Last night a Seattle radio station called The End hosted a concert by a UK band called Muse that has recently become very popular over here. It was at a club called Neumo's in Capitol Hill; I'd heard about Neumo's (which is located at the same spot as an old club called Moe's — get it?) in The Stranger but never expected to go there myself.
Neumo's internal configuration is interesting. The stage is on the ground floor with a large flat standing area in front and what I assume is an alcohol-free bar to one side. In the back of the room is a flight of stairs up to a 21+ bar and a balcony overlooking the floor below. The balcony runs all the way to the front wall, and that's where Jeff and I ended up. We were to the side and almost behind the band for the whole show, and while I would have liked to see their faces more, it was an awesome location.
Jeff and I went with two of his bandmates, one band-mate's girlfriend, and a friend of theirs. Jeff and I were unfortunately the only two who had thought to bring earplugs, and I'm really glad we did. We were stationed well behind the two humongous main speakers and tightly ear-plugged, and still we could hear the music perfectly well. The others, down below (because two of them were under-age and not allowed on the balcony), were subject to the full force of the blaring speakers on their naked ears and had to leave after the fourth song. It's too bad, both because they missed a lot of great music and because those four songs already damaged their ears.
Speaking of earplugs, I pestered Jeff enough that he has started wearing them at practice. He used to protest that he wouldn't be able to hear, but actually he can hear better with them on because now the drums and guitar don't drown out the quieter voices. The other three are still holding out, but Jeff says he's gotten the bug up their butts
about it, which is good.
I think my mission is to get a Costco-sized pack of earplugs and hand them out to people at shows.
On the way back home, I gave an orange to an apparently homeless guy on the sidewalk (he appreciated it much more than I did when I had it, I'm sure) and bought a book called The Tale of the 1002nd Night. (I couldn't help it; the bookstore was next to the bus stop! And since this was Capitol Hill, it was open. They're open until midnight most nights and all night on Friday! Where else can you find an all-night used bookstore?) Jeff came home with me because he'd left a lot of his stuff here, and we showered to get the cigarette-stink off and ate boxed macaroni and cheese and crashed. Jeff meant to go home to sleep, but I offered to get up and make him breakfast.
So now I'm tired and achy from last night and hungry because I made Jeff breakfast but neglected to have any myself. Our previously-stinky clothes have been washed and are now ready to be removed from the dryer, and I need to get moving!
Stephen says:
Wow. I always thought I was the only one who wore earplugs to live shows. Or I used to, anyway. These days I simply avoid loud bands; they don't do anything for me any more.
Jeff says:
Excuse me while I geek audio for a moment.
Just to point out, the mains at the show weren't two speakers, but rather, two gigantic arrays of speakers. There were four rows of speakers in each main, and each row looked like it had two 12 in. speakers and 1 ˜8 in. speaker. So, in total, 16 12 in. speakers and 8 8 in. speakers. For reference, my guitar amp has one 12 in. speaker—when I turn the power amp up to 3 (out of 10), the sound output is well over 85dB (ear damagingly loud) probably in the 90-100dB range. When pushed, my amp can get a lot louder. The 12s are good for the mid and low range, and the 8s perform better at higher frequency—they were probably using them as oversized tweeters. In a room no bigger than half a football field, they had a sound system worthy of Husky Stadium, and they had it turned up. The last thing that needs to be accounted for is the fact that a stadium is open air, and Neumo's is a closed space. This simple fact means you don't lose sound to the outside as readily. I'm surprised anyone in that room made it through the show without earplugs.
The sound system was awe inspiring; dick enhancing, even (well, there goes my spam rating...), but way more than needed. Shrug I guess you need that to get through to the people who've already destroyed their hearing ;), and the rest of us can just bring earplugs.
(BTW, Laura, your spell checker doesn't understand dB, earplugs or tweeter.)
Jeff
Jeff says:
Nope. We're in a minority, but you aren't (weren't?) the only one. Enough people care about their hearing that you can often get earplugs at a show—you just have to ask for them because of the idiots who don't care about their hearing. There seems to be a mentality of, , which, as I'm sure everyone here agrees, is stupid, because, as Laura said, I can hear better at practice with the plugs in. I've also found that in small venues with bad acoustics, I can hear the band much better, because all the noise from reflection and the amps just being up way too loud gets cut out, and I can hear the song.
Jeff