loudest band of all time

The loudest gig I ever went to was "The Grand Mothers" at The Robin Hood 2 in Bilston.  Napoleon Murphy Brock and the guys were going great and did justice to a load of old Zappa stuff but the sound was frighteningly loud in that small venue.  I actually had to put my fingers in my ears on a few occasions; something I didn't even need to do at Motorhead gigs.  Having said that I remember seing Motorhead at the Newcastle Mayfair in 1985.  The gig was late starting due to technical problems and they eventually let us in for the end of the sound check.  There were periods of silence while things were adjusted and then Phil launched into the intro to Overkill to test the kick drum on the PA.  It pretty much drove us back against the far wall.

Edited by Heavyfreight - October 06 2006 at 05:31

The concert that caused the most distress upon my hearing was when I saw Megadeth in Philadelphia.  The opening act was Exodus (with their new, not so good, singer) and the sound guys must have rushed because the music was too loud and too distorted, and even though I knew the songs I could hardly make anything out.  My ears rang for a week and a half afterwards and I seriously thought that I had received permanent tinnitus as a result.  From now on, when I go to a small club, I'm bringing ear plugs.

When I saw them in 72 on the Machine Head tour,my ears were ringing for days after.

The loudest gig I've ever been to was Ted Nugent at Hammersmith Odeon. We had to shut ourselves in the toilet and it was still too loud!

Heavyfreight wrote: One of the most consistently good sound systems that I've heard has been the PA at the Cropredy Festival

All the better for you to hear Chris Leslie's dulcit tones, eh?
    

My loudest was sitting 2 metres from Gary Husband's drums, when part of Allan Holdsworth group in the mid 90's not only deafened but had my hair literally parted by a flying drumstick - ended as a trophy of that night and now sits in front of me. Worst loud sound I heard was from Pin Fairies at Kingston Swimming Baths - couldn't stand more than 30 minutes of the volume and the awful echoey acoustics.

Being on my Uni's  ENTS Committee in the mid 70's we had to monitor sound levels in the halls used. One band hit 109dB 10 metres from their main speakers (and one freak spent many band nights with his head inside speaker cones)..... I think is was suggested Traffic were pretty  loud at 115dB - apparently like standing behind Concorde as it took off - without getting scorched by the jets. We also had the university's airport sound monitor research group in - geenrating noise and determining tolerable levels in "volunteers. Be assured 96db of 12000HZ average white noise is painful in a 600 seater hall (empty)

Ironically the first concert I ever went to was the loudest. It was a Black Sabbath tribute originally titled Slack Babbath, and since I had no previous experience my loud sound resistance just wasn't there. Being about 10 feet from the main speaker didn't help too much and I was phycially deaf in the ear closest to the speaker for a few days, with the ringing taking 2 weeks to subside.

A week after that I saw Daevid Allen's University of Errors (a band that should be on this site much more then Iron Maiden) and couldn't hear half the concert due to my right ear so sat in the same seat as the previous week, backwards...

The loudest show i've been too was only about a week ago, I saw Kayo Dot in a place that only holds like.. 35 people, And i was literally right between Mia Matsumiya and Toby Driver, any closer and i would have been inside of them. So tihs meand i was surrounded by all this stuff. and when they Played "Don't Touch Dead Animals" (the new song that usually makes people leave Mia told me) Was Frightenly loud and crazy. But it was awesome.



I bet Merzbow or Gerogerigegege could be the loudest. i mean Merzbow plays a defening high pitch screech for thirty minutes straight. then gets even louder later on.

Man, if britney or Justin desire it, they can put the loudest concert ever. They have the MONEY to do it. So I think that we should ask this question looking for bands in the glory days. And the answer is clear: THE WHO and, after them, DEEP PURPLE.

I don't know...both the Who and Purple being the 'loudest band' sounds a little like mythologic spin, and out of date as well. Gotta be Motorhead; Monsters of Metal Tour, 1983 or so.