Mosh Pit Disasters; Who's To Blame?

Mosh Pit Disasters; Who's To Blame? A mosh pit is defined as being apart of a large crowd which consist of everyone trying to get as close as they possibly can to the front barricade at a live performance. Some people try to get to the front to be close to their favorite artist, others like the intensity of being apart of such a huge crowd. During the concert moshing takes place (mostly at heavy metal, rock, punk and alternative performances): body slams, head banging, crowd surfing, stage diving and anything that makes the memorable night more exciting. Some who have never been in one might perceive a mosh pit as not being extremely intense; but there is a high risk of danger in the form of dance; which it said not to have any intentions of hurting others.

Moshing is thought to have start in the early eighties, in California. Over the years with all the different genres of music popping out into the music scene, expressing yourself at the concerts had evolved and turned into different styles of moshing; which became more and more aggressive. With the dangers recognized, moshers are expecting to follow a kind of mosh pit etiquette, to look after one another if they fall, get hurt or need to exit. If someone falls, pick them up. This mosh pit etiquette seems easier at small concerts, but when there is an overwhelmingly large audience at a festival or a popular performers' concert and it starts turning into a riot, who is expected to monitor everyone's safety? It has turned into a controversy where someone has to take the blame when a fan or concert goer is seriously hurt or even worse - pronounced dead.

Some bands have taken stances against moshing after these tragedies occurred at their very own concerts:

  • 1996, The Smashing Pumkins performed in Dublin, where Bernadette O'Brien, only 17 years old, lost her life after being crushed in the Mosh pit;
  • 2007, The Smashing Pumkins performed in Vancouver, Canada, a 20 year old man was taken from the Mosh pit and later died after trying to be revived.

Frontman of The Smashing Pumkins, Billy Billy Corgan, publicly took a stance against moshing, explaining that he had enough of the fans not understanding the environment they were in and that others were being injured.

Also, bands such as Pearl Jam had prohibited moshing by having a rule that if any member of the audience were found moshing, they would be forced to exit the area without reentry.

Concern over moshing also took place in Australia after another disaster had taken its place in the history of the popular Australia festival, The Big Day Out.

In Sydney, 2001, prior the tragedy; popular rock Band, At The Drive In, were about to perform, but before playing, the band's lead singer, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, had asked the crowd to follow to safety rules. Ten minutes into their performance, they stopped and Cedric Bixler-Zavala started to mock the crowd by calling them robots and sheep, telling them: "I think it's a really sad day when the only way you can express yourself is by slam-dancing!" and continued to baa like a sheep to them. They canceled the rest of their performance.

The same day, the big hype for the festival Limp Bizkit were performing, a crowd surge had occurred and punters were being dragged out by a limited amount of Guards. One, Jessica Michalik, was taken out from the crowd surge. 5 days later, she had died in hospital.

This incident had caused large amount of concern as media poured over the tragedy. Some sharing their opinions saying that it was the Festival Organizers' fault for not placing a T barricade (a run way type barricade coming out from the middle of the stage) after Fred Durst had demanded one be place prior, to cut the crowd in half. But, Organizers refused saying that it would create more pressure points which would need more Guards to monitor. Some of the Big Day Out audience and parents blamed it on the crowd with reports of rape, overwhelming amounts of intoxication, crowd surfing and trampling. Some have placed the blame on the band, saying that there weren't enough comments made to try and calm the crowd down. Others blame it on the Guards, saying that they were not doing their job properly.

Prevention was then aim to stop tragedies such as those from according again: there was a D barricade placed, (A D shape barricade coming out from the the front of the stage placed to cut the crowd in half) giving access to Guards to the middle half of the crowd and minimizing the risk of an intense crowd crush. The age limit was raised to insure those who were too young to handle an the mosh pit were denied access. The Performers and concert goers were more aware and and responsible for their audience and fellow goers, in fact having a one minute of silence during the days after the knowledge of Jessica Michalik's; which turned into one minute of noise. The day after Michalik's passing, At The Drive In had asked for the audience not to mosh in respect; the audience did not mosh.

Moshing can seem like it has an extremely dangerous nature with these examples, although it has had its tragedies, prevention of these will make the experience for all those involved a much more enjoyable one. So, if you plan on going to your first concert and mosh pit, be sure to take care of yourself by only going where you can handle it, drinking water, wearing the proper lace up shoes and clothing, taking care of others around as much as you would take care of yourself and having fun. If you respect the safety rules, it will be a night you will place number one on your night of nights list.

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