Van Halen concert tickets and earplugs, check |
The picture above might seem like a paradox, but the two do go together. I want to hear Eddie wail on the guitar, David Lee Roth singing, Alex VH pounding the skins and Wolfie on bass, but don’t want to regret the experience with ringing ears for the rest of this week,
Wish I’d been a little wiser in my younger years when attending concerts and not wearing adequate ear protection. All I knew is I wanted to go see ___ band and buy the obligatory concert t-shirt. Hearing? Who worries about that kind of stuff at a rock concert?
Parents and people who don’t want to go deaf.
And as a parent, I’ve got earplugs for our oldest son who I’m taking to the concert (or is he going with me?). Neither he (age 17) or I have seen Van Halen in concert before, so this promises to be a treat. Not sure how he’s going to feel about earplugs, but it’s not going to be optional. The last concert I saw at Key was Metallica and Godsmack in 2004 and that way too loud.
Here’s to hoping Eddie’s guitar is tune. That awful YouTube video was earlier on the tour and I’m fairly certain they’ve worked out those kinds of kinks by now.
It would also be nice to see a real keyboard player on tour instead of them piping in sampled keyboards, but I’ll live with that. Finally, and even though I’ve said this in the past, it would be nice to see Michael Anthony make a surprise appearance. Very small percentage chance of that happening. I’m already missing his Jack Daniels bass and we haven’t even left for the concert yet.
How will Wolfgang Van Halen do on bass and backing vocals? I’ll have a firsthand review tomorrow, unless we get swept away in the Seattle deluge out there.
Did this post make you go hmm?
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I worked in the concert sound industry for years. I actually started out when I was 19 sticking cigarette filters (unsmoked) in my ears at each show. We used to work a lot of small bars in New Jersey, and the decibel level could get really loud. It helped. Fast forward a couple of decades and I ended up working with Van Halen, U2, Stevie Wonder, etc. I ended up helping to pioneer in-ear monitoring systems for professional entertainers. I have a picture of me and the Van Halen brothers a long time ago somewhere.
OSHA standards say that exposure to 100 decibels for more than 15 minutes per week is harmful. When you realize that drum sets generate 110dB + you start to get an appreciation of just how much exposure to dangerous SPL most professionals run into. Truth is that many of the classic rock performers have seriously damaged their hearing.
Great blog! Keep it up!
Comment by Don Holloway — December 6, 2007 @ 4:32 am PST
I just want to say that you are smart for requiring your son to wear the ear plugs. I finally got to see Van Halen this past Friday night at the New Orleans Arena. As amazing as the show was (maybe the best I have ever been to), I am sad to say that I sustained permanent hearing loss in both of my ears. The show, from beginning to end, was entirely too loud, easily reaching 110+ decibels. It was literally painful. Sadly, I was not able to enjoy the show because of this. I wish I had been smart enough to remember to bring ear plugs. From now on, I don’t care what anybody thinks of me, if I ever attend another classic rock concert, I will be wearing ear plugs. I just don’t understand why these bands feel the need to play so loud. They are literally robbing their fans of their hearing. The fans who have supported them over the years, have enjoyed the music. Why would a band want to ruin the ability to hear of the people who enjoy the gift of music, and who pay money to see/hear these bands play??? It just makes no sense to me. I guess it is a machismo thing.
Comment by Frank — February 12, 2008 @ 11:45 am PST
Actually a large amount of our customers keep complaining about the noise level at pop concerts. I personally recommend wearing silicone earplugs if you can afford them otherwise foam ear plugs are a good cheap alternative.
Some of the music venues do now actually stock cheap foam earplugs for their customers.
Comment by Pat Thomas — January 15, 2009 @ 11:57 am PST