Mosh pits! Your reaction/the psychology of it!

alt ctrl del said:
That's so sad. I'd intercept a punch for you by lifting the table up and then slamming a glass bottle against the wall for good measure.
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You sound much more physically intimidating than myself. I could use you in my seemingly constant and pointless entanglements.
 
I am gangly and lithe. For my bodyguard services, I will charge you in guitar lessons.
 
alt ctrl del said:
I am gangly and lithe. For my bodyguard services, I will charge you in guitar lessons.
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Hmm, sounds fair enough to me, but I expect to see some grade A knockouts of drunk assholes. None of the wibbly wobbly's scampering away. They have to be out cold.
 
I love being up front and in the action...but I hate the people who push forward (or back ward) ONLY.

People can get really hurt like that. It's one thing to push a little bit and jump around. But lots of people out there get stupid in the head and TRY to hurt other people.

Then there are the guys who use the pit to let their hands roam. I've only been removed once for kneeing a guy in the nuts after his hands wound up in my pants (Didn't get thrown out of the concert, just sent back to seating). Other than that I've had elbows to the face, my ankle sprained, even broke my glasses on one memorable night (boy was it tricky getting home). I love the pit. But I hate the stupid people who get down there and then behave like lunatics.

I'd love to see a rock concert in Europe or Japan...I've heard that the crowds are more intense and energetic without the lunacy.
 
alcyone said:
I love being up front and in the action...but I hate the people who push forward (or back ward) ONLY.

People can get really hurt like that. It's one thing to push a little bit and jump around. But lots of people out there get stupid in the head and TRY to hurt other people.

Then there are the guys who use the pit to let their hands roam. I've only been removed once for kneeing a guy in the nuts after his hands wound up in my pants (Didn't get thrown out of the concert, just sent back to seating). Other than that I've had elbows to the face, my ankle sprained, even broke my glasses on one memorable night (boy was it tricky getting home). I love the pit. But I hate the stupid people who get down there and then behave like lunatics.

I'd love to see a rock concert in Europe or Japan...I've heard that the crowds are more intense and energetic without the lunacy.
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Whew, I can imagine that the mosh pit experience is a lot trickier for females... I sometimes feel a little worried when I see small females in the mosh pit, but then it's also just slightly more interesting because of it anyway. Of course I think many people are also automatically on defense for them, which really doesn't detract at all and maybe makes the whole experience more rewarding.

If I had to give a minor gripe it would be crowd surfers... While I always will be slightly sore from nights where the moshing is more frequent and intense, in my experience crowd surfers are harder to be aware of and defend against, especially if they barrel in from behind you. I have taken feet in the face on multiple occasions and had someone's entire weight land right on my back which I was not prepared for at that particular moment. But, I suppose it's all a price I'm all too ready to pay for mosh pits...
 
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Hinsoog said:
Whew, I can imagine that the mosh pit experience is a lot trickier for females... I sometimes feel a little worried when I see small females in the mosh pit, but then it's also just slightly more interesting because of it anyway. Of course I think many people are also automatically on defense for them, which really doesn't detract at all and maybe makes the whole experience more rewarding.

If I had to give a minor gripe it would be crowd surfers... While I always will be slightly sore from nights where the moshing is more frequent and intense, in my experience crowd surfers are harder to be aware of and defend against, especially if they barrel in from behind you. I have taken feet in the face on multiple occasions and had someone's entire weight land right on my back which I was not prepared for at that particular moment. But, I suppose it's all a price I'm all too ready to pay for mosh pits...
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You know, it's totally fair game to take a shoe of someone crowd surfing.
 
I would mosh at a MSI concert though.

They're sweeeeeeeet.
 
Hinsoog said:
Whew, I can imagine that the mosh pit experience is a lot trickier for females... I sometimes feel a little worried when I see small females in the mosh pit, but then it's also just slightly more interesting because of it anyway. Of course I think many people are also automatically on defense for them, which really doesn't detract at all and maybe makes the whole experience more rewarding.

If I had to give a minor gripe it would be crowd surfers... While I always will be slightly sore from nights where the moshing is more frequent and intense, in my experience crowd surfers are harder to be aware of and defend against, especially if they barrel in from behind you. I have taken feet in the face on multiple occasions and had someone's entire weight land right on my back which I was not prepared for at that particular moment. But, I suppose it's all a price I'm all too ready to pay for mosh pits...
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A lot of the pits I've been in, eventually people will start shouting a 'head's up' when there is a surfer coming in. And since I'm tall for a girl (and I always wear boots or heeled sandals) I frequently take a glimpse behind me to look for any incoming.

Feet to the face suck.

Actually, the close quarters is a lot easier for females to defend and evade against naughty male hands. Elbows to the side (or nose if the guy is small), stomping the insteps, etc. Hit 'em quick and dirty then slip off into the crowd.
 
I must have well developed Se or something. I enjoy them for the most part.(Unless they get very very packed, as in can't...breathe...lungs...crushed, packed.) Usually I try to make it to the front though and stay there. Crowd-surfers landing on your head isn't fun either. Most of the time you can tell when someone's coming though or you'll thankfully get one of those Heads up people that actually look out for people.

Moshing around here usually turns into one giant crowd of people with an empty circle in the back-center of it. I stay out of that area cause it's usually drunk people running into each other like madmen. I blame it on the demographics of this state being pretty much exclusively Norwegian and German.

Avenged Sevenfold and Sevendust were insane(Sevendust moreso), but I enjoyed it anyways.
 
minority funk said:
You know, it's totally fair game to take a shoe of someone crowd surfing.
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I went to a show (small local venue) and the same dude kept jumping off stage and crowd surfing. Well, someone got sick of it and he bodyslammed the crowd surfer.

I regret to say it was...sadly hilarious.
 
I never minded crowds of any sort. At a concert, I feel like I'm feeding off on people's energy in the moshpit, and it makes me feel alive rather than nervous.

That, and I'm pretty confident I'd be able to hold my own if push got to shove.
 
alt ctrl del said:
I went to a show (small local venue) and the same dude kept jumping off stage and crowd surfing. Well, someone got sick of it and he bodyslammed the crowd surfer.

I regret to say it was...sadly hilarious.
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That reminds me of the bar we frequently play at in my town. There's this really old dude with a mohawk that hangs around there all the time. He's constantly drunk and because he spends so much time at the bar (it's a real hole in the wall) he's been hired as their janitor. On a totally unrelated note, he's the shittiest janitor in the world. I swear there are swarms of STD's crawling in the bathrooms and on the sinks where the scenesters snort their coke.

Anyway, the old drunk guy named 'Joe' has become somewhat famous in the scene for stage diving no matter what the size of the crowd is. I think he claims to have over 300 dives under his belt. The last time I saw him stage dive was for some electronica band that the five kids who were there weren't really into. For some reason Joe thought it would be a good idea to stage dive anyway. He procedded to land on his nose in the middle of the dance floor.
 
I was in the mosh pit at the last concert I went to. I gotta say it was quite a rush. Moshing or slam dancing fulfills many interesting needs or wants.
- Physical contact
- Physical exercise
- Release of pent up energy/aggression
- Thorough enjoyment of the music through physical (artistic) expression
- Exercise of confidence/fearlessness
- A certain type of 'bond' shared with fellow moshers (as corny as it sounds)

It's not for everyone and you could get hurt but chances are you won't and you'll enjoy it immensely. A lot of moshers just wanna have a good time and arent interested in actually hurting people, in fact if you fall over theres a very good chance that someone will try to pull you up if they notice -- so that you don't get trampled on.
 
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Y'know, there's something to be said about violent activities. Yeah, they're, well, violent, but in a way the brute physicalness of them just makes it all the more enjoyable :) This goes for concerts, moshing, games...rough games are great, we played one once where you basically had to pick people off the ground, and I ended up with a torn shirt and black eye, and I loved it :D
 
Hah. Same here, When I was in grade 5/6 my classmates and I used to have big wrestling brawls. Once in awhile someone would get hurt by accident and try to retaliate but mostly everyone just had fun.
 
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I never understood mosh pits, but it seems most people who enjoy them have described a similar mentality as the OP.

To me, they always seemed like a primitive ritual in modern time. I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean primitive in the sense that there is something being expressed that has roots at the genetic level. That is, instinctive. Like sex. I imagine modern day moshers come from the same line of those who would put on masks and stomp around camp fires while chanting to the beats of tribal drummers:

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Interesting detached perspective you have there. Tell me though, have you ever participated in one? Or are you simply content to stand upon the sidelines and look upon it in snide derision?

There is a part of human nature which must be experienced to be fully understood. Namely that of unity and emotion, regardless of its expression much art, poetry, and culture comes forth from the nuances of these abstract concepts.
 
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Interesting detached perspective you have there. Tell me though, have you ever participated in one? Or are you simply content to stand upon the sidelines and look upon it in snide derision?
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Is that directed at me? If so, I'd be curious to know what I typed that qualified as snide derision. If anything, I am fascinated by it.

Have I ever participated in one? No.

There is a part of human nature which must be experienced to be fully understood.
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That is what I was suggesting: it is nature that compels one to mosh which, btw, renders it no less legitimate than eating when you are hungry. Being that I have never participated in one, I am fine with stating it's a pet theory.
 
You should. It is interesting experience like all things which tap the depths of human experience. Even the primal drummers of the cave man days needed to provide some sort of sound which could tap the commonality or connection which human beings to some extent strive for.
 
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