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.