My ears ring constantly. After a concert it rings louder for 2 days. After a Motorhead concert it feels horrible. Will not attend a gig without plugs, the cheap ones but well stuck in. I recommend all to wear, ears are sensitive and some day these problems come and hardly disappear.

Another reason I'm wearing the plugs this Thursday is that I have a Northern Sinfonia concert on Saturday and Vaughan Williams,The Lark Ascending is not exactly the loudest piece of music.
Regards how loud Motorhead play now compared to 70s & 80s, has anyone asked Dave, the front of house sound guy?
If anyone knows he will.

I applaud you all for being responsible!!

Motorhead back in the 80's was one almighty walls of sound.
If was kind of the spirit of the age.
There was a volume war going on.
I never used ear plugs back then.
I was also in a band at the time and we were just as bad in our own way.

We live and learn.

I think Venom won the war.
Ridiculous.
It was strange last year though to be able to hear every note of Phil's guitar.

The APD Tour was vicious volume wise. Without doubt the loudest gig I've ever attended

Dave Hobbs ?.. Has retired i think the stage moniter guy Arnie Annables 'big beard' is doing the front of house sound now. So has Ian 'Eagle'Dobbie he retired 2-3 tours ago. I honestly think Motorhead don't turn it up etc its more about sound quality now. I've heard some dredful bootlegs from the 80's. I think it's a pure gimmick, whats the point in having a sound guy if he's just going to blast the fuck out of the PA ??. They are much quieter these days. The loudest band i seen in the 80's was surprisingly Whitesnake in 1981.

Venom is a real kick.

Motorhead bought a new PA system just prior to when I saw them in '82 which they likely did to get a bit more publicity as the newspapers and magazines just made fun of them back then. The first show they (reportedly) used the new PA on was the show I saw in Toronto '82. There are no bootlegs that are even fair quality from that show. I ended up finding a couple of people who taped the show and they said the recording was really poor due to how loud it was. Unfortunately they didn't keep the recordings. I would have liked to hear them just to hear all the crazy stuff happening between the songs. I'm not sure how long they played using this PA but they likely used it on the APD tour. I didn't go to the APD tour because I expected not to be able to hear the music. At the time I was a teenager and hadn't even considered going to a show with earplugs or that loud volume can have a permanent affect on your hearing.

Regarding Venom, I never seen them live but someone I know saw both Venom and Motorhead around the same time. He still claims Motorhead was the loudest concert he has ever been to.

PS. If anyone ever finds a bootleg of the Toronto 82 complete show, I would be very interested even if it's bad quality.

i went to Venom's big Hammersmith show in (i think) 1984 or 1985 and they were very loud, but the overrding memory was the bloody flame jets, didn't quite sear the eyebrows off but not far short! APD tour at Hammersmith was loud, as was front row stage left on the Saturday 10th anniversary show. Michael Monroe is the loudest act i ever saw at the Camden Forum (aka Town and Country Club as was)
I've orderd some of the plugs recommended on here as taking the wife to Paris with me

The 80s were crazy with that volume thing, anyway.
Couple of my friends were on an AC/DC show, must have been around 1986. I also would have been there, but had the flu

Anyway, one of my friends was close to some PA speakers, just to his right side. Even days after the show the ringing in his right ear didn't disappear and he said that it feels as if water would be in it, as it sometimes happens when you go swimming.
He finally went to an otologist. He suffered from an acoustic trauma and had lost 20% of his hearing ability on that ear

Imagine that - one show, one night. 20% gone. That was when I finally decided to never attended a concert without ear protection and I kept it that way. Back then my mates called me "sissy", now I can call them anything at low volume in a loud pub or so - they don't understand it. Hearing damaged, irreversible...