Sorry, that was ears.

   Eric

I use Howard Leight brand.  I bought a box of 200 pairs online for about
25 USD.  The Max are good, but I prefer the Max Lite; they're a little
smaller and attenuate noise nearly as well.  Both can dampen 20-30 dB of
noise.  The nice thing about a big box is you can share them.  I went to
Fleetwood Mac a couple years ago, and some of the people I went with
gladly accepted my offer of free plugs.

There's a lot of ear plugs you can buy almost anywhere, for next to
nothing, that will cut out 20 dB.  Many people feel the music sounds
more audible at a concert with earplugs: they dampen out a lot of the
echo.  

I think there is a resilience to healthy ears.  They can bounce back
from auditory trauma. When you get to the point of tinnitus, the reserve
is gone, and the volume of noise that is damaging becomes much less.
When I go to a loud bar or sporting event with friends, I can perceive
the damage that has occurred to my ears later.  My friends think I'm
goofy, but their ears are healthier and they just are unaware of the
damage they've experienced.

You have 2 choices:
--You can now become obsessive about protecting your ears with ear
plugs, to the point where your friends think you're strange.
--OR, you can be casual about it, forget your ear plugs for the
occasional Tool concert, etc, and your tinnitus will get louder and
louder and louder until you yearn for the days when there was silence.
And the joke will be on you, because at that point, you will be
obsessive about protecting your ears with ear plugs, to the point where
your friends will think you're strange.
Might as well start now.  
Think of it as condoms for your ears.