It was so rockin' that I plugged my ears!

I plug up my ears at most concerts, but then, I already have rather crap hearing (at 22! Hooray!)
I don't at all feel I'm missing much, even though I use earplugs that vastly change the sound. It CAN be a nuisance at gigs where the volume level changes drastically. Take some band doing a silent bit, and suddenly blasting into megavolumes. Wow can that ever be effective. With earplugs.. not so much. BUT, I still feel I get a wonderful concert experience, as long as the band is good.
But I'm very geeky, and it probably depends on how you appreciate concerts etc.

As for eharing your bandmates, uhm, why wouldn't you hear them with earplugs?
Plus, playing without hearing your bandname would lead to more problems than just slipping out of sync. What about improvising etc? Yikes.

Anyways, personally I'd say yes. But I do know people far older than me, who've attended far more concerts than me, and never had any great damage to their ears thanks to it. I guess it's a matter of luck ;)
I can tell you this much: Tinnitus can be a serious flipping drag, and I sure as Richard Hell don't want to make mine any worse. Better safe than sorry is my opinion.

Try going to a specialist and get proplugs, and it shouldn't affect the pitches etc much, just get a lower soundlevel. The cheap ones tend to muffle things up instead of just lowering the volume.

I only did at one show - Monster Magnet about 8 years ago when they played here in Winnipeg. They played a venue called "Ozzie's" which is in the basement of a hotel. With a full-on PA. Deafening. Couldn't really tell what they were playing, either. So loud it made me want to take a shit.

There are many threads on this subject

Earplugs at concerts C/D
earplugs
Headphone-induced TINNITUS
Ouch
Headphones

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When I saw Sonic Youth a few years ago (shortly after NYC Ghosts & Boredom was released) I plugged up my ears.
There was something intrinsically hilarious about hearing those goobers, over twice my age, yell "If it's too louuud, you're to ooooold! OH LET'S PLAY KOOL THING!!"

Then they played Kool Thing and I frowned.
Kool thing is a very, very bad song.
And they played it.
And it lasted several minutes!
Then they played something else, and I was a happy young man who was too old.

It should be noted that I go to a lot of metal shows, which quickly teaches you that earplugs are essential. Metal bands and Nomeansno. Yup.

Like Abraham and Ishmael fighting over sand.

BTW Fivvy, what's your band? I saw you mention in some other thread that your band did a grindcore Disney cover. Any band that plays grindcore ought to be fun to hear. Or at least crap.

Probably crap.

But you do Disney covers!

i always wear plugs when I play drums, always have. but I never got into the habit of wearing them when I attend shows, which I should really start doing, because I've been seeing a lot of them. hm.

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Sorry. :{ But it's only available intermittently - does anyone know why? It's up maybe two times out of seven.

Really? While it can be slow sometimes, I've never seen it not work.