Pardon? I said, PARDON?
I can actually point to the concert that caused my tinnitus - Phil Linnott’s Grand Slam at Golddiggers, a concert venue in my town that sadly no longer exists. I was stood at the front, right by the speaker stack, taking photos, and I can say it was bloody loud! The ringing noise I left the gig with has never diminished.
It was also, IIRC, the last tour Phil ever did. 
As regards the photos, I have a bunch of rolls of film that never got developed, which are kicking around upstairs, which I really ought to get developed and converted to digital files.
1 Like
I’ve worked sound at concerts, and always bring ear plugs, but the loudest event I was at was a work-mandated wrestling show. We were in a sky box at the then MCI Arena in DC, now called the Capital One arena.
By the time the pre-game announcements were done, I had already grabbed a couple of napkins and improvised some earplugs – which was quickly imitated by most of the other attendees. I’ve been to other events in that skybox, none were even close to the decibel levels I heard that night, so either wrestling is Just That Loud, or the sound guy had no idea what he was doing.
That reminded me of a monster truck rally inside the Pontiac Silverdome.
Was never a fan but it was something our daughter wanted to see so we gathered up grandpa and off we went.
My god that was loud.
Makes me recall going to the NHRA drag races with my father in law. I offered him earplugs before the event, but he wanted to be a Manly Man and turned me down.
Once the first top fuel dragster — which can reach upwards of 150dB — did its run, he sheepishly asked for a pair.
Fun fact: you can’t have a decibel level at sea level higher than 194dB as any louder would create a vacuum. Also sound pressures at 170dB and higher can literally kill you.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
