I was at the Phoenix again tonight (Sunday) and got thoroughly deafened, in fact I still can’t hear properly in my right ear, 5 hours later. Anyway, how loud does music have to be before people enjoy it? I much prefer to have the volume a little lower, maybe 75% of capacity of the sound system as it sounds a hell of a lot better, and you can listen in comfort. Tonight’s gig was simply extremely loud and really uncomfortable to listen to, to the point where the 5,000-watt speakers were clipping, which in simple terms means that they were being pushed beyond the limit, and risking serious damage to people’s ears and the speaker system itself. I really don’t understand how the soundman for tonight couldn’t tell that its was too loud, I would have though that the peak indicators on the amps being almost constantly on would be a big clue, and the fact that the sound was clipping and breaking up. It’s only a 150 capacity venue, 5,000-watts would be more than ample, plus the place was less than 50% full, so about 75% volume would have been more than adequate for the situation. Anyway, rant over, just annoyed me that a so-called professional soundman would let the sound get that bad!