those douche bags were just your average “hardcore” kids….(tools)
who run around claiming edge and thinkin their tough.

like I mentioned to one guy below…
if you don;t want to get hurt- stay out of the pit.

you want some action, go in.

but if not… its all about enjoying the music really.
mmmm

metal

I concur.
If I wish to simply listen to the music – i’ll stay out of the pit.
If I’m aiming to get some “pit-action” I’ll go in.

(I’m 26 btw… no idea how old you are… but I guess I’m in between? hehe)

I hate metalcore kids in metal shows.
ok..no i dont hate them… I just can’t stand them “slam dancing” when there should be a pit of doom sucking those kids in…

egh!

the adrenaline rush… the senses awaken
a soul that sucks what is being said…

it’s being alert.
i love metal!

the rush, the sweat, the pulsing, the head banging, the bruises… the hair…
the fear of being stomped… the rush of stomping…

Being right in front of the stage I gladly accept bumrushing, a few elbows, having beer thrown on me, and the smelly pit next to my face of the guy holding devil horns up to maintain that spot. I respect those holding up the walls of a pit because theyre protecting me from what I cant handle. Even then, I still have to take an army of guy friends. But theres sometimes a violation of the first rule I learned: Entering the pit is consent, staying out is to say “no thanks” (or in my case a wuss, or ….. a girl).

Some guy went out of his way to pull others into the pit. That’s how I found out what “the wall” was. I could have lived without the”oh shit” moment where 6 ft guys beat on me as I run like hell and the worst part is i hit the ground (i know thats a big NO to staying alive in a pit) and from stomping had an injury to my neck. At this same concert, my friend was sliced with a razorblade, got stitches, and a nasty puss overflowing infection. Can you alcohol those things off first?

If someone is obviously doing their best to avoid danger, why should they have to be exposed to it? Metal is like an adrenaline sport, but does it need to be potentially life threatening? I find that bleeding out the ears really does fuck up the sound quality.

Security is getting tighter and sometimes a joykill. As much as I hate them trying to ban stud belts, I do approve of them taking away the brass knuckles that concussed me at the VR concert. Doing my best to stay away from anyone who wants to sacrifice me, beat me up, throw me in the pit, molest me, or anything else that really kills my good time at a concert and I still get wacked on the head. Whats a girl to do? I think I would have appreciated the concussion if it had happened during the actual song “dechristianze” and not the intro music. (Getting whacked while a choir sings. I feel very Brave Heart over the whole thing …just “Hold!!!!” )

Boys, if you cant get the steam out with your bare fists, could you please take it outside? Aside from wanting to stay intact, I do worry about your intent; reason being that weapons are designed to more effectively kill someone. Unless its paper targets or in the UFC ring, I don’t see how taking weapons in the pit is fair sport.

I will say though, I am satisfied with some of the older metalheads self policing. I appreciate you pulling some of those guys beating on me to the side and knocking them out. And for the general kindness of see the stage by letting me stand in front of you.

the sad truth is that concerts these days aren’t as good as they used to be

I’v talked to people that saw pantera,cannibal corpse, metallica etc. way back in the day
anytime i’d talk about something sweet happening at a concert i’d have one of those people go
“dude that aint shit people used to have weapons in the pit and shit”

or off the topic of metal and way far back in the day
think of concerts in the 60′s and 70′s
(yeah there wern’t pits and this has nothing to with metal)
even then there were joints lit all over te fucking place

for me it’s simple why concerts are much milder nowadays
nowadays there is security left or right shining there little flashlights on any bit of smoke they see
on top of it there’s never a show abscent of metal detectors
many venues have abandoned the general admission floor and traded it it for seats (which generate more profit)
and on top of it almost any show is managed by an entertainment company ie; livenation
in which being a company will do anything in its power to escape lawsuits

or even at small local club
in cleveland a great example would be peabodys
regularly shows are shut down by the fire marshall police etc. for overcrowding
the fact of the matter is that of all the security they have employed
if the cops show up and a minor is drinking, some one’s smoking a joint,a fight occurs
its security’s fault and up to the whole crew can be fired

And yes, sir, it’s not that violence is cool, but extreme metal should have an element of danger to it. My kind of metal is not crooked hat goons playing downtuned pseudo death metal while Blink 182 plays afterwards.

In a nutshell, there needs to be more 666 in my metal, and more jack in my coke, and more coke in my nose.

Jay H. Gorania

I don’t like the violence at shows. I was mainly saying that there’s a vibe missing from the old days where EVERY SINGLE SHOW was dangerous. Just going to a show spiked your adrenaline. Not saying I think its cool.

Also, it may sound like I’m contradicting myself by pointing out a violent example, but that’s all I’m dong, pointing out a violent example which is really an exception. Having played hundreds of shows and been to more than I can count the violence these days stands out because its so rare. Rare enough for me to note it and write about it.

And Blink 182 wasn’t exit music. It was house music in between bands. We were playing 2nd out of five that night.

In my experience,. when striclty hardcore crowds are mixed with strictly old-school metal heads, these are the most violent shows. I believe that this is the case because some of the metal heads don’t necessarily understand the hardcore kids and how they act/respond to the music in the pits, and vice versa. Some crusty old dude in leather who is at a show strictly to see Slayer will not be happy if he receives a spin kick from a kid that is used to going to hardcore shows, where this is acceptable, or at least tolerated and understood. This type of crowd mixing seemed to occur more and more as hardcore bands added more metallic elements to their music (“metalcore”), hence they got booked with more traditional metal bands. I think these types of heterogeneous crowds are not as common anymore, as the styles have meshed/crossed-over more and more, and there are so many folks that are into both styles.

It could also be the case that those adults who do need a sense of danger when they go to shows could be the ones who have seen and done, are jaded as a result, and need a little fear to get them excited.

Maybe he wishes there were more crazy pits like back in the day when he’s up there playing. Seeing a ton of people go crazy during your set is probably a nice ego boost but it’s a fad like any other. As metal heads age they don’t care to interact with the band that way as much.

The taboo surrounding metal is pretty much gone these days too so kids getting into it now really aren’t rebelling so much and don’t need that sense of danger as validation. And as for any adult that needs that sense of danger I feel sorry for them because they must be leading pretty repressed, unfulfilled lives. I don’t think these are the people most metal bands write music for. I don’t have steam to blow off in the pit, I’m a happy guy, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy music, be it angry music or whatever.

The interview MS just posted with Devin Townsend provided some perspective. Basically Devin just says that musicians tend to take their music too seriously. “It’s just entertainment folks!”