Too loud?

I’ve just read a report of several people complaining that UB40, the band, played too loudly at a gig in Cambridge. The band got together in 1978 and came to fame in the 1980’s with such songs as ‘Red, red, wine’, ‘One in ten’, ‘Rat in mi kitchen’ and many more. They blended reggae and pop and were – and I’m sure still are, a great band. After playing together for over thirty years they split, but now they are back together and touring.

Although I have always loved music, it’s only in the past ten years ago that I have regularly gone to live gigs, and they are loud, they really are; with all the modern equipment they can be ferociously loud – especially if you are as near the front as possible!I was watching a band and i felt as if my teeth hurt they were so loud – but to me that’s part of it! I actually really love that, to be able to feel the music as well as hear it; however it has to be properly balanced… I went to one gig and all I could hear was the singer (which I didn’t mind) and the lead guitar because somehow things must have gone out of kilter after the sound check.

Going back to UB40… I just wonder if the fans who went to see them where they complained the music was too loud, and they could feel the bass (I love that!) that perhaps they hadn’t been to a gig for a long time. maybe they were fans from the 80’s and hadn’t been to concerts where they have new amps and different ways of balancing the sound. Maybe they had never even been to a gig, but just loved the band playing at home with the sound at a domestic level; UB40 are a very melodic band, with lovely harmonies, but the reggae beat and the drums and bass are very strong and an integral part of their sound. I feel sorry for them if it was too loud for them, but that’s the way amplified music is… and some of us like walking home with a pounding in the ears, and still feeling the rhythms in our blood.