Everybody,
Okay, I know I'm rather late to this party, but I agree with Elizabeth and some others of you about not wanting to subject myself to painful SPL's at live rock concerts. I've taken to attending rock and pop concerts toting these Day-Glo orange, foam rubber ear inserts, which will certainly protect my hearing somewhat but which also screw up the sound, at which point, why bother? But I absolutely hate waking up in the middle of the night after a concert with my ears humming and buzzing. Hey, I'm in my early 50s, and I'm just paranoid about screwing up my hearing and accelerating the inveitable loss of sensitivity to high frequencies.
The last concert I attended where the volume was literally painful was Steely Dan in Dallas during the "Two Against Nature" Tour. The music was wonderful, but in my humble opinion, there is NO BLOODY REASON that the music has to be so freaking loud... or maybe I've just become an old fart... ;-)
The most recent pop concert I attended was James Taylor at Bass Concert Hall here in Austin. The sound was okay, but again, why so loud? In fact, if what I'm basically hearing is 2-channel amplified sound, other than the spontaneity of the musicians and the interaction with the audience -- which does have considerable value, I'll admit -- how much different is the experience than listening to my stereo -- except that, in the latter instance, the sound quality is probably actually better? By the way, hearing poorly amplified singers at Broadway musicals also ticks me off...
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