I forgot one of my favorite Pit sights: The Guy Who Brought His Very Small Girlfriend To The Pit. And then he’s standing in the middle, trying to stop an entire crowd from moshing…
I’ve been in pits since I was 16 (half my life!)and thought I was able to take care of myself pretty well, and then I find myself three rows back at a NIN/Perfect Circle show. Everything was cool while PC played, but when NIN came on, the crowd pushed forward even more, and there was a pile-up five bodies deep in the front. Trent had to stop the show twice to ask everyone to move back, and there were kids being passed out hand over head to waiting security and ambulances. I was under three people and watching feet and legs and torsos pile closer and harder, not able to breathe and the smell of sweaty humans, and as I yelled for help, I suddenly started to feel really responsible for the girl who was being crushed against the ground under me, who was squealing in a gasping sort of way I hope I never hear again. Funny, I wasn’t much better off than her, but I felt angry that these asswipes on top of me were making me hurt her. I don’t remember how I got out, really. A guy grabbed me up and a bunch of arms pushed me off to the side. It might have been security. I went to the sidelines and enjoyed the rest of the show from there.
I’m getting to old for this foolishness.
Well, these days there’s moshing at just about any show, so if you’re not of that ilk, you should stay fairly near the back if you’re on the floor. People will be people; it’s a concert. Don’t bitch if you get your toes stepped on or get knocked into the pit.
I used to be a hardcore slam-dance fanatic, starting at the age of 12 when I saw the Bad Brains play at the old 9:30 Club in D.C. I liked rough pits. I LIKED getting hurt. What can I say? I was young, full of energy, and not very mature at the time.
I’m pushing 30 now. The last pit I got into was in 1998 at a Sick Of It All show, and it’ll probably remain the last. These days, I just want to drink a few beers, enjoy the concert, and go home for a good night’s sleep. I still like hanging around the edges of a pit and checking out the action, though.
Some great moshing moments from memory:
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Seeing Slayer in 1986. One angel-dust crazed fellow found a metal folding chair and began slamming people left and right with it in the pit. Nowadays he’d get removed or get his ass kicked, but these sick bastards LIKED it! I didn’t get in that pit, obviously.
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Seeing Agnostic Front in 1988. There was no safe haven, for the entire floor turned into a mosh-pit. Good times!
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The Ramones in 1997, on their last club tour (they did Lollapalooza afterwards and then broke up for good) at the old Hammerjacks in Baltimore. As soon as the first song started, about 9/10ths of the floor turned into a giant pit. A really cute Chinese girl grabbed me for safety and held onto me for the entire show. We tried to stay on the fringes, but kept getting pushed in, so we were jumping around and slamming even while we held each other. We made out. She disappeared afterwards.
Romantic, no? -
Seeing NOFX in 1999. There was a great pit going, but suddenly a huge, hulking, steroided Conan look-a-like fellow appeared in the middle of it…wearing a DRESS. He looked completely insane and started beating his chest and began tossing people around like they weighed nothing. The pit died quickly; no one wanted to be near this psycho.
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Seeing House Of Pain, Tool, and Rage Against The Machine in 1993. I got into the pit when Tool was playing, only to realize that I was in it with about 30 wild skinheads wearing MOUTHPIECES. I got my ass kicked hard.
You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear that this debate is still going on. Thrashing in the pit to DOA, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, Black Flag (especially pre-Henry), Dead Kennedy’s et al was seriously some of the most fun times I’ve ever had in a life of fun times. But that was 20+ years ago. Kepp on slamming and stage diving.
7 up yours, this is nothing personal…but the sentiment behind what you just posted really fucking ticks me off.
I was a 13 year-old girl not too long ago, and I would’ve KILLED to’ve been able to see some of my favorite bands in concert. Unfortunately, as I didn’t attend my first concert until I was 16, I had no fucking clue what going to a concert would entail. If I were 13 again, and (god forbid) a Sum41 fan, I’d probably buy floor (assuming I had the money) simply because I wouldn’t KNOW any better.
They were thirteen. They didn’t know any better. It’s annoying, but fuck…
They can’t help being thirteen and unexperienced. They shouldn’t have to change their taste in bands. They might not have even known moshing was going to be present–and, incidentally, as someone who gets fucking panic attacks in crowds, I HATE that, in order to get a good spot at many concerts of bands I like you HAVE to be in the mosh pit–and thought that the pushing was just people being rude.
It sucks. But they DIDN’T know any better, and, if they were anything like me, were probably scared. Next time, they’ll probably either get into the moshing, or buy a seated ticket. But, you know, you could have a little fucking pity on them. It wasn’t all that long ago that YOU were an inexperienced 13 year-old. Cut them some slack, kay?
See those kinds of pits I can stand. What I fucking hate is when people think they can hurt others by being a dick. I’ve seen way too many shows where people are carried out with broken bones and shit.
The worst was a Motorhead show a couple of years ago, some fucking dick stuck out his fists and then proceded to spin around and punch people. Then he’d fucking kick, then punch then grab and throw people. That’s the kind of shit that pisses me off when I goto shows. You wanna get pushed anround and shit fine by me but sure as hell don’t kick and hit people like that. Fucking assholes.
Exactly. That’s fucking bullshit. The people who want to see the band get pushed to the back so others can risk severe bodily harm for the purpose of… um, rubbing up against sweaty people? Is that the appeal? Really, I don’t know. Do moshers get the same thrill by throwing themselves into brick walls when they listen to the music at home?
I am all for moshing, but I think there should be a region right at the back of the hall, fenced off from everyone else, for the moshers. That way, people can jump into each other, smack skulls, throw chairs, etc etc to their hearts content (seeing as they obviously don’t care about the actual music or any other people there), and those who are there for the music who like watching musicians making music (I know it sounds absurd as a reason to go to a show, but some of us are like that), can watch in peace.
To continue with what Angel of the Lord said, it’s not only the 13 year olds who mightn’t realize where their tickets place them. 2 years ago a friend and I went to see Green Day and Blink 182, she bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale and simply got main floor, as opposed to nose-bleed seats. Wasn’t until we got there that we realized the entire main floor had been designated as the official mosh pit, we had to sign waivers and get bracelets and all.
I nearly flipped as we were standing in the waiver-signing line and noticed all these 30 something parents with their young children, why in the world is it even ok for ignorant parents to take a 6 year old into a mosh pit? I couldn’t believe how many of these parents didn’t even know who Blink 182 were, just bought the tickets because their precocious little darlings had asked to go. Yeah, my friend and I were 30something, and we have kids, somehow we didn’t suffer any delusions that they needed to be brought to that particular concert.
Fortunately, since the entire main floor was mosh, it was easy to hang near the back with the head-nodders and not get unwillingly pulled into the pit. I’d personally have enjoyed having tickets in a regular seating area, too bad more information wasn’t available when the tickets went on sale.
While them being inexperience and unknowledgable annoyed me, it wasn’t my main point. What really annoyed me is how she thought I was the only pushing her when everyone around is pushing. Even if I wanted to stop, I couldn’t be able to. If she truly wanted to stop getting pushed, she could have found a way out. Many people behind her would be happy to let her out if they could grab the spot.
But anyway, as it stands with me, I still love moshing. Especially when everyone else is into it as I am. Not the punching, taking out my crazy anger on just anybody, but regular moshing to some great rock music.
Okay, I went to a freaking new wave show last night. Let me report back what I saw:
An audience of about 150 people- pretty evenly spit boys and girls. One of these boys had drunk too much, and turned into an actual zombie with no control over his motor skills, simply falling willy-nilly into the crowd. Some other boys took offense to this, and started knocking zombie-boy around like a pinball. Within minutes, the entire front of the stage area is occupied by about seven boys slamming into each other. Every once in a while, one of these boys would break out. Because there was not enough crowd to hold them, they would knock people (mostly girls) over like bowling pins until they ran into a burly guy or fell into the concrete themselves. The non-moshing crowd was kept back about ten feet from the stage by the moshers.
That is not cool. First off, girls (and skinny boys) deserve to see a show, too. We girls paid our ticket. We wern’t stupid about it- we wore sturdy shoes and came ready to be aware of our surroundings. But there was no way we could get anywhere near the stage. In fact, it was kind of hard to pay attention to the band because you want to make sure that the people hurtling out of the pit don’t hurtle you into the cement. That sucks.
One band I know would make people alternate boy-girl pits. That was pretty cool. But short of a solution like that, it is not okay for a small minority of people to make a show unenjoyable and take up prime space in a manner that excludes people who are not big and burly. Dancing, bounching and sometimes running into each other is what you do at shows. Moshing is okay, too, but it should not hurt people that do not want to mosh, and it should not take up more than a porportional amount of space to the amount of people who are interested in moshing. And it especially should not function to keep girls from having a good time at shows.
Especially at fucking new wave concerts!