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› HB - ROCK WORD
Many years ago going to gigs could be a dangerous game. The problem way back then was the unlicensed Gorillas that used to be employed to act as bouncers, and these numpties often used to be there just to take their aggression out on the fans. The ultimate example of this was the now infamous Kreator gig at the Astoria in London back at the tale end of the eighties, which following it saw loads of letters pouring into the then leading metal mag Kerrang! complaining about the levels of violence used to contain the thrashing throng.
I myself was victim to this sort of treatment at a Therapy? Gig in Plymouth on their Infernal Love tour. While remonstrating with a bouncer for the way he was taking obvious enjoyment in pulling crowd surfers over the barrier by the hair and adding the odd sly punch as he was doing so, I found myself grabbed by the scruff of the neck by the thug and pulled towards the barrier. A tug of war situation then occurred with me being used as the rope. I lost. I was pulled over the barrier, dumped on my head and then given a sound kicking before being thrown back into the crowd. Luckily the manager of the venue was a decent chap and after I dragged him into the hall to witness the actions of this idiot, he was immediately banned from working there again and the police were brought in to investigate his actions.
However, now this sort of thing has mostly been stamped out we face a new danger when going to gigs, and unfortunately this danger is caused by ourselves. The problem is mosh pits.
Now I know I might sound like a moaning old git (which perhaps I am at times!), but you must remember I grew up in the golden age of the mosh pit, seeing the likes of Anthrax on the Among the Living tour, Metallica on the Puppets tour and Slayer on the Reign in Blood tour, but now the pits seem to be getting completely out of control. Not only do you get them at completely inappropriate gigs (moshing to Motley Crue anyone??), but the way they are conducted seems to be just getting worse and worse .
It seems to be not uncommon these days to see people getting dragged out of pits with bleeding noses, distorted limbs and even completely unconscious, and the problem is, is that no one seems to bat an eye lid. You hear drunken banter outside about how great it was, and people seem to almost get bragging rights for the worst injury either gained or inflicted, and when that happens the whole mosh culture really makes itself looked f**ked up.
Gigs are supposed to be something that you go to enjoy yourself, not to knock ten bells of sh*t out of someone smaller than you to a soundtrack of your favourite band, and it would be good to get that back again. Metal/Rock was always a thing of unity and camaraderie and the ‘rules’ of the pit reflected this with you always having one eye open for yourself and another for someone else, and it is time that these unofficial rules returned to make gigs a safer place before someone is seriously hurt.
By Nige Taylor
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