Chased out of Savannah Center last night
 

We went to Savanah last night to enjoy the music of Almost Abba. Ten minutes after the performance started we had to leave because of the volume. The sound engineer (a 30 something smart ass) wouldn't listen to the facility manager and refused to lower the volume which was in the neighborhood of 95 decibels.

The bass was literally so loud it shook the floor.

So after 15 years of enjoying Savannah, we won't go back and spend $80-100 on the off chance that we will be able to enjoy the performance.

Word is that over 100 folks left at intermission.

We were there last night and sat in the second from the last row and thought the volume was just fine....

"Chased out of Savannah Center last night"?

Chased out or chose to leave? The difference is that the latter does not involve a gun pointed at your head.

Earplugs. They are standard concert equipment to me.

We would have taken off our hearing aids.

A lawnmower is around 90db. The average rock concert is around 120db. If it was truly 95db (+/- 5) then it was reasonable to expect for an ABBA tribute concert.

If it was the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, it'd be considered low-volume. If it was a Who concert they'd have been booed off the stage and the sound engineer hunted down and shot.

Peoples' hearing changes over the years. Often, the sharper high-pitched sounds become more annoying, while low bass tones can reverberate uncomfortably. The two extremes can be just as difficult to bear as fingernails on a chalkboard, versus someone pounding a padded drumstick on your chest over and over again.

My suggestion: next time you go to an indoor concert, bring disposable earplugs, like the kind they used to give away on airplanes. You'll still hear the music - ALL the music - but it'll be at a more manageable level for your personal needs.

My ears are still ringing from a ZZ Top concert almost 45 years ago. The volume at the Savana Center is relatively low for a concert.

the Eliminator Tour, 1983!!! ahahaha!! :bigbow:

I remember a bumper sticker from about 40 years ago that said, "if it's too loud, you're too old." That certainly applies to me now days.

They confuse loud with better

Me too! We saw Jay and The Americans there a few days ago. GREAT show BTW. I wore ear plugs and we were in the first row. Hubby did not wear ear plugs and said the volume was OK with him. I wear ear plugs without question as I don't want to suffer with ringing of the ears afterward.

happens all the time there

We were at the 4 o'clock show. To me the volume was what I expected from this kind of event - definitely very loud. But it was great fun and most of the audience was really into it. There was no intermission, and I was sitting where I could see exit doors. I didn’t notice anyone leave who didn’t return.

They make special ear plugs for live music, they muffle the sound less than standard foam ear plugs, so the volume is less but there is still (some) clarity. You can find them on Amazon. Give that a shot.

I concur with the earplugs suggestion. Always tried to remember them when I went to concerts.

We must have been at the same ZZ Top concert!
 

The ZZ Top Concert at the outside amphitheater at San Diego State University was soooooo loud and the bass to dominate, that I threw up. I hadn’t been drinking or doing any drugs- the vibrations were too much for me.

If the music is too loud for you, ask any usher for earplugs.

The real question is , Did anyone smell any Moon cabbage burning ?

Mary Jane brought the moon cabbage!

As I have gotten older, I have become more intolerant of things that irritate me. I like what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount: "If they eye offend thee, then pluck it out."

Loud noises irritate me, so I don't put up with them. When we are invited to a wedding, I always bring ear protectors so I can put them on if the music gets too loud.

I have been to the Savannah Center for a one-person performance and a train show, but I would never go there for a musical performance

That was a great tour!

Savanna Abba
 

My wife & I were on front row and had no problems with the volume, it was an EXCELLENT performance and we enjoyed it... incidentally, there Wes NO intermission.

Pink Floyd
 

In the mid-70s, I went to a Pink Floyd concert and sat near the front -- now I had been to many other rock concerts, including Led Zeppelin -- and this was by far louder, so ear-splitting that I had to move back onto the lawn area. It was so loud I thought my eardrums were going to break. I wonder how many decibels it was and how the musicians could endure this, night after night of performing. I'm sure it affected their hearing when they got older and I'm sure many people who attended such concerts developed tinnitus. Surprising that a concert playing soft rock like ABBA would be so loud. Because I wasn't there, hard to know what it was like for me to compare.

If it's too loud you're too old.

I play a mandolin that hits 95 decibels at times without extra amplification. This concert must have been much louder. I avoid going to loud concerts because my hearing sort of gets paralyzed, and then I feel like I’m listening underwater. Very unpleasant. I have special earplugs, but it’s not the same. I went to the Rolling Stone tribute a few weeks ago at Savannah and had to use the earplugs, but it was like listening from down the hall. The evening entertainment at the squares is usually loud, but not as loud as the Original Poster is complaining about. It sounds to me like the volume was way louder than usual, and of course it was a paid concert, not a free one, and indoors. At big rock concerts, as in dance clubs, the idea is not just to hear the music, but to feel it in your chest. This gets people excited and dancing. It literally moves them. But I don’t want to be moved that way. I want to hear the music. Was the sound guy trying to recreate that feeling? Probably. Sound guys should pay attention to audience complaints. There should also be a standard of volume for performances here. Perhaps there is. Does anyone know?

Meanwhile, there are free Decibel Meter apps available from the Apple App Store. Put one on your phone, then test the volume at concerts and see what the peak seems to be. Then, you’ll be in a position to tell a sound guy, “Most bands limit themselves to 107 decibels max, but you are at 125. You are going to drive away your audience, and your band won’t be asked back.”

I think I was at that show. Realistically, my ears rang for 2 days. Would I have changed a thing? Hell no!

I listen to my stereo system at about those levels every so often. I grew up playing drums in heavy metal bands playing in front of 6’ tall Marshall amps, and in big concerts, I couldn’t hear myself play. I have seen Aerosmith, Dave Mathews, The WHO, Boston, Kansas, Toto,and many more rock concerts with my pant legs flapping from the pressure of the sound. We have seen dozens and dozens of jazz and blues concerts and they are much better sounding.
The loudness isn’t a big concern to me, but bass that’s too loud/over power ing, I can’t stand that.

Sounds to me that you've never seen or heard ABBA. This is a high-energy dance band. They want the audience to get up and dance at their seats (or in the aisles if allowed). You don't sit quietly and listen to ABBA.

It's been a few years since I've been to an indoor concert, but if I were you, I'd take a couple of those orange foam earplugs you can get (free) at Shooters World close to Brownwood. They work well in the shooting ranges so they should certainly work in a concert.

For me, it is not about being old. I have never liked loud music. Even when I was a teenager a few years ago, I hated loud music.

Well, I was in the 4th row last night at the Savannah- and there was an intermission!. I left then because I thought it was too loud and the sound sounded distorted to me. Will accept this may be because of my age- if others thought the concert fantastic, I accept their judgement. But I don't have early dementia- there was an intermission!

We stopped going to concerts at Savannah Center years so.

Initially, the sound at The Sharon was also unacceptable. So much so that they called back the sound engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who designed the hard surfaces inside the hall for optimum sound. After testing and attendance at several concerts, the RPI engineers advised the Morse family (owner of The Sharon) that the problem was the employees running the sound boards. After the RPI engineers trained the sound board technicians, the sound in The Sharon has been quite acceptable ever since.

Because Savannah Center hs not been designed for good acoustics, and because the facility is now owned by the residents thru an amenity authority, it’s not likely changes will be made. The solution is easy… just stay away!

Again, what a horrible shame.. finding as time goes on the 30 age group only care about themselves.. hope they enjoy their hearing loss and droopy tattoos as they age!

I've always had good hearing -- still to this day. Maybe that is why loud music has always been a nuisance. I don't need it loud to hear.

I have noticed a recent trend with Country Music to play too loud and with too much bass.

Whether you like country or not, you have probably heard it and can understand that these singers sound as good live as on their record. For many, country music is twang and interesting stories told through understandable lyrics.

I've went to see Miranda Lambert and could have heard the same at a tribute performance. Every vocal was covered in BASS and you could hardly make out a word sung.

Miranda is known for both forceful vocals and soft runs. During this concern, they could have replaced her with a backup singer and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

I have a slightly different take on this.

I expect they rehearsed and did multiple sound checks before the concert. So, I expect the loudness was what the performers WANTED.

To me, a live concert is a work of art performed by the artists. They get to decide HOW they want their art presented.

Do any of you go to an art exhibit and complain about the lighting on the paintings or photographs?

The loudness, lighting, stage layout is all part of and composed by the artists.

Saying you don't like it that loud is fine, trying to get it change is like going to at art exhibit and telling the artist they painted the sky the wrong color and they should change it.

Just my opinion.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

We never go to loud concerts because neither of us like them. Of course, can’t say the same about kids and grandkids. Thanks for this thread. We are going to a family wedding this fall and the reception music is likely going to be loud. For sure, we will have some ear plugs so we hopefully can dance too.

Savanah Sound Engrs bad at times. Two years ago this happened to us at Grass Roots
 

Two years ago this happened to us at Grass Roots

This same thing happened to us at Grass Roots Concert 2 years ago.. Won't go back there!

Sucks getting old, sit too close and it’s too loud, sit further away and you can’t see the show, and have to see cover bands because the originals are either dead or dinosaurs : (