I’ve been to more concerts than you. No, I’m not bragging because of a patholgical problem associated with being too short or something. It’s just probably true. I’ve been to a lot of shows and it’s pretty likely you haven’t been to as many as I have.
It’s also likely you have better hearing than I do. That’s the reason I’m not writing this from a hotel room or on a laptop while riding shotgun in the equipment truck heading towards some random town our booking agent found by throwing a dart at a map. I spent the better part of 10 years as a touring FOH audio mixer (don’t call me a soundman or a technician) for a wide range of artists doing shows in all fifty states and points international. I was the guy you see standing suavely at a huge mixing desk that looks like a 757 console, talking into a headset and then getting whisked away in a golf cart and disappearing backstage after the show. I was also the guy you saw tucked into the smokiest corner of the club looking harried as the goddamn monitors stopped working again or the guy you saw schlepping heavy gear into he back of a white Ford Econoline in an alley behind the club at 3:30am. Glamorous stuff indeed.
Yep, I paid a price for having the fun job of going to a concert almost every night of my life for 10 years. I lost about 65% of the mid to high frequency hearing capacity in both ears (at least it was a good stereo mix). If I had it to do all over again, I would; with one caveat. I would have been smarter and worn high end hearing protection and would likely still be laying about the hotel room ordering room service at this very moment. heh. Pros can and do in these modern, enlightened times buy and wear custom, molded to their ear canal high end hearing protection that allows them to hear in high fidelity but cuts down the overall gain to the non-painful, non-damaging level. And hence they keep working.
You, however can start saving your hearing today without spending hundreds of bucks on hearing protection. There are a lot of choices available to protect your precious ears. I highly recommend you slide by H.E.A.R and check out their section on hearing protection products. H.E.A.R. is a non profit site started by Kathy Peck, an OG San Francisco punk who got her ears wacked by being on too many stages with too many blazing guitars and who for a bunch of years has dedicated herself to raising awareness about the insidious villain of hearing loss. Check out her site, buy some ear condoms and make a donation to help H.E.A.R. stick around and keep helping people enjoy more and more and more concerts. BTW, here is my favorirte relatively cheap set of earplugs. They don’t cost much more than a couple of beers at the club and can make your concert night (and the next day w/out severe threshold shift) a whole lot more pleasant. Buy em, use em, save your hearing. 
Why am I writing about your ears? Cause saving your hearing is important and at Livekick we want you to keep going to as many live concerts as you can. Music is life.
