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"Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you" - Mary Tyler Moore

I'm sorry, but huh???  (I've been to lots of loud shows, can you tell)

But really, I have been to a lot of loud concerts, and have had temporary hearing loss due to the loundness...heck I used to get that in my little 280Z when I was high school...but....well ok, but Blue Rodeo causing hearing damange...I dunno about that.....and I think in any work environment that might be noisy...hearing protection should be made available or be mandatory depending on the circumstances. But I can't see one show wrecking anyone's hearing, at least not by much. And if the workers had any sense, they would of just enjoyed the music like any other sensible person.

.....they should try working in a casino for a coupla years...they wanna talk about noise damage!

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"There's one in every crowd, for crying out loud,
why was it always turning out be me"

Heavens above, loud music at a rock show?! What IS this world coming to? Next you'll be telling me that water is wet, or some nonsense like that. /sarcasm

Seriously, if they want loud, they should come to Bluesfest. Last year, it was at the LeBreton Flats, and I seem to remember reading about people who could hear the Main Stage acts for quite a ways down Bank St. -- almost at the Glebe, if I recall correctly.

For illustration of that distance, here's a Google Map showing the War Museum (which is at the Flats) and Yarn Forward, a knitting store on the edge of the Glebe. Can you imagine hearing a rock concert from ~3 km away?! I'm sure it wasn't crystal clear noise, probably more of the bass, but MAN.

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"There's the shirt that I like!"

"It was nice singing with you this evening."

And is it a bad thing that my first reaction to this thread was pride? As in, "All RIGHT! Blue Rodeo is so loud that venues need NOISE policies!!! Way to go, guys!!!"
 

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"There's the shirt that I like!"

"It was nice singing with you this evening."

That's ridiculous

Guess The Who won't be playing Charlottetown anytime soon!  Not Metallica, either...

 Haha!  Great press for our lads. I'm proud too.

Now, get down to Shoppers and pick up your earplugs, staff, and ON WITH THE SHOWS! Haha!

I was at the 1st show in Belleville and it was way too loud.  So much distortion it sounded like Jim was singing into a tin can. Jim's is voice is so rich, but on Monday night, all the nuances were lost.     -  seems to me the band has a heavy metal sound tech.   

The "soft seated" venues, as they are called, usually have acceptable acoustics and don't need the volume cranked to the max. DIfferent than arenas or larger venues.      

If you think an assault on your ear drums is fun, apparently do not appreciate the musical talent of the band.    I was at Jim Cuddy's show in Belleville last year, also at the Empire, and the volume was perfect, and savoured every sweet note he sang.   

That's a sound point, moirabelle -- thanks for your feedback.

/audio punnage

But seriously, that is a good point about the soft-seat venues already having acceptable acoustics; they were likely designed that way. What I find ridiculous is that the Charlottetown Centre for the Arts didn't have a "noise policy" in place beforehand. You'd think with it being a major venue on the Island (perhaps the only one of its size), it would have done this ages ago. Like when it opened.

As for Belleville, perhaps it was indeed the sound tech's fault for going "heavy metal" on the board. I wasn't there, so I can't judge. Perhaps that particular tech wasn't used to the venue -- sometimes I think you just learn what a venue sounds like by being there for a show. For example, Barrymore's here in Ottawa produces ear-ringingly loud shows. (Mike Belitsky, drummer for The Sadies, on Greg's solo show there in November '06: "Greg was shockingly loud.") I'm not sure if you'd be able to tell this without having been there for a show yourself. The solution, therefore, would be to ask the venue people how shows generally sound there.

And of course, everyone hears differently. One person might think the show was distorted, another might not be able to tell. This is especially true when you factor in seats. Someone in the first balcony of a place like Massey Hall might actually be able to hear the songs more clearly than a front-row fan standing directly in front of Greg's amp, because of the way the sound travels. Whoever is beside the sound board will reap similar auditory benefits.

And for the record, I am not a fan of distortion in shows. Neither is my mother, who is hard of hearing (as in, wears hearing aids). As a result, she's become much more selective in the venues where she sees the lads (Massey, Hamilton Place, and Sanderson Centre in Brantford are her favourites these days). That being said, she'd probably still find it hilarious that Blue Rodeo, of all bands, was responsible for a noise policy being instituted (because that's the part that kills me).

 

Yikes, that went longer than I expected. Sorry about that, folks!

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"There's the shirt that I like!"

"It was nice singing with you this evening."

Rock and Roll ain't noise pollution!!!

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"There's one in every crowd, for crying out loud,
why was it always turning out be me"

There's a reason ear plugs were invented. Wear 'em.

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Where my designer B*tches at?

MAGNETS....COWS....HERD....it all makes sense now?

There's nothing worse than driving in a snowstorm with a GPS that's on the rag

Do you take PAYPAL?

NYCBRFAN:

You know what?  I'm not at all surprised to "hear" about this because I have to say that this last Blue Rodeo tour was the loudest I've ever heard them... and by gosh, I liked it!!  My dad even made the remark that they "almost" crossed the line for being too loud... but to us, it was just right.  I don't like going to a concert where you can barely hear the band - that happened to me once with The Guess Who at Harbour Station in Saint John.  The sound was horrible there. 

Having said all that, I would still rather see Blue Rodeo at the Stratford Theatre... in a soft venue with amazing acoustics.  But once in a while, a good, loud rock show is fun too. 

P.S.  The loudest show I ever went to was an AC/DC Tribute (Hells Bells).  My ears rang for 3 days after that. 

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"I'm just a soul whose intentions are good...
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood."

  No such thing as bad press ~ you go guys!!

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"How the best things are won with sacrifice"