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Walked Out of Johnny Lang Concert Tonight


RevDavidLee

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I paid $150 for two tickets for me and my lady to go see Johnny Lang in concert tonight at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. The opening act was wonderful - Guthrie Brown & the Family Tree. Much better than their Youtube videos and we enjoyed them thoroughly & bought their CD during intermission.

 

Then here comes the Johnny Lang band and only after four songs - we walked out. Other people left before we did & everyone around us were holding their hands over their ears. Now I love Johnny Lang & boys - I like it loud. But this was "stupid" loud.

 

The place seats 1252 people and these guys were turned up like they were playing Shea Stadium. The audience was trying to signal the band to crank the level down a bit but they were so busy jumping all over the stage they paid no attention to us. Even Johnny's vocals were so fricking loud we could not even understand what he was singing and we know most of his songs. [confused][cursing]

 

I hope he gets enough feedback from this act of ignorance to fire the sound man or company who runs his sound. That was just dumb. Maybe Johnny's deaf from too much touring. I don't know & I don't care. Glad I got to see him because I'll never buy tickets to see him again. That was messed up. Hope my hearing comes back as I'm in the studio tomorrow. [mellow]

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Sometimes crew are so full of seeing themselves as "Artiste" ! They know everything and don't listen to anyone. That is what happens when stages collapse. Who would talk to a frigging engineer? What do they know? The same thing goes for volume level. It is easily measured and the correlation between volume and hearing comfort is well known.

 

There is something fundamentally wrong when musicians need hearing protection. I walked out of a concert when it was so loud I could feel the sound waves in my chest.

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A timely post indeed....

 

No excuse whatsoever for excess/painful volumes

 

Some of the small venues I go to suffer from the same malady

 

The old school alcohol/excess volume pleasure thing is long past it's sell-by date :blink:

 

People need to complain... [thumbup]

 

If possible...use social media to express responsible 'feedback' and e-mail the artist in person.... [thumbup]

 

V

 

:-({|=

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that's really disappointing news Rev, Lang's been around way long enough to know better.

 

Saw Joe Bonamassa at the Wang Center in Boston, and the sound was dialed in perfectly, (smaller venue as you were in)

 

I'd ping his facebook page about the experience. he may not care, but, he might.

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But this was "stupid" loud. The place seats 1252 people and these guys were turned up like they were playing Shea Stadium.

I've had the same experience. These days I get out quick.

 

There is something fundamentally wrong when musicians need hearing protection.

....Which so many have now....does anyone reading this take earplugs to their gigs?

 

A few past concerts come to mind:

Jean-Luc Ponty in London 1970s. Felt it in my chest and through the back of the chair. People were cowering in their seats.

Gary Moore in a small-ish hall at a University in the 80s. Terrible ear-bleeding painful noise. You could hear Neil Murray hitting his bass but not the notes.

The Pretenders around the same time....so horribly loud you couldn't hear anything properly. It sounded much better and clearer outside the hall, 50 yards down the road!!

The Australian Doors in a basement club in Bristol, 1990s. The volume was like a shockwave when they started and I had to find something to put in my ears immediately.

Jeff Beck at Hammersmith Odeon 1990s. And I was up in the rear circle. Very unpleasant distortion across all frequencies it was so loud. Could not enjoy the concert at all.

The reformed Greenslade (English prog-keyboard band) in the basement at my local venue about 10 years ago. I HAD to leave - just unbelievably deafening, ridiculous - how could they do that?

 

The convention when doing sound for a rock gig does seem to be that they start by amping the kick drum so much it hits you in the chest and everything else is pushed up to get above that.

For a soundman in this situation loss of high-end hearing starts quickly, and the guy compensates by pushing up the top end more and more. Plus you naturally lose top end hearing as you age.

 

Never saw Motorhead or T Nugent but read somewhere that they would deliberately over-amplify by a factor of 3 or so.

 

I think you should be able to claim your money back unless there is a written warning about sound levels on the ticket.

 

Probably J Lang soundchecked in the empty hall and his crew thought the audience would 'soak up' a lot of the sound, or they thought they could overcome any acoustic shortcomings of the venue with sheer volume.

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What a shame, Rev! No need for music that loud.

 

The awkward moment we find we are turning into our parents? Yeah, when I was young I used the mantra-"if it's too loud, you're too old". That juvenile attitude mixed with loud concerts and many hundreds of hours on the gun range has led to some high frequency hearing loss. Not as bad as it could be, thank God!

 

Theres a balance between being powerful and loud. I guess we've been lucky; the wife and I have gone to a lot of concerts this year, including Burlap to Cashmere, Steely Dan, too many to name at Bethlehem's Musik Fest and never once did we have to exit due to volume.

 

Loud concerts of the past were numerous and three days of ear ringing afterward seemed to be the norm for the early 70s. Rolling Stones in Philly- ditto the Outlaws at the Tower Theater ( [scared] ).

 

The top loud concerts of my life were (not in order)Uriah Heep, Deep Purple early 70s, and in the early 80s in Presque Isle Maine, Ted Nugent. We did walk out about 2/3 through that concert. Ted and company were annoyingly loud and obnoxious at that particular concert. I love Ted but seemed at that point he was trying to hurt the audience...LOL

 

Brian

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There is something fundamentally wrong when musicians need hearing protection. I walked out of a concert when it was so loud I could feel the sound waves in my chest.

 

I disagree. There are certain sonic qualities that you can only get through volume. I have been wearing high fidelity earplugs at rehearsals, on the stage, and in the audience for years. It's a great to feel the music (literally) and know that you won't be spending the night with a cicada in your ear.

 

 

....Which so many have now....does anyone reading this take earplugs to their gigs?

 

This. You can get a pair of high fidelity earplugs down at the music store for less than $20. Surely your hearing and enjoyment of the show is worth that?

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Heck, even the movie theaters are rediculous on the volume levels anymore!

 

I will agree with this since you don't go to a movie theater expecting your hearing to be blow out. Saw Mission Impossible at IMAX last night and the previews were insanely loud.

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In all fairness to the band, they have no idea what the volume is like in the audience.

 

One of my buddies is the drummer for Blonde Redhead and they were opening for the Foo Fighters and the Chili Peppers and he got me VIP passes. Blonde Redhead came on and it was SO LOUD that the crowd was actually running backwards away from the stage. The treble for the Chili Peppers was piercing, it was just horrible.

 

I saw Simone (my buddy) in between acts and told him that his band was insanely loud and he went, "Really? We can't tell from where we are".

 

 

 

 

 

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If possible...use social media to express responsible 'feedback' and e-mail the artist in person.... [thumbup]

 

V

 

:-({|=

 

I did that last night before I went to sleep. I was half expecting to wake up this morning with 5000 hate replies from Johnny Lang fans for my criticizing the sound levels. Well it's early - maybe later today [wink]

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Don't know if I'm just a lucky one, but sound and volume of next to every "big" concert I witnessed were fine. My first visit to a large venue was Queen during their "Jazz" tour on December 20th, 1980 at the Olympiahalle in Munich, and my up to now latest have been Deep Purple on November 30th, 2012 at the same place. I always had earplugs with me and even put them in but pulled them out after a short period. The opening acts Straight Eight (not the actual British band bearing this name) respectively Edguy sounded nice, too.

 

I listened to Level 42 while on their "True Colours" tour on November 22nd, 1984, at the Circus Krone building in Munich which basically is a solid tent. After the concert I went to the FOH mixing guy and congratulated him on his nice work. He smiled - I was a bit scared since there only were very few teeth left in his mouth - and mumbled: "It's a great venue!" While holding my thumb up I replied: "Well, not really, so it must have been you!" [biggrin] The opening act Fiat Lux also had had a good sound.

 

The only gig I used my earplugs have been some new songs of The Eagles on June 15th, 2009 at the Olympiahalle Munich, part of their "Long Road Out Of Eden" tour. Don't know why, but their new material either blew the PA poweramps into distortion, or the limiters were poorly set. All of their old songs were decent sounding at an appropriate volume.

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I saw Journey two years ago and we walked out. It was painfully loud. I saw Orson at a small club and it made my son ill. There was so much bass it gave him palpitations. Yet I saw Bonnie Raitt, Peter Frampton and Joe Satriani during the same time period and they were great.

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One of my buddies is the drummer for Blonde Redhead and they were opening for the Foo Fighters and the Chili Peppers and he got me VIP passes. Blonde Redhead came on and it was SO LOUD that the crowd was actually running backwards away from the stage. The treble for the Chili Peppers was piercing, it was just horrible.

 

I saw Simone (my buddy) in between acts and told him that his band was insanely loud and he went, "Really? We can't tell from where we are".

 

Man, I love Blonde Redhead. I've seen them a few times and they are one of the few bands that plays along to samples, but they make it sound so organic and natural. A large part of that is Simone's drumming. Great feel and meter. You can tell him that 23 is one of my all time favorite songs.

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Somebody knows who Simone Pace is? WOW!

 

I only knew him through motorcycles as he bought my beautiful Moto Guzzi V7 Sport many years ago, I had never heard of Blonde Redhead. He's a totally different person behind a drum kit, that's where he's right at home.

 

Back to noise levels, the last time I saw Blue Oyster Cult they were so terribly loud it was just a wall of mush coming at you. You couldn't make out anything it was so loud. That was back in the 80s and that was enough for me.

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1440424468[/url]' post='1687901']

Heck, even the movie theaters are rediculous on the volume levels anymore!

 

Isn't that true! I have hearing aids for both ears and turn them both off for previews. We've been to so many concerts and several have been so irritating loud I wanted to leave. I always take roll up ear plugs I kept from the railroad and though that helped, I think of so many hearing loss from others. Once those ears ring from noise levels, you will suffer hearing loss. First time I saw Beach Boys I couldn't believe how bad they were. They were so fricken loud I couldn't here what the words were. They sang a medley of all thier songs and never completed any song through the concert. I didn't ever want to see them again, then at a free concert in the Bluffs, my wife kept insisting to go and I was surprised how much better they were. The best concerts I've been to is when it's actually a pleasure to sit there and enjoy the music without ear plugs. Makes me want to shake the hands of the performers for a well job done!msp_thumbup.gif

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I saw Journey two years ago and we walked out. It was painfully loud. I saw Orson at a small club and it made my son ill. There was so much bass it gave him palpitations. Yet I saw Bonnie Raitt, Peter Frampton and Joe Satriani during the same time period and they were great.

 

 

What was that old saying? "If you can't be good, be really friggin' loud!" The PA should be the loudest thing, on the stage,

and still at a comfortable listening volume, for the audience, without hearing protection. As to 'tone' needs, smaller (wattage) amps, cranked,

will get there, and mic'd though the PA, will keep things balanced nicely. BUT, old thinking, and habits die hard, apparently?

 

CB

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Isn't that true! I have hearing aids for both ears and turn them both off for previews. We've been to so many concerts and several have been so irritating loud I wanted to leave. I always take roll up ear plugs I kept from the railroad and though that helped, I think of so many hearing loss from others. Once those ears ring from noise levels, you will suffer hearing loss. First time I saw Beach Boys I couldn't believe how bad they were. They were so fricken loud I couldn't here what the words were. They sang a medley of all thier songs and never completed any song through the concert. I didn't ever want to see them again, then at a free concert in the Bluffs, my wife kept insisting to go and I was surprised how much better they were. The best concerts I've been to is when it's actually a pleasure to sit there and enjoy the music without ear plugs. Makes me want to shake the hands of the performers for a well job done!msp_thumbup.gif

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As to 'tone' needs, smaller (wattage) amps, cranked,

will get there, and mic'd though the PA, will keep things balanced nicely. BUT, old thinking, and habits die hard, apparently?

 

CB

 

I'm not talking about tone where you hit the amp's sweet spot where things start to break up, I am talking about the rich fullness of feedback and it's unpredictability. I'm a clean headroom kind of guy so this isn't about burying the audience in Marshal dirt; it's about me feeling the music and being overtaken by it. Personally, I don't think I'm all that loud. My amp is a Silvertone 1484 through its matching 2x12. Wheel in a Marshal half stack or a Fender Twin and you'll blow me out of the water.

 

I'm also not a finesse player so maybe there is some of that if you can't be good, be loud.

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Well, if we're going to talk about the Loudest Bands we've seen..."Deep Purple" (1973) was it, for me. [scared]

And, I was standing 8-10 feet away (one could DO that, back then), right in front of Richie Blackmore's 3 200+ Watt Marshall "Major" Stacks!

It was even louder, further out in the audience, where the volume "cone" was at it's peak.

 

There wasn't even a close 2nd, back then, in that regard! [tongue]

 

 

CB

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