I have spent a lot of time at shows, both on stage and in the audience, so I have a pretty good idea about the hearing protection situation. Yeah, it's kinda lame to not stand in the loudest place where you can feel the music in every pore of your body. But one thing to remember before deciding whether or not to bother with the inconvenience of hearing protection is this: damage to the ears is permanent. You only get one pair of ears (if you're lucky) and if you don't protect them, you have to live with them in a damaged state forever. There are several ways your ears can be damaged by loud music or noise. Hearing loss is probably the most well-known consequence, but there are other equally disturbing results. Tinnitus is a recurrent and often permanent ringing in the ears.

Another consequence is Hyperacusis, which is an oversensitivity to loud sounds. A sound which to an ordinary person would just be an annoyance can become excruciatingly painful to a person with Hyperacusis. For a long time I had to wear earplugs on the subway because I couldn't stand the sounds of the train moving. So it's a good idea to take precautions. This means wearing earplugs which have a high protection rating (the ones you get in a drugstore usually range from 20-30 decibels of protection) Don't just stuff cotton or cocktail napkins in your ears -- that has a very minimal protection value. Even if you wear earplugs, you may not be protected from potential damage if the volume of the sound you are exposed to is loud enough. So you may have to make some sacrifices about where you stand or how long you stand there.

I think the most important thing is to stay aware of the potential dangers and make good decisions about the best way to protect yourself.