Disappointingly low volume levels has been a pet peeve of mine for years now with many acts. Bon Jovi was certainly much louder when I saw them in Denver back in 1987 on the Slippery tour.

The loudest shows I've ever seen were Metallica on the Damaged Justice tour and Ozzy on the No More Tears tour. The latter was outdoors and the ferocity of the volume was incredible for both Ugly Kid Joe and Ozzy.

I saw KISS in Vegas (recently released Blu Ray, which I'm in somewhere as the night I was at was filmed) and was very underwhelmed with the volume level. There was no bottom end and I was almost bored despite the playing of songs I was very happy to have back in the set. The show is more enjoyable watching it at home on DVD.

The show that really highlighted the volume issue for me was seeing Trans Siberian Orchestra in Vegas a number of years back. It had the same underwhelming volume... like it was being too safe. At one point, it was like someone plugged the power in and for about 15 seconds we were blasted with satisfying volume, and then it was taken off. We just figured it was for the benefit of the large number of elderly in attendance. The point was that those few moments demonstrated it wasn't an issue of acoustics or my imagination that concerts used to be impressively loud to offer a thunderous experience.

Turn the volume up and sell ear plugs with the band name imprinted. It's an opportunity to make money while also raising the energy level up. Volume does make a difference with how the crowd gets into it. When they set it at a low energy level that makes everyone feel like they are a spectator standing outside the event it results in low energy from the crowd.