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Caught in a mosh

a guide to surviving in the front row

I love a mosh pit. There's something about the chaos of it. The raw unbridled release of energy and adrenaline. Finding order in that chaos is a powerful thing. Learning how to control it, it makes you believe, if only for a second, that you can conquer the world.

But some aren't prepared for the bedlam in that pit. Some only want to get a closer look at their idols and find themselves caught in a testerone fueled sess pit. Trying not to gag on the smell of sweat, copping boots to the head from the crowd surfers above, and praying they'll live just long enough to see their favourite song.

Well here's my guide to crawling out of the mosh pit alive.

DON'T PANIC

Got that. Good. That's all you really need to know. I've been in many large mosh pits and I've seen a few people get in serious trouble, and every one of them panicked, at least until someone saw there distress and was able to calmy help them out of it.

If you find yourself in trouble seek help. If you see someone in trouble help them.

Look after yourself. Keep yourself hydrated. Don't go too hard on the mind altering substances

If you feel faint in a mosh pit, get out. There are two ways out, up and over or to the side. Going back is useless (remember the push).

Generally, up and over, or cord surfing is the easiest method. The security at most of these gigs stand behind the barricades at the front, and grab crowd surfers as they come past and eject them from the pit. To get up and crowd surf, just scream in the ear of the closest big guy. Tap him on the shoulder, point to the roof etc.

If you're a large guy and someone asks you to put them up, I find the boost to be the best method. Get the help of any other big guys around you. Clear a space by pushing backward using the back of the person in front of you for leverage. You'll here a few complaints from behind, but ignore them, I guarantee they pushed there way to where they are and are only complaining cause they are getting pushed in the wrong direction. Bend down from the knees , cuyp their foot in your hands and attempt to throw them up. You probably won't be able to, but you'll provide a stable platform for them to claw their way up with the help of the other big guys you recruited earlier. Much easier than trying to pick them up from the shoulders.

If the security are pushing crowd surfers back into the mosh pit, you'll have to leave by the quickest exit, which is nearly always the side. Just push your way to the side and perhaps back slightly. Most people will let you through as they'll be more than happy to take your spot. Once you reach the periphary the crowd will thin out quickly.

Go get a drink and watch the show from the rear for a bit.

Most mosh pits are heaps of fun, I've only been in a few that got out of control. It's usually to some So-Cal punk band, where a bunch of late teen, hormone charged delinquents begin to push from the sides (Dammit, I guess they're growing up). It develops into what I like to call the psycho sway.

See, all decent mosh pits bounce, sway and push. They bounce up and down, sway from right to left a bit and push forward. The bounce and sway are generally fun, and the push is usually somewhat envigorating, rarely even getting close to being bone crushing. But when the push becomes part of the sway, the bounce dissapears and people struggle to maintain their footing as the crowd goes left 20 paces, right 20 paces, left 20 paces...

This is the psycho sway. People begin to trip over their own feet, and once one goes down, everyone follows, and you end up with 10 people lying on top of each other, and everyone around them trying frantically to get them back to their feet.

I developed my own technique for surviving the psycho sway. What you do is raise your feet off the groud and let the crowd carry you, this way you aren't tripping over your own feet.

When the crowd starts to go down beside you, drop anchors. Put your feet on the ground. Your shins will have a vertical stand point when everyone else is at 45°. The people going down beside you will actually help lock your shins. You'll be amazed how long you're able to hold the crowd up from this position. When the crwod sway heads back the other way, start collecting up the bodies.

If you do go down, don't panick, get up as quick as you can. Reach your hands up and someone will grab them and help you up. If people are on top of you, push them up into the crowd. You'll be fine, just don't panic.

Ofcourse none of this is what the mosh pit is about.

It's not about pushing, shoving or even helping each other out.

The mosh pit is about one thing.

It's about staring James Hetfield in the eye as he belts out the opening lyrics of one. It's about singeing your eyebrows from the pyro on stage. It's about high fiving Anthony Keidis. It's about jumping up on stage and stealing a beer off Pennywise. It's about getting the most out of the festival. It's about becoming a much a part of the experience as is humanly possible.