New “loudest show I’ve ever been to”: Billie Eilish

[smatanovic]

My daughter and I went to go see Billie last night in Philadelphia. Great show from a great artist, but holy f*ck was it loud. I’ve seen ministry from the rail, NIN, Rage, Soundgarden, lots of bands from the past 30 years know to be very loud but good god did this overtake all of those shows. They had a completely silent stage, with the drummer mostly surrounded by plexi, and everyone on in-ears, but the PA was unnecessarily loud, especially the subwoofers. And it wasn’t just the 808/synthesized bass notes: I was close enough to be able to see the bass player and every time he touched a strings on his instruments (a fender Jazz with rounds and a Mustang with flats) I could feel my lungs vibrate. I was glad to be wearing hearing protection, but from what I could tell I was in the distinct minority.

And now some photos:

 

[john m]

Another memory for fatherhood.
Good job dad.

 

[smatanovic]

Another memory for fatherhood.
Good job dad.

Thanks. She’s now 14 but we started going to shows a couple of years ago when live music came back after the pandemic. We’ve seen Mitski (2x), weezer, Taylor Swift, The Vibrators, The Cure, and Pixies together. My daughter is the reason I started playing bass: she’s a guitarist, and I picked up the bass so that we could play together.

 

[MIMike]

I think in general live music is too loud. Now, I’m old, so there is that, but since power has become almost unlimited in recent years with the technology we have, it has become unnecessarily loud, especially in the sub frequencies. The kick drum does NOT need to be the loudest instrument in the mix, yet it almost always is.
I haven’t been to a lot of shows over the last 10 years, but I would say only about 10% of them had a decent mix that didn’t overpower most everything else with the subs.

 

[J Wilson]

The loudest I ever saw was Sly Stone in the mid-70's. I normally operate under the assumption there's no such thing as too loud as long it's not breaking up, but that show pushed that. I'm utterly certain I could have pulled a .357 Python, held it next to my ear during the show, pulled the trigger, and the ONLY way I'd have known it went off was to feel the jiggle in my hand from the recoil, as I'd have never heard it.

 

[smatanovic]

The loudest I ever saw was Sly Stone in the mid-70's. I normally operate under the assumption there's no such thing as too loud as long it's not breaking up, but that show pushed that. I'm utterly certain I could have pulled a .357 Python, held it next to my ear during the show, pulled the trigger, and the ONLY way I'd have known it went off was to feel the jiggle in my hand from the recoil, as I'd have never heard it.

lol this show was similar. So. Damned. Loud. It was clean, no clipping, but I know I would be sitting here with massive tinnitus and a headache if I had not been wearing earplugs.

 

[J Wilson]

lol this show was similar. So. Damned. Loud. It was clean, no clipping, but I know I would be sitting here with massive tinnitus and a headache if I had not been wearing earplugs.

Yeah, earplugs. Wait . . . . what'd you say ?

 

[J Wilson]

But then there's too loud: I once read a news article that NASA reported that the huge waterfall they would set off right before they lit off the Solid Rocket Boosters strapped to the Space Shuttle was mostly for acoustic mitigation, not just blast or heat from the rocket exhaust. They routinely reported db readings at the pad of 270+ db, and this acoustic pressure alone was more damaging than the thrust effects.

Wow.

 

[gregmon79]

Ministry @ the Aragon in Chicago was the loudest show I've ever been to. Hands down. Not only a loud and aggressive band, but the sound was LOUD. Holy hell I was not prepared. And I have been to my share of shows. I was young and can honestly say it was too loud. It was a great show regardless haha ears rang for 4 days straight after. Probably damaged my ears. To be young and dumb.

Not a fan of Ellish but I could see with modern tech and sound that they could be loud as hell.

 

[jallenbass]

In my experience, too loud shows are that way due to frequency imbalance, mostly the Jabba the Hut-like subwoofers as stated above. We heard Dirty Loops at Cannery Hall in Nashville and it was loud but a great loud because of the perfect balance of frequencies. You weren't even aware that there was a subwoofer.

 

[Rojd]

Judas Priest in the mid-80's might be the loudest show I've ever seen. Holy hell was it loud. My dad was parked 3 blocks away waiting for us and he felt the ground vibrating. 3 blocks away. Another one was Exodus in 1990. Omg, it was effing loud. I've seen Motorhead many times, and every time it was massive volume but sounded really good.

 

[rmayer]

This is hysterical to me, not an Eilish fan, that someone who seems to mumble most of her lyrics (just my opinion of the few snippets I’ve heard) would have an uncomfortably loud FOH system.

 

[rmayer]

Judas Priest in the mid-80's might be the loudest show I've ever seen. Holy hell was it loud. My dad was parked 3 blocks away waiting for us and he felt the ground vibrating. 3 blocks away. Another one was Exodus in 1990. Omg, it was effing loud. I've seen Motorhead many times, and every time it was massive volume but sounded really good.

Yes, Priest ruled in the 80s. I think the loudest concert I ever saw, and heard for days, was Humble Pie Live At The Fillmore East.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

i once saw Santana at a college auditorium, and it was so loud it was physcially painful to be in the room. So loud the PA was heavily distorting. Half the audience (including me) walked out after about 30 minutes of punishment. I blame FOH for this, I'm guessing thr band had no idea how bad it sounded. I do not understand why this happens, is FOH wearing earplugs? The second worst was Aerosmith at the TD Bank garden in Boston, crushing volume and it sounded like mud, like listening to Aerosmith through a blown speaker. Awful. Insanely loud is literally never beter than plain old loud, but well mixed and audible as seperate instruments, rather than a wall of noise.

 

[Snibborwocky]

I don't go to many concerts much any more but I've seen and heard my fair share of LOUD ones. The Who (before Entwistle died), Motley Crue (who probably initiated my slight hearing loss back in the mid 90's), Green Day, Marilyn Manson, Fishbone, Black Label Society, Judas Priest to name a few, and most recently Ministry/Alice Cooper/Rob Zombie which left ringing in my ears until the morning after. It's some of these kind of bands in smaller venues that obviously make it 10x louder, not so much the outdoors type ones.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Of the 3 "bigger shows" we attended this summer; 2 were in my top 5 all-time for sound.

Plant & Krauss;
Outdoors. Incredible mix. Volume was unexpectedly "mild" - never needed our attenuators.
Probably the most "enjoyable" show in years

Lyle Lovett;
Indoors. Fantastic mix. For the 1st minute, I was waiting for the low frequencies to be brought up, but it never happened.
Then I listened for a moment, and there it was; Lee's bass as clear as day, and the Kick (and drums) each occupying its own space - like a painting on a canvas.
We're just so use to being bombarded with disproportionate, exaggerate low frequency, it seems odd when it's not there.
I don't know if there was anything below 80hz, and I actually wouldn't have minded a bit more lows, but choosing between the potential for "mud" in an indoor venue vs. clarity, I was happy for the mix the way it was.

Tedeschi Trucks;
Outdoors. We were sitting at the back right corner of the sound "box"
Opening band was likely pretty good, but it was the typical loud, bombastic mix and the bass was unintelligible.
TT was better from a volume perspective at 1st, but just ok overall, with the bass being a bit buried and muddy in the mix, and the volume became louder / fatiguing as the evening went on. Great show - but dissappointing production, especailly given it was outdoors.

Clearly, the 1st 2 shows should be the model for modern sound.
Apparently, even with all the advances over the past few decades, once again, we fail to learn lessons from the past.

Loudest;
Front Row - Hells Bells 1980. (that Bell!)
I could barely hear the next day at school, and my ears rang almost all week!
I was worried about playing an upcoming gig the next weekend and having permanent hearing damage. I got lucky....

 

[Root 5]

Loudest show I went to was Nashville Pussy. Holy fack!

 

[smeet]

In my experience, too loud shows are that way due to frequency imbalance, mostly the Jabba the Hut-like subwoofers as stated above. We heard Dirty Loops at Cannery Hall in Nashville and it was loud but a great loud because of the perfect balance of frequencies. You weren't even aware that there was a subwoofer.

That sounds great. Now, can you boost everything above 8k and below 60Hz by 25dB? Perfect.

 

[smeet]

Once upon a time, Damn Yankees was the loudest thing I had ever heard. Ha. Kid stuff. A couple of years back, I heard a few metal bands in a stadium (Black Veil Brides, motionless in White, Ice 9 Kills). OMG. I had 33dB cut from plugs in and then applied squishy silicone swimmer plugs on top of that, and it was still painful. Kick drum was hurting my chest.
Did not stay for most of the show.

 

[MVE]

i once saw Santana at a college auditorium, and it was so loud it was physcially painful to be in the room. So loud the PA was heavily distorting. Half the audience (including me) walked out after about 30 minutes of punishment. I blame FOH for this, I'm guessing thr band had no idea how bad it sounded. I do not understand why this happens, is FOH wearing earplugs? The second worst was Aerosmith at the TD Bank garden in Boston, crushing volume and it sounded like mud, like listening to Aerosmith through a blown speaker. Awful. Insanely loud is literally never beter than plain old loud, but well mixed and audible as seperate instruments, rather than a wall of noise.

I once saw Col Bruce and the Aquarian Rescue Unit in a college gym. I was excited to hear Oteil, but it was so overwhelmingly loud, especially with the subs, it honestly just sounded like a helicopter was hovering in the room.