy Bain over to hand the sticks down to me. :worship: Ahhh, a priceless memory!
 
Wha....?!

(I'm assuming this was NOT Tom Felton (actor) acoustic, was it?)

I wish! Haha. There's a group of acoustic rock bands that call themselves "Wizard Rock" and sing about the Harry Potter books (of which I am a gigantic fan). Draco and the Malfoys, apart from being local (along with quite a few Wrock bands, actually), were one of the first.

They do have a song called "Tom Felton's Kinda Hot", though. :)
 
Loudest was Iron Maiden on the Powerslave tour at Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena). I was in the second to last row on the top balcony center stage. They started a song that was something like "Where Eagles Dare" or something else equally well known, and I couldn't figure out what song it was for at least 30 seconds. It was WAY too loud.

My brother was at that show. Twisted Sister opened.

I went to see Maiden on the Powerslave tour the next year @ Poplar Creek.
 
1. Saw Blackfoot in a small club in Louisiana in the early 80s. We were playing pool when they started and all the balls started rolling on the table!!

2. Saw Aerosmith in Bakersfield, CA on the Permanent Vacation tour. We were in a auditorium with a concrete floor. It was so loud, my feet were being tickled!!

3. Hendrix was loud everytime I saw him!! He had eight full stacks and so did his bass player.

Chris :headbang:
 
We have talked Loudest and quietest so how about the show you saw with the best all around sound.

Pink Floyd - 1994 tour, the sound was amazing considering all shows were outdoors.

TSO - every show, every year.

Journey/Loverboy - 1981 tour
 
We have talked Loudest and quietest so how about the show you saw with the best all around sound.

Pink Floyd - 1994 tour, the sound was amazing considering all shows were outdoors.

TSO - every show, every year.

Journey/Loverboy - 1981 tour

Mr. Big - Parkwest in Chicago
Rory Gallagher - Parkwest in Chicago
Extreme - Pornografitti tour @ The Vic
Loudness - Thunder In The East tour - Metro