#41
deekoi wrote:
Mmmm I too am an avid crowdsurfer when I go to my one let out vent of the year, Reading Festival; but I’ve experienced being the person underneath, and so I’m always careful to lift feet up and not wear huge boots or anything. Moshing is fantastic, you could never ban it, it’s just kinda a natural reaction to a phat riff when you’re feeling good. I mosh everywhere, at home, at work, at college, in the high street etc, if there’s a good beat and I’m happy then why not?
BUT something I found out recently, which is a bit disturbing: Three people in England DIE from ‘moshing’ (as the broadsheets and tabloids alike write it, apparantly it’s a new craze) at gigs and venues to ‘heavy metal’.
There was a case in the Telegraph a while ago which is were I first read ‘bout this, sopme 17yr old had been on a few pills, drinking and speeding when he physically shook himself to death! D’uh! Of course he’s gonna fukn die if he does that! Don’t blame it on just moshing! Although I do understand about the Roskilde accident and what must have been terrifying, but those people diodn’t have so much of a choice as this one guy.
As far as violence goes, what most people call ‘slamming’, walking around swinging your fists etc.; that is something else you’re always gonna get. When Slipknot came on stage at reading, the vast majority of the 40,000 strong mosh pit were 16-17yr old guys, but were I was, just back from the front, they all looked big enough to look after themselves, and to be honest they shouldn’t have been so close if they can’t. There was on guy just next to me, dressed, like so many others, in a blue boiler suit and wearing a hockey mask. This guy was BIG, probably over 6’6” and built like an absolute mother of broadness, and he suddenly started to get violent with a few other guys who wanted some, but when he started throwing them into other members of the crowd, who had pretty much circled out of the way, me and my flatmat went in to take him down purposefully. I do not agree with violence but in this situation it was neede to stop this guy, we simple went over to him and _politly_ asked him to stop. He was not amused with us but he did stop as he should’ve.
At Rage however, there were so many people trying to get to the front that there was no other way of getting out than to crowdsurf. A couple of my smaller friends got lifted out, one of them had been knocked out and didn’t come round for a few minutes. There were people everywhere, and just behind the very front four or five people being pushed against the barriers, I was in a big line of people who just kept on falling over and over. There ws not much we could do about this and it was scary. However, everyone was aware of not only what was happening on stage but what was going on around them, and so when people were on the floor, they were generally picked up again very promptly. I actually got pushed over and fell on top a guy I went to primary school with and hadn’t seen for nine years.
Anyway, I’m sure you all have you’re own stories like this, so anyway, my opinion:
Crowdsurfind shouldn’t be banned, and neither should moshing, just make sure you’re aware of what’s going on, and don’t go in further if you don’t feel safe.
Posted on Sat, 3 February 2001 at 12:46
