Yep, never quite thought I could say, "Ya, I was totally in a mosh pit!" But I was! In celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary John and I went to see Rise Against, Bad Religion, and the Descendants. It was definitely an awesome experience!!! The crowd was a large variety of people! From people in collared shirts and sweater vests to people wearing no shirts or short skirts, people old enough to be my parents or grandparents to kids who could be my own. It was very interesting to see the crowd dynamics! The Descendants were up first and really I don't have much knowledge of them other than 2-3 songs from John's ipod. We were stand offish and the crowd was just starting to warm up. For Bad Religion we scooted forward 10-15 feet, and soon after they started a mosh pit started right in front of us. At first I thought, "Wow, I am less than 3 feet front a full blown mosh pit." Within a song or two we were at the outskirts of the mosh pit- helping people up and pushing people back in. It was very interesting to watch the dynamics of a mosh pit. I would say 1% were pure pricks, 5-10% were intoxicated beyond reason and incoherent to what there true actions were, about 75% were intoxicated in some way and just having fun, and the rest were not intoxicated but high on adrenaline and the overall rush of the concert (us). I don't count the $10 beers at 7pm to have any influence over Bad Religion that came on near 9pm and Rise Against who came on around 10:30. (That was the worst part was having to wait 30-45 min between the 3 bands.) Okay, back to the mosh pit and the consideration and compassion in the mosh pit. Yes, I said consideration and compassion. It was amusing to watch these big tatted up guys, shoving, pushing, lunging, but if someone fell, they would form a barrier line to help the person up, and make sure they were okay. People would stop along the edge of the mosh pit to fix their shoes which got flat tired, put there hand on a stranger's shoulder, fix their shoe, say " Thank You," then head back into the pit. I received several apologies throughout the night. I was impressed watching the concern and care of the scary looking skins head guys, who knocked someone too hard. The big tough intimidating guys took more than a moment to make sure people were okay. I am certain beyond doubt that every mosh pit isn't this way, but seeing that mosh pits can be a caring environment for controlled violence, dancing, and lots of energy to enjoy REALLY loud music.
Well, It was Bad Religion where I enjoyed the outskirts of the mosh pit. It was exciting and intense! Then in between sets a group of three girls moved in behind us. One girls was sitting in a chair, there are no free standing chairs on the floor so don't know where she got it, but the chick sitting in it was intoxicated well, well beyond legal limits. She had no clue that there was a concert going on around her. Her friends were trying to protect her by keeping people from bumping into her. They were being mildly successful given this is all between sets, we are shoulder to shoulder with no live band, or mosh pit. But I asked one friend what they planned to do when the pit started back up. She must have been plenty intoxicated too, because she explained to me that people weren't there to see Rise Against (the headlining band), so she could handle it and wasn't worried about it. We tried to tell her that no one has left the floor or the arena and it was CLEARLY still full and packed and crazy, but... what more can you do. SO, Rise Against starts and simultaneously so does the mosh pit, RIGHT in front of us, so the girl in the chair in directly behind us! It was entertaining TRYING to hold the pit so I don't knock down the little 90 lbs girl and her basically passed out friend. By the end of the first song a young man forcefully encouraged them to move NOW. So, we are still front line of the pit, after a few songs I get floored by a 6 1/2 foot man, who landed on my calf and I couldn't go anywhere but down and couldn't get up till his disoriented butt got off my foot. This was followed by the roughest moment as I got smacked in the head with a shoulder and got the wind knocked out of me. So, John's answer to the pit was to just join in. He pushed us in together we make it around once and I get floored by a very large, massive guy. John gets pinched off as people try to help me up. So he gets shoved away as I get helped off the floor. Was I scared you may ask? No, not really, as soon as I hit the floor I felt a cocoon of people holding the line as 3 or more people pick me up. Overwhelming? Absolutely!!! I made my way around the pit a few more times looking for John. Unsuccessful, I stood on the stage side edge of the pit and enjoyed the band for a few minutes until John found me. Then we took a few steps back, tired and out of breath, and I think John was a little scared of me getting hurt. I wanted to go back in once more but John was reluctant, then the pit got CRAZY as the last songs were played.
It was fun!!! It was great!!! It was awesome!!! An exciting way to spend some quality time together to do something new and different!! Oh, and I would SOOOOOOOO do it again!!!! :-)
Now we get to truly celebrate our 10 year anniversary in 13 days!!!!!!!!!!
It was an experience I will never forget!!
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