Last Thursday a friend of mine invited me to a Slipknot concert. Not being a big fan of Slipknot, but liking the other bands (Fear Factory and Chimaira) and loving concerts I went. I didn’t quite expect what I got.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the concert was a blast, but unfortunatly I don’t think I’ll ever attend another concert of that nature ever again. I like the genre, but the fans are just way too damn rowdy. At concerts, I’m the mosher kid in the group; I like to get physical in the most pits and rough around. I did not plan on going into a Slipknot mosh pit at all, however I found my self inescapably on the edge or in the middle of one for close to 3 hours. The concert lasted about that long, 3 hours, and in it’s entierity my friend and I were on the outer rim or in the middle of every mosh pit that erupted. That’s 3 hours of being hit in the back while trying to watch the band play, 3 hours of falling down, and 3 hours of getting pushed. I spent at least half the time trying not to fall down and maybe an 8th of the time avoiding getting slammed while trying to get out of a mosh pit that had suddenly formed around me. I missed quite about of hard rock creaminess, which didn’t make me that happy, but getting free shit did. I found a 21 or older wrist band on the ground and snagged a few t-shirts (the tour was sponsored by a beer company, so all merchandise could only be given to legal drinkers), and I got a free CD out of the mix. So it wasn’t a bad night by any means, but being shoved around like that knowing I had no shot in hell of fighting back and living doesn’t make me the happiest camper around.
One of the most horrendous things I’ve ever seen anywhere though was in a mosh pit during Slipknot playing - a gargantuan of a man was standing in the middle and just knocking people down as they came at him. This kid appears out of the crowd and tries to tackle him at the knees, to which he picks the kid up by his stomach, and drops him on his neck. And it was hard too, not some pussy little playground shit, the guy picked him up and threw him onto the concrete ground. He was ok, much to my surprise, but shit like that is just unneccessary.
I’ve never actually been in a mosh pit, but I’ve been on the edges a couple of times. I dated a guy who used to be into the “concerts with mosh pits” scene since he devired some obscure pleasure from throwing his considerable weight around and crushing others (he was 6’3", 320-something, yeah, you get the picture, why did I date that lameass?). For one concert (Staind and Korn, I wasn’t really into it but the Twisted Animation Festival in the intermission was good), I was able to stay in the actual seats with an acquaintance for most of the show, but when it came time to get out of there it was a bit dangerous trying to track down the rest of the party.
At the Deftones concert I attended, the same acquaintance and I were about three people from the stage, and of course mosh pits formed intermittently throughout the show. Those weren’t too bad, but there was a girl on the edges who had apparently consumed something that had her in a comatose state. She was sort of pulled in, thrown around a bit, and then ended up on the top end of crowd surfing as random guys grabbed her wherever they could while she was up there. It was bad enough to where the lead singer for the Deftones stopped in the middle of the song, called out some of the offenders and called for security to help the girl. That was creepy.
At the Ska is Dead show, The PlanetSmashers made every single fucking person there SIT DOWN in a loaded venue. Then they counted to 3 for everyone of them to jump into the air and flip out. I almost died o_o;;
I don’t have any that are too bad. The people where I live don’t know how to mosh, but it’s a small town with small dudes, so I don’t have to worry about it much. Some peopel think that moshing is all fuckin, seek-and-destroy, but I’ve been to some good mosh pits, and there’s an etiquitte to moshing I think. You don’t try and kill people when you do it, first off, jeez To me, moshing is a friendly thing. I’ve been to a lot of Punk Rock concerts and seen a lot of crazy bands, with large large scenes. Moshing, while really rough, I think, is supposed to be kinda friendly. When someone falls, you gotta help em up. Hell, some of the mosh pits I’ve been in, people like shake hands at the end and shit. Maybe I’m soft, but that’s my kinda moshing. There can’t be any real hostilities when you’re getting rough, or shit’s gonna get dirty.
Almost any mosh pit that you’re in has etiquette. If someone falls, most people realize it and you’ll get at least 5-10 hands down to help you up. It’s all about fun, and nobody wants anyone to get hurt. The kid that got thrown got back up and the guy that threw him seemed to apologize for being so rough and the kid was cool with it. I still think it was bad form, but at least all was well and done with. The kind of moshing that SG is describing is what generally goes on. I was afraid to go in because…well, slipknot fans look like their crazy.
Shinobi, Slipknot did the exact same thing, it was insane. Mad fun, but crazy as hell. Chimaira also did this thing where the lead singer seperates the crowd into two groups, down the middle. Then everybody runs right into each other. It was also fun, but suddenly the entire crowd was engulfed in a gigantic mosh pit. Luckily that one only lasted a bit, because those of us that didn’t want to mosh didn’t want too, so we stopped.
Don’t get me wrong, the concert was great, and I love concerts period. But man, I don’t think I’ll ever attend another Slipknot concert with all that shoving and shit. I’m in quite a bit of pain in my neck, upper back and shoulders.
Avid fans of bands such as Slipknot and Slayer (and don’t get me wrong, I like Slayer) tend be less than intelligent and very much stupidly aggressive. I’m glad that nobody got SERIOUSLY hurt. =p
I haven’t been in a mosh pit; but I’ve only been to one concert (at a stadium) so… yeah. =p
No, it was a real mosh pit, where people are pushing and shoving and junk. There was only one circle pit the entire time, which died out really quick. I think circle pits are pretty lame though - wee, lets run around in a circle!
I haven’t been in a mosh pit before, but I wouldn’t mind being in one, maybe not for the whole concert though. You aren’t really supposed to be punching and elbowing people in mosh pits, but there’s probably usually idiots that do.
Is one of those idiots
heh… mosh pits are your friend. I’ll never forget my first circle pit. Biohazard, the tenth of july 2002… The guitarplayer jumps off stage in the crowd and starts it all up that was so fucking awesome… that same day, Death Angel was playing, and there were like 20 fullgrown-heavy-weight badasses of metalheads leaping themselves into the concrete ground past the fence… most of them were like 40 years old or late thirties or something like that
And that shit Chimaira does that was referred to earlier is most comonly known as a ‘Wall of Death’ or ‘Red Sea pit’ … and concerts rule. and festivals rule.
I remember one time in a Dropkick Murphy’s mosh pit, a rather hefty gentleman attempted to crowd surf. He leaped off the stage into the sea of hands, but as soon as everybody saw how large he was they scattered. He hit the ground really hard, and got concussed pretty bad.
However, everybody did scramble to clear some space and help him up. After that he kinda stumbled away, and I think his girlfriend took him to the hospital.
I really haven’t been in a mosh pit before, but when I went to an Ill Nino concert way back in September, there was this big mosh pit and all sorts of people moshing, getting banged around, trampled on, etc…
I’ve went to a few concerts when I was a lot younger, and I saw the same thing once, and heard about other instances from other people: One huge guy decides to clear out the pit. From what I’ve seen, usually there’s only a few big, muscle-bound guys in circle-pits anyway.
To me, moshing is a friendly thing. I’ve been to a lot of Punk Rock concerts and seen a lot of crazy bands, with large large scenes. Moshing, while really rough, I think, is supposed to be kinda friendly. When someone falls, you gotta help em up. Hell, some of the mosh pits I’ve been in, people like shake hands at the end and shit. Maybe I’m soft, but that’s my kinda moshing. There can’t be any real hostilities when you’re getting rough, or shit’s gonna get dirty.