I went to see Terrorvision at the Electric Ballroom in Camden on Saturday. Because of where I live, I don't get to see live music as frequently as I'd like so I was looking forward to this. I was a big fan of Terrorvision back in the day as well.
Unfortunately, their set was spoiled for me by the sound. I couldn't make out any individual instruments although I could hear the vocals - but they were just superimposed over a wall of noise as far as I was concerned. They were energetic however and Tony Wright was bouncing all over the place dressed in a bright pink suit. I went with two mates and one of them and I left before the end as that wall of noise got quite tedious. My other mate saw the end of the gig on the first floor and said the sound was considerably better. Hmmmm. However, he went to see Level 42 at the Cambridge Corn Exchange last week and he said the sound was absolutely atrocious - so bad in fact he and his wife decamped to an adjoining bar to avoid the assault on their ears. They decided they would only go to that venue again for an acoustic or spoken word performance.
Sound quality obviously depends on a number of factors - the type of music being played, the acoustic qualities of the venue, the quality of the PA/setup and the skills of the sound engineer. But with 2023's technology, it can't be that difficult to get decent sound quality - can it???
Saturday was an expensive evening - travel to and from London, gig tickets, meal beforehand, beers etc etc etc. And although I enjoyed seeing my old mates, I'd have happily skipped the gig and chewed the fat with them somewhere instead which I never thought I'd hear myself say. I have an increasing (albeit small) list of venues I'd seriously think twice about visiting again due to sound issues (eg, Cheltenham Town Hall). By the same token, there are others where the sound has always been consistently good (eg, The 100 Club).
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Ebay mark7777_1
In answer to your original question, yeh, I actively avoid large venues because the sound is almost always crap. I actually schlepped up to Manchester from London to see Gaslight Anthem in the O2 Apollo rather than Wembley Arena on their last tour.
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Ebay mark7777_1
The typical arenas & stadiums are also usually dreadful irrespective of volume levels. Old theatres & mid-size outdoor places are my favourite, usually - that sort of 5-10k size place.
I spent the vast majority of the gig with my fingers stuck in my ears as discreetly as possible!
I tried standing half in the hall and half in the adjacent break out space but the two way foot traffic just got on my nerves.
Not my idea of fun, but lesson learned always pack ear plugs.
Quite lucky in Bristol to have a few small-to-mid sized venues with excellent sound. The big places can be very hit and miss, it really depends on where you're standing
I notice all this stuff, seen hundreds of bands, it takes a lot for me to enjoy myself these days lol
And it's often far too loud to the point that it causes distortion in the ears.
Just backing it all off a little would be so much better.
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
Some smaller venues, say less than 500 cap with house PA and FOH engineer can be hit and miss with bartenders covering FOH duty if they have to ..
At the big end the sound is showfiled so once the act is line checked and the PA is EQ’ ed to the space it should sound OK and certainly does at Victorious fest most years in Portsmouth
Worst experience (as I've mentioned a few times before) was Judas Priest at the Hammersmith Apollo, it was so loud and distorted that by the end of the gig my ears had given up and I could only hear a bass rumble with the occasional high pitched wee-wee-wee bit which was Halford screeching, or a guitar solo. After that I started wearing earplugs to gigs.
When I went to see New Order recently the sound was fine, I'd say, and not too loud either. But it's a different type of music from most of the shows I've ever been to.