I was about 15-20 metres away. I'm really worried about this now. I'm confused to what really caused it.
I'll relate something quickly and you can make of it what you will. I was recording Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band this past Tuesday at a huge arena with bad acoustics. I was using the rig you see in my signature: AT831s on two wire power with no bass roll-off. I had a GA floor ticket and also won the pit lotto so I could basically tape wherever I wanted to. I selected a location about 30 feet in front of the soundboard, in line with the main right array. The sound was very loud, but I did not have any audible distortion for this part. For the encores, I went up inside the pit, and stood at the center- a mere 15ft at the most from the stage. The mix was way off in this section, but I did not change my volume levels at all. The recording did not clip, so the volume was about the same, however, I did get a few seconds of bass drum distortion here and there. I did not get this in my original spot- which tells me that the sound pressure was of course greater in the pit. I won't make any direct decisions to you, but I think you get my point.
And just because I was further back doesn't mean I made a distant recording either. I liked the sound better when I was closer to the sounboard!