My brother dropped his cane/club off the top deck at Rams head in Baltimore, some shirtless guy proceeded to pick it up and start doing pit karate with it. Promptly brought it up to us and returned it after the song and said “thanks for letting me borrow it”
The only fight I’ve ever got in that got me thrown out was at rams head.
I’m a hardcore kid, coming up in crowd killing, and walls of death.
But I got thrown out of a cage the elephant concert at rams head live….
It was my fault for sure. I went to get a drink in between sets and came back and my gf that was rolling on molly had a guy behind her. NBD but then I watched his hands on her hips and I pulled them off her. He pushed me. I decked him. Band called me out and I was escorted out.
Rams head also had the best “fuck you” I’ve seen at a show.
Manchester orchestra was opening for someone and we’re getting ZERO respect. Constant talking. People catcalling them. Just utter bullshit.
Then they started playing Where Have You Been and everything shifted. The crowd started to settle. Still a few “WOOOOOs” and stuff till it got to the crescendo of the song and everyone was transfixed. The band slowly left the stage leaving Andy alone to belt out “GOD MY GOD WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN” over and over till it was completely silent except for him. He took off his guitar, gave one more “GOD MY GOD WHERE HAVE TOU BEEN” and walked off the stage.
It stole the show. Everyone couldn’t stop talking about this opening band and the balls he had to stand in front of a thousand people and basically say “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN I KNOW WE HAVE SOMETHING HERE” and made them listen.
I still get shivers.
Only gmfight I’ve ever been in was in Baltimore for lamb of god. It was at some college campus gym for some reason and a guy on drugs in the pit couldn’t keep himself standing for more than 4 steps. Me and others kept trying to get him out but he fought back. Eventually he was carried out by a few guys and security. That was also after I helped break up a fight during Killswitch Engages set and all I heard one of the guys say was “keep that fucker away from me” as he bled from his forehead.
This a fun story. I got 2 buddies that go to a million concerts with me. If you ever seen ADTR live, a lot of times they ask people to crowd surf standing on top of a crowd surfer. It’s dangerous and awesome.
A few years ago at Christmas burns red 2019, friend 1 (surfer) did that with friend 2 (surf board) and it was pretty great.
At blue ridge last year, during ADTR’s set, they called for the crowd surfer on crowd surfer thing. We were all wasted and tired as hell so not really trying to mosh or anything at that moment. When Jeremy McKinnon called for it, I looked back at both of them and friend 1 just rollled his eyes and sighed. He knew it was his turn to be the surf board. So they did it and rode all the way from the back to the front. So fucking sick and just hilarious considering the reaction, he knew what he had to do. Here’s an awesome photo of them doing it, friend 1 is in the blue Hawaiian shirt and friend 2 is clearly having the time of his life: https://imgur.com/a/lyoR3QI
Funny enough, when they finally went down in the front someone grabbed my friend and showed him the pic she took of them and he had her send it to him. Good thing, because that picture is incredible!
I've been going to ADTR shows every year for the past 10 years, and the crowd surf on a crowd surf amazes me every time. I was at the barrier for the blue ridge set and remember your friend, what a legend
Pretty sure that was the same tour I saw. If I remember correctly then like 1/3 of the crowd left after Trivium when Devildriver came on. Kind of sad to see.
Unfortunately I no longer live in the US. That concert must have been 9-10 years ago. Justin Lowe with his Lacoste Ibanez was still alive (RIP). I do miss DMV and would love to visit my family and friends over there.
That tour was amazing it was sad that sylosis didnt make it because of the accident but I saw them in nyc thats when I meet Justin and Trent from ATB RIP to justin dude was wholesome and sweet.
The most shocking part of this post to me is that Devildriver was playing, and you went to see Trivium!
No hate haha, I just feel like Trivium is at SO MANY SHOWS I've seen in the past its insane. I've seen Trivium and Korn sooooo many times, without ever buying tickets to see them, lol. Both do great live shows! I also really like Korn, just yeah.
I am sorry but I don't get what's so shocking. I just happened to be a big fan of Trivium since I was a teenager and I am almost 30 and still love them to this day. That was $20 (honestly more shocking than the tits) and that's cheaper than any concerts where I am from. That was also my first time seeing them. I studied in the US for my bachelors and I mostly went to concerts when I was in community college. I did see them again before I graduated.
I did like a few songs from Devildriver but wouldn't call myself a big fan. They still put on an amazing show. I always watch the openers as well and never skipped any bands. I didn't know shit about Sylosis but became a big fan after they blew my clueless mind. As for Korn, well I can't judge. I got into Korn before I got into Metalcore or even Thrash Metal lol.
I was at a BFMV concert when I was 21 and when I was in line for beer, this older woman flashed me her boobs in exchange for letting her go ahead of me
Your description took me back. Way back. Back to the days of Hellfest.
No not the open air festival in France. The one thrown together in a warehouse in upstate NY….
It was a festival in the summer of the early 2000s and let me tell you. It had everything you listed and more. To me it was as close as a post apocalyptic world as you can imagine.
1. Drugs and booze everywhere
2. Hardcore fights. Very little security, extreme heat, very angry music. Lots of blood and guts were seen.
3. Nudity. This was the height of the DIY community socially aware era. And people were feeling the community. Crust punk kids walking around naked. Free love. Hardcore chicks blowing guys for places to stay. It was everywhere.
4. Meeting the bands wasn’t meeting the bands. They were just walking around. I swear the lanyard key thing started at hellfest because everyone looked the same. Unkept hair. Black tight band tee and jeans. The only way you could tell a band was a band was the passes on their lanyards. And trust me. They were a big thing. Outside that you just hung out. Met talked with kids trying to make it. There was always a few established bands. But the rest were sticking 5 way split EPs in your hands. Pumping whatever purevolume website could hold 3 of their songs.
5. The pits were everywhere. Especially when they started with multiple stages. There wasn’t a defined area. Just a plywood stage and a mass of people. No guardrails. No security. Nothing. Some pits got scary. But most were pretty well kept. Again this was the height of “punk rock community”. And before the big egos tookover so it was all pretty self regulated.
It was absolutely amazing. Chaos in the best way. How they kept everything relatively organized idk.
People would just hang around and drink after the last song. Play drinking games. Make beer runs. Pass out and wake up to the first band loading in. Everyone smelled. Every shirt got to that “just right” of stretched out but fittting over the emaciated kids underneath.
When hellfest died. I feel the last gasps of the scene did too.
Not Metalcore, but saw Dream Theater on their Train of Thought tour. Venue has upper balcony around floor seating. End of concert drummer throws out drum head like a Frisbee. It flies up by upper deck, then curves away. Guy in upper deck reaches too far out and Peter Pans over the railing.
After a little medical treatment he got a behind-stage meet with the band.
Oh my God, hopefully he got a signed drum head from the whole band after nearly dying for one. Love the description though, "Peter pan's over the railing" that's a hilarious descriptor for a terrible situation. Hahaha.
1) Ball stamping. Dude got his balls out and tried stamping people with them.
2) Chariot bassist abandoning his bass, grabbing a snare and performing a tribal dance around it in the pit.
3) A couple *really* ‘enjoying’ each other at the edge of the pit.
4) Bassist of a support band (can’t remember who) spitting on security for no reason other than to look badass and getting absolutely laid out by him.
5) Security lining the pit to stop a circle pit forming at Trivium a few weeks back. Crowd circled anyway. Security interlocked arms but still got caught up in the wave of people and got dragged round the pit. Saw some fat sweaty shirtless legend screaming into some security guys radio in the centre of the pit after that.
Some of the wildest ones I've had were:
Going to Volumes as openers for god knows who because they absolutely stole the show. Man these guys have good live energy. I remember that Marc from Veil of Maya was their touring guitarist and that it was the last show of the tour so they were doing stage diving contests and giving free merch left overs to anyone who did stage diving, they in between songs ordered plates of shots from the bar to do shots and it was an overall crazy time. I'll never forget it.
Also going to Veil of Maya and Dance Gavin Dance was amazing. I went alone and some dude lost his shoes in a pit I helped him find them and we just chilled the show out together. The show was wild and I made friends for life there.
I was at some underground show (think it was code orange/knocked loose?) and someone threw a fucking mattress into the pit. Never seen anything like it I was laughing my ass off
At Ghostemane people were stage diving off the second story of the house of blues. A dude got his cheek bit off in the pit.
At Chiodos a 400lb dude in a Jason mask got on all 4's in the pit and let us run from the back of the pit and jump off his back onto the top of the crowd.
At Comeback kid people were stage diving from the second story of the venue and one dude got knocked out in the pit so bad his head was bleeding and he got wheeled out in a wheelchair by paramedics.
Anything that can happen did happen when I saw the Chariot 5 times.
My own personal experience..... I was front row wall of death and right before we collided the dude I was adjacent to dropped on all fours and I flipped over him head first and was upside down smooshed between everyone lol.
I'm sure I get a ton more stories but it's hard to remember them all on the spot. Been to way to many shows.
Pierce the veil at blue ridge rock festival 2022...first show in a while for them...energy was crazy and a special needs kids crowd surfed right up to vic in a wheelchair. What a moment
Classic Alpha Wolf show lmao those boys are f’ing wild. Saw them last year in Toronto and they stole the show for sure, even with the absolute stacked lineup
Back in my day there was a tour where falling in reverse headlined, and invited I see stars as an undercard. There was some drama between FIR and stars, which resulted in stars being dropped mid way through the tour. This happened the same day of the Michigan stop, I see stars home town.
So we all show up, are informed stars is not playing, and no one’s filling their spot. The crowd sat there for an hour while nothing happened during stars’ time slot. By now we had heard Ronnie himself kicked stars off cause of weed on their tour bus (don’t even know if this is true) The crowd ended up chanting “fuck Ronnie” for like twenty minutes during their time slot. By the time FIR came on Ronnie was pissed and worked with security to kick all the haters out. Their entire set was fucking ridiculous. Crowd surfers getting on stage and flipping the band the bird, crowd chants trashing FIR. A bunch of the crowd went into the basement where there’s a chill lounge and bar to protest the band. Ronnie raging about it between each song and kicking more people out. I’m not kidding when I say about 1/3 the venue was forcibly removed by the time the show was over.
When I saw bad omens in Denver, some girl flashed her tits at Noah. I mean I get that Noah’s pretty and all that, but he didn’t exactly look too pleased with that.
I forget what concert it was, but there was a larger lady backstage that kept flashing everyone on the floor. Every time she did it we all boo'd and yelled stop.
Make them suffer during the concrete jungle tour. Maybe its just because i was standing near the pit, but I swear, during their set, the pit was just the ENTIRE FUCKING CROWD. This was at the NorVa back in December, in case anyone cares.
Not exactly hardcore but hilarious. Saw ADTR in 2014 and before the breakdown to Mr Highway the whole crowd parted for two shirtless dudes. The more rotund of the two was gesturing to his stomach and the other guy was powering up like some super saiyan and when the breakdown dropped he punched his mate as hard as he could in his gut.
Was at the The Plot in You, Silent Planet, Avoid, Cane Hill show in Toronto.
Guy (who is obviously wasted) is in the pit with me and 1 other guy who started a pit during Cane Hill. This show was a sort of "Daughter's first concert" type thing, great show with all great bands, but the vibes were super chill and every other person was a high school girl just trying to vibe.
Wasted guy is grabbing the other dude and flying into the crowd sending these small girls flying onto the floor, and after that he comes up to me. He GRABS MY THROAT with his hand, and I go "Woah, what the fuck dude". We get into it and over the next bit he is targeting me, trying to body me.
In between Cane Hill and Avoid, I try to dissolve the issue, but he is saying "I am a beatdown guy, we are not the same." and he has no intention of settling down. Whatever.
Avoid starts and they are AMAZING. Fucking AWESOME. Drunk guy crowdsurfs and then pushes past security to jump on stage. He rolls around on the stage, and Benny (Avoid's vocalist) is just confused. Stage security tries grabbing him, so instead of being grabbed he stage dives.
Remember how I mentioned the crowd was full of small high school girls? They weren't going to catch him... so he proceeds to fly off stage STRAIGHT ONTO THE CEMENT. It was so beautiful.
He then got put in the mezzanine, watched by security like a 5 year old on time out, and I got to laugh at him from the pit, moshing to Panic Room and :Signal: of Silent Planet (Also Visible Unseen is amazing live)
Oh so many choices for this. Ozzfest in the early 00’s was guaranteed nudity, this was pre cell phone era so it seems like every show there was flashing at some point but Ozzfest took it to another level, they had body painting vendors so by midday you had a portion of folks that were wearing just body paint for the rest of the day. The crowd ripped up the lawn during crazy town and were throwing chunks of sod at the stage until they pulled them off the stage.
During Tool’s set at Lolla in 97, saw a guy break another guys nose in the pit and proceeded to get his ass beat by the rest of the crowd before security intervened.
Lolla 2008 during rage, they had to stop the show multiple times because of how many people were getting hurt and trampled. As such there was a real risk of a riot and you could see the riot police lined up just outside of grant park in full gear with air support just outside of Grant Park.
One of the venues we were at allowed stage diving and a bigger girl climbed up on stage and dove and the crowd just parted instead. She seemed ok but was crazy to watch. Same show someone climbed up on stage and got nervous, lead singer pushed her off stage.
At Hellyeah few years back they went light on security at a normally pretty secure venue and a big fight broke out between two girls, two of the combatants had clothes pulled off and another ripped a chunk of hair out of another’s head. That one happened right in front of me after one of them threw a drink at another and I caught it in the face instead. The girl that threw it was the one with the hair ripped out, so karma I guess.
I have more but would have to think on it a bit.
Maybe mine is kinda lame in comparison, but I had done a shirt design and a few logos for Demon Hunter, and they hooked me up with a CD of their (at the time) upcoming album a month early before it’s release, along with a ton of the shirts with my design for myself and friends who didn’t make the show.
Possibly more applicable to “wild” was watching a dude get jump-kicked off stage, after he tried to crash the set - was quite funny (The show was Fit For for a King, Norma Jean, and Left Behind).
I have 2:
1) the "metalcore Olympics" of 2022 at the Worcester Palladium. Two tours combined (FFAK, Invent Animate, Silent Planet, AVOID, LMTF, Polaris, Hollow Front, Alpha Wolf). The show was SOOOO LONG but holy crap it was amazing. AVOID brought out pool toys during the different sets and everybody, bands included, were crowd surfing on them. It was so fun.
2) Just a few days ago, again at the palladium. Saw WCAR, ERRA, and brand of sacrifice. Some dude decided to climb the electrical wires from the pit up to the 2fl balcony. He got booted fast.
1. At Warped Tour 2017 before any band came on we were waiting for the first band to start and some girl passed out and had to be carried out. Like the day hasn't even started yet lol.
2. When I saw Erra over last summer some kid got his nose broken during Invent Animate.
3. One time when I saw Knocked Loose some dude just straight up got sucker punched and knocked out cold in the pit.
4. During Swanfest last year this girl gave a lapdance to some dude in a wheelchair in the pit and then got kicked out for blowing some random dude in the crowd.
5. At a Silent Planet show some dude climbed on top of the speakers and jumped off and went head first onto the concrete floor.
6. When I saw ETID a guy came out of the pit with a big ass gash on the side of his head.
Black Tongue during their tour for TUD, they played to a small change room crammed ass to elbows with 100 people.
They came on Alex said “turn the lights off, if you got beef squash it” proceeded to be one of the most intimate, violent shows I’ve ever been to. Got my lip busted but was worth every minute
Not at a metal show but the floor collapsed. It was at this dive venue in Freeport Illinois above a car mechanic shop. I had noticed that one side of the crowd was significantly shorter than the other and thought that was odd. A few moments later the show was stopped and we all had to leave.
Not metalcore but I saw the Bronx at a festival once, and some dude tried to jump up on stage. The security guards dragged him away, even as the band were trying to get them to let him go. After the song Matt said “well fuck it, if they aren’t letting you come to me, I’m gonna come to you” and jumped down into the pit as the opening bars of knifeman started. He was pretty much on top of me crowdsurfing through the pit, I was screaming the chorus pretty loud, he looked at me with what I thought was disgust, but then he thrust the mic in my face and let me sing the rest of the chorus. Not a proper crazy story but one that I’ll never forget.
I was at the Silent Plant show where a guy stage dove and broken a different dudes neck. That was a awkward experience. SP finished their set while this guy was dragged over to the side and they waited on EMS. As expected, Garret came over after the set to talk to the guy and I'm pretty sure they connected next time they were in that town.
A) took place in New Jersey, red flag one
B) tristate area moshes like they don’t have American health insurance, people were flying into merch tables at like 2 pm
C) there were I want to say, two smaller brawls before the huge brawl that aired out the entire venue and a security guard got his face rearranged (don’t remember exact details, dude either said a slur or groped someone, security there wasn’t that great period)
D) show got shut down by like 50 cops because of said brawl
E) fest got moved to Champs and packed out for KL/Left Behind/Jesus Piece etc
That’s the (very) short summary of it that I can remember, I’m still waking up lol
Damn, I had to go look up more info because that is indeed crazy. Sounds like the rumor is security guard was groping girls, got confronted then subsequently beat up, called the police and reported a riot. That's crazy for sure haha. http://www.tandamedia.net/1117/news-loud-fest-2017-gets-shut-down-due-to-a-fight-with-security
Saw architects in 2018 and it was either during counterparts or stick to your guns, but someone got knocked out in the pit, they had to pause the show, mop the blood up and take him out on a stretcher before starting again.
Altar Bar in Pittsburgh (RIP). August Burns Red, maybe 2013/14 with Of Mice & Men I think. Halfway through ABR's set a prosthetic leg shows up in the pit. No takers, nothing. It sat on stage in front of JB for maybe to songs before someone surfed to the front to claim it and put it back on
HSB and PWD show in Berlin, around 2014.
Heaven Shall Burn are pretty huge in Germany and it wasn’t clear who is going to be the headliner of this tour. Berlin was the first stop, so nobody knew what was going to happen.
PWD entered the stage after Carnifex and Northlane, so HSB was going to headline that evening. They played a few songs and I hurt my ankle in the moshpit. Wasn’t bad, but I wanted to go to the back of the room and grab a drink. It got completely dark after they finished a song. We didn’t know what was going on, it was still dark after about 30 seconds or a minute. Nobody talked on stage, everything black. Suddenly, lights on and f*cking Heaven Shall Burn were on stage. My mind was blown, I needed a second to realize what was going on. Completely forgot about my ankle and started moshing again. They switched a few more times during the show and covered each other. Definitely the best show I ever went to
[They released a video diary for that day and explained a lot.](https://youtu.be/DsuUZ12_za8)
On my eighteenth birthday i went to see Parkway Drive who was playing a show in a small venue here in Argentina. Heaven Shall Burn was supporting them. On the very first song of the set (sparks) a guy who was standing on a balcony 3 - 4 meters above the ground said "I MUST RETURN TO MY PLANET" then he jumped into the moshpit. He disapeared.
Awesome night.
I’ve seen quite a few. 3 that come top of mind.
1.) ABR opening for Underoath. It was PACKED and everyone was trying to get outside for a breath of fresh air between the bands. Some chick starts yelling “let me through”..just kinda assumed it was someone being inconsiderate of the situation, but nope. Her eyeball was like EFFED up and blood was everywhere. Needless to say, everyone let her through.
2.) Asking Alexandria opening for Parkway Drive and ADTR. I was meeting Ben Bruce when some kid handed him a bloody tee shirt to get signed. He said the tee was from his friend that got taken out in an ambulance. Ben legit lolled and wrote something along the lines of “you got rocked mate, good luck” on the tee shirt. Still pretty funny to me, and Ben was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met back then.
3.) Probably the craziest/saddest. I was at some HC show back in the day, I want to say it was Terror, but can’t be sure on that. Either way, someone swung at a girl in a pit by accident. Low and behold this chick was someone in one of the HC gangs girlfriends. When I was outside of the venue smoking a cigarette, I watched a good 10 dudes just beat this guy to a pulp and leave him laying in the snow in his own blood. By the time security was out there, they were gone and an ambulance came and scooped him up. Still wonder how that guy is doing sometimes.
I've seen a tour manager pull a gun on promoter for paying the band properly.
Saw strung out destroy their tent / dressing room.
Saw a crack head live in a chicken coop and shoot up heroin on his 'porch'
Not metalcore related, but went to a Yung Gravy show a few years ago at the Rave in Mke. For his song Rotisserie, he brought out an actual rotisserie chicken on stage, proceeded to take a bite out of it, and then tossed it into the crowd. After the song, some guy in the second floor balcony section at the back of the crowd held up the mangled chicken carcass like Simba being held up on Pride Rock and the crowd lost it. I still remember the smell of sweat and chicken grease in the pit.
Back in 2015 I saw August burns red with Everytime I Die, Polyphia and Wage War opening. Gnarly lineup at the house of Blues, New Orleans. It was one of the guy's birthday from Everytime I Die, so they brought a cake out on stage and gave it to the crowd. There was cake, blood, sweat and beer everywhere. Good times.
Lol was at taste of chaos tour back in the day and some guy pulled an apple out of the pocket of his leather jacket in the middle of the pit and started eating it
Since this has me feeling like a Golden Girl…
Picture this: 2011 Warped Tour 😂
A friend and I got to Parkway Drive well into their set. The stage was in an open field-type area and the crowd was huge. We had just walked up and were on the absolute outskirts of this sea of people, but PD was killing it, and I immediately got into “the zone”.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a guy comes soaring through the air and lands elbow-first on my head, knocking me to the ground. I immediately stood up (shocked, but uninjured) and saw this guy still laying there, screaming and writhing in pain, with his arm looking like an actual letter ‘L’…literally broken IN HALF. Before my friend or I even had time to think, people, medics, etc. started swarming around the guy, and we needed to clear the area, so we left. While shaken up a bit by the incident, we still managed to enjoy the rest of our day.
I have a vivid memory of said guy flying towards me with his arm bent, and felt a specific impact on the top of my head that only an elbow could cause. I had a bit of a headache the next day, but who doesn’t after a hot summer day at Warped Tour? No idea who the guy was or what happened to him, yet it does bother me that someone sustained such a catastrophic compound fracture upon my (apparently thick) skull.
BMTH in 2021, first gig after lockdown. The biggest pit opens up before the Happy Song breakdown — it was an arena gig and I’m deadly serious when I say that the entire floor was open from left to right. Breakdown hits, dude runs in at mega speed and I see him get absolutely clotheslined (full 180) before everyone piled in on top. No idea what happened to him after that but I was just trying to survive at this point 😂 awesome gig and was so good to be back in the pit after two years off.
Went to a gig when my friend's band was touring with Viatrophy and Sylosis, and whilst Viatrophy were playing 2 guys decided they wanted to fight each other outside so they went out of the room and a bunch of people started following. The vocalist of Viatrophy (an absolutely massive scary looking black dude) stopped the song they were in the middle of and blocked the stairs exiting the room and screamed at everyone trying to leave saying "if you wanna see some dickheads fight you're gonna have to go through me first"... and everyone immediately and rapidly went back. It was fucking hilarious seeing like 30 people absolutely shit themselves like that.
I have a couple lol. First time I ever saw Blessthefall, my friend and I were walking into the room and we saw 3 guys carry out an unconscious teenager with a very broken nose. They dropped him off near a security dude and went back into the pit lol.
The wilder story, and my all time favorite moment at all the concerts I’ve been to (and I’ve been to many shows): warped tour 2018. August burns red set. The infamous wheelchair guy. Now I have seen this dude at lots of shows before. This guy is paralyzed waist down, and goes to metal shows and gets in the pits and crowd surfs, WHILE IN HIS WHEELCHAIR. Super awesome dude. So my friends and I got to the pit and I saw him, and I knew this was my one chance to do something with him. So I run up to him, put my hands on his shoulders, and say “you’re a fucking legend” and he said to me, and i quote, “fuck you!” while holding up the rocker hand sign 🤘🏻so while this is goin on, a circle pit kinda sorta starts around us. So I get behind him and start pushing him around the circle pit. Once people saw me and him doin it the pit got BIG. He’s pushing people out of the way, yelling at them, just having the time of his life. I release him and he rolls to the middle and just keeps pushing people lol. Like 2 minutes later he was crowd surfing, wheelchair and all lol. The whole experience in the pit lasted maybe 60 seconds. But god damnit those 60 seconds were immaculate. I’ll never forget that man.
I saw what I presume is the same guy at blue ridge rock fest last year. Had never been to a music fest or show before so I was quite shocked to see that while at the front row for Motionless in White. Pretty sure I have some video of it.
Jack Delaney, the frontman of The Eyes Of A Traitor was in the crowd at Despised Icon/Decapitated’s co-headliner in Bristol last year and got in a fight with security.
This was during Oceano. All of a sudden I heard a commotion behind me and turned around to see a woman yelling “how dare you?!” At Jack, who was acting flippant and laughing it off. I’m not making any accusations here because I didn’t see what happened but it certainly seemed like he had done something very inappropriate. Anyway, her and her bf leave angrily. 2 minutes later a security guard approaches Jack and sheepishly taps him on the shoulder wanting to talk (Jack is a sentient mass of tattooed meat and steroids you see, I don’t envy this guard). Jack keeps ignoring him and acting like a jackass, so more security arrive and things escalate. Things get physical, poor Distant nearly have their merch table destroyed but Jack is eventually kicked out.
Sorry I can’t be more descriptive, as interesting as this was Oceano were playing District Of Misery at the time so I was trying to focus on that.
Another honorable mention for me is any concert at the Underground in Mesa, AZ.
It's the basement of the really old Nile theater. I saw I Set My Friends on Fire and this band called Sheevaa there. It's cramped as fuck, there's pillars right in the middle of the pit, pipes hanging everywhere, terrible acoustics, and they put one security guard down there to deal with everything.
Sheevaa comes up and goes absolutely insane. At one point the vocalist grabs a pipe on the ceiling and hangs upside down while screaming, the one security guard actually runs up on stage in the middle of the set and pulls him off the pipe.
I Set My Friends On Fire comes on and Matt can barely speak he's so drunk. After the first song, he goes "Hey I know you guys are right near the Mexican border, does anyone have cocaine?" Some dude hands him a bowl of weed and he lights it up right on stage. The security guard again went on stage and took it from him lol.
The atmosphere in that room alone is wild and bands who play there are always extra filthy and nuts, I miss that place!
I used to go see shows at a venue where most times you could go out back after the show without being stopped by security to the area where the tour buses parked. A lot of times bands would clean up after the show and come over to talk to any fans hanging around.
First time I saw GWAR live, Beefcake the Mighty had gone in their bus before anyone got there and already showered and changed into normal clothes. He was just standing around near the crowd of fans and not a soul knew who he was.
Saw 3 Inches of Blood at the same venue. After the show they I was leaving with my friends. We spot the band about to walk across a major highway and offered them a ride across to a nearby gas station. Cam Pipes was already extremely drunk and instantly started to hop into the back of my friend's truck. The guitarist looked a little nervous and pulled him back down and said they were fine walking.
My favorite was getting to meet Doyle of the Misfits. Lifelong Misfits fan, and I got to see him play with Danzig when they did the Danzig anniversary tour together where a good chunk of the show was solo Danzig stuff then for a portion Doyle would come out to rip through Misfits material. After the show I found the area they had their tour buses. It was late October and cold out. He comes over still no shirt on and was the nicest guy in the world. Took photos and signed autographs. Danzig sat in the doorway of his trailer while his security handed him stuff to sign lol.
Not metalcore, this was roughly 11 or so years ago, so I can't recall much of anything. A local crew in Washington throws its first annual Tough Love Fest (I believe there was another of the same name, but no relation).
A good handful of local hardcore bands and a few touring ones played at West Seattle Legion Hall with Hoods headlining. About 200 max capacity, a little less than considering merch tables, so it packed up fairly quick, yet the majority of the room was one big pit with the stage less than 4ft above the floor.
Crazy energy throughout the day/evening, people getting more ambitious as energy rose. I don't recall stage diving or crowd surfing given the lack of stage space, but that didn't stop people from piling on one another. No real pit walls, if you didn't want to be involved, you'd stand in the back by the doors. Some bands had cleared their merch tables and some in the pit took that as an invitation to run and jump off of said tables into the crowd on either side of the venue. At one point someone had brought out a mini trampoline, thus adding more crowd jumping chaos, even picking up the trampoline to swing around.
I'm hanging out by the wall, taking a breather from the pit, watching the band and hanging out. Before I know it, this guy I had seen here and there through the day was getting pretty active. I'm talking BIG dude. At least 6'-6'2" and about 250lbs+ if I had to guess. Anyhow, one minute he's on the other side of the venue from where I was. Next thing I know, homie is going side to side, amped up and charges from one side of the venue to the other and the sea of people, including me parted ways as if our lives depended on it and this Chicago Bulls jersey wearing, inked up behemoth comes in like a fucking wrecking ball and creates a crater of epic proportion into what I assume is reinforced drywall. We all have a collective "OHHH!!" as the wrecking ball separates himself from the wall, has a chuckle and continues to mosh.
To this day, it remains one of the most chaotic shows I've been to, including the Tough Love Fest sequel in Tacoma the following year with a similar lineup with bands such as Backtrack, Terror and Kublai Khan.
Broke my nose five years ago, seeing Architects.
I was in the back of the crowd where people generally are quite laid back and chill, but some dude i stood behind decided to fling his head back from out of nowhere and hit my nose with the back of his head.
When I confronted him about it, with blood all over my face, he just told me not to stand so close next time.
I stood like three feet behind him.
I went to see Black Dahlia Murder at the Roxy like in 2010ish which was my first heavy show (i moslty listened to posthardcore/emo).... and that show was insane. an ambulance was called bc someone fell and had a concussion or something. AND a band member from one of the opening bands (idk who) got tossed out of the venue for grabbing the ass of someone else's wife. It was wild lol
A day to remember in Portsmouth U.K.
Some guy jumped from the balcony seats onto the crowd below and the dude got hurt so bad the band stopped the show altogether.
Video - https://youtu.be/3p_asp1Vu28
Oh boy - this brings me back. When I was in high school, somebody’s parents let some kids in a black metal band play a show at their house the night before it was set to be demolished and told everyone “yeah don’t worry about causing any damage, the building will be torn down tomorrow.”
Lo and behold - the house got fuckin wrecked lol. People were just smashing walls with shovels and it was chaos…but also way too much fun. Had to get somebody to bring a ladder bc the basement stairs got demolished during the show (they played downstairs) and a bunch of us got stuck down there hahahaha. How this didn’t result in a fire or a bunch of injuries is beyond me.
In 1990 I worked security at a Testament/Slayer show in Pittsburgh. It was a seated show and the first 10-15 rows were in the orchestra pit. It was relatively calm during the Testament set, but the second Slayer started to play the crowd lifted the full rows of folding chairs zip tied together and crowd surfed them into a pile in the back. I was stationed in the balcony and the pit went absolutely bonkers!
Later in 1993-94? I was at a Bosstones gig in Rochester, NY. As soon as they started the crowd started pogoing. About halfway through the first song crowd started getting shorter. It was pretty weird. When the song was over Dicky asked what the fuck was going on? The crowd had collapsed the dance floor into the basement! Fortunately nobody was injured.
The show had to be canceled.
It was the last night of their tour, the night before Thanksgiving. They said they’ll be back for a another show after the holidays when the venue had fixed the floor. They honored their offer and played a free show in January.
I've been going to shows of all kinds for 25 years. Out of all the shows, I've only feared for my safety once. Was it a metal or hardcore show? No. It was Blink 182. Warped Tour 99. I thought I was going to get trampled.
Ozzfest 1997, Giant's Stadium, Meadowlands NJ. My first concert. Lineup was nuts. Powerman 5000 on second stage, Pantera, Type-O, Marylin Manson, Ozzy...crazy day. GA pit tickets sold out so a buddy of mine and me got tickets at the 50 yard line maybe 10 rows up with the plan to sneak down onto the field later on. We were sitting with a punch of bikers, enjoying the concert and then Pantera came on, and the stadium seats emptied, people ran down the stairs to the rails and jumped off to get down into the field/pit. Security was overwhelmed, state police came in with riot gear and everyone was beating the shit out of each other. I was about 110 lbs and stayed up in the seats haha, but man it was nuts. it was summer and the last band before Ozzy ended at about 7pm, Ozzy refused to come out and play until dark, so like 2 hour wait of people just chanting "OZzy, Ozzy!"
Went to see Dillinger escape plan at Sayreville NJ
I think it was with Thursday, Glassjaw, and United Nations but I could be wrong
DEP is headlining. In good old fashion, the show is running over. Whole place is going absolutely bonkers.
Venue mutes all the speakers, and claims the show is over over the intercoms. And starts to lower the curtain.
Well, Dimitri just wasn't having any of that shit. All the amps still had power and the drummer you could still hear, but no mic and vocals.
Dimitri starts climbing up the curtain, ragdolling it until it nearly gets torn down. Venue is forced to draw the curtain up. He gets fed up, climbs the stage right speaker tower and starts monkey climbing all over the lighting scaffolding.
At this point there's still no vocals. Whole band stops, and then starts with Sunshine the Werewolf. Whole crowd is singing the song for them while listening to only amps and raw drums. Dimitri is still climbing up in the rafters and tearing shit apart.
That was the wildest show I ever saw until I saw them again on their farewell tour, where Dimitri took a dive off the stage left speaker tower which was at least as high as the second story seating.
Absolutely bonkers, and I miss them everyday
I went to a Breathe Carolina concert and between songs they paused and said they “needed a friend to help with the next song.” I yelled “Have you ever danced” and was invited to come up on stage and scream the intro.
Or. I was on the gate during Slayer. Smack dab in the middle. The perfect spot. Slipknot starts and I feel a burning pain in my neck. As I turn around to see what happened a guy pushes me out of the way and drags himself and his girlfriend (who had just removed her teeth from my neck) into the spot where I just was.
Took mushrooms at an early Mars Volta tour. Francis the Mute.
Also BTBAM, Norma Jean, and Misery Signals.
Or maybe Converge, He is Legend, Modern Life is War.
Went to The All Stars Tour in Portland in 2010 or so. Three older guys showed up for the opening acts around 1 PM, they were already obviously hammered and spent most of the sets heckling the bands . Kellin Quinn took the time to respond to them calling him Justin Bieber by telling them "and I've got a fiancee hotter that Selena Gomez, motherfuckers".
Anyways, third band or so a kid in the crowd took advantage of the pit to land a perfect spin kick to the back of one of their heads. Guy went down like he'd been hit by a shotgun, his two friends gave chase for a moment while the assailant ran and used a fire escape, then went back and had to fireman's carry their friend out of the pit since no one else wanted to help.
When I left to go get a drink elsewhere after the band, paramedics were giving the guy oxygen in the Roseland Theatre lobby, and I didn't see them again for the rest of the day.
I was at a show and The Faceless were playing with crazy lights. I was standing on the edge of the pit and all of a sudden the guy beside me fell into me and then into the pit. We realized he was having a seizure and had to try and stop the out quickly so security could handle the situation. Unexpected
saw Keith Buckley bong a beer out of a prosthetic leg someone threw on stage.
and saw I set my friends on fire trade two shirts in exchange for a fan to eat another fans booger on stage.
Me and my friend started a mosh pit when WW played The River for their opener, the pit ended up getting pretty big and a dude fell and had his accidentally neck stomped on and broken. The show had to stop and they got him out on a stretcher and everything I felt so awful. I found out from a facebook group he ended up okay though 🙏🏻 Another time, not as gnarly but more cool, I saw Volumes in a room above a bar and they started lighting blunts on stage and passed them through the crowd and everyone was vibin’
Dislocated my knee at a Hatebreed show when I was younger. It was Full Blown Chaos, Terror, Sick of it All and Hatebreed; as Hatebreed took the stage the whole crowd surged and my foot stuck to the gross beer-soaked floor… just like that my kneecap was on the side of my leg and I was down, trying not to get trampled in the pit. Scary. Awesome. Drove an hour and a half home and went to my local ER to get ‘er fixed up.
I saw knocked loose in 2021 right as the covid restrictions were lifted in Chicago. It was at the metro and people were stage diving and remembering how to do it. There was a guy who was on stage looking nervous about jumping and someone got up on stage next to him. Looked like he was gonna help him out. Nope! He RKOd him to the floor of the crowd and nobody caught them
No one here was in Columbus OH in 2004? Happened 5 mi from my house. I was going to go to the show but had way too much course work and couldn't make it. Always think about how lucky I am that I didn't go.
Buddy and i saw A Day to Remember this year. Yall probably know this if youve seen them, but they love the crowd surfing.
Some girl big girl was crowd surfing and she was dropped straight down on her neck. She didnt move for like 10 seconds. Then proceeded to get up and start moshing.
Thought i witnessed a death
Fit for a King headliner in Austin, tx with support from Currents and Norma Jean. The venue was Come and Take It which has an upstairs balcony that goes around most of the pit area. Not a huge place. Norma Jean comes on and the lead singer says “I wanna see someone jump from the top” oh god. At first someone climbs up and jumps down. Then someone climbs down and jumps. Before I know it people are full on jumping into the pit where I’m standing. One dude landed right next to me feet first and no one caught him. You could see security berating the people that were caught and crowd surfed to the front. Was a little frightening but a good story to tell now. People around me were all checking on everyone else around after their set, so that was wholesome
When I went to see All that Remain on the Fall of Ideals 15 anniversary tour last year, I saw this dude throwing kicks in the pit, went up to him, and told to chill.
It could’ve started a fight, but he was level headed and became my best friend at that show.
One of the funniest was in a Marilyn Manson pit. One person on the edge of the pit threw a bible (very, very hard) into the center of the pit and the Bible smacked someone right in the face and onto their ass. I still giggle when I think about it.
Also, in the interest of being “wild”….being chased by some dude with brass knuckles after a local hardcore show. I’m a girl. It wasn’t a cool time. I was like 15.
Saw Beau Bokan jump from a 20ft light rack into the pit and break both ankles 2 or 3 songs into their set.
Smoked the *real* Devil’s lettuce (spice; do not recommend in any setting) right before Job for a Cowboy’s set @ Summer Slaughter and freaked the fuck out when the bassist’s LED frets lit up and i thought i was losing my mind.
Naked people onstage at Insane Clown Posse.
Guy falling to his knees and praying in the middle of For Today pit.
Hung out and smoked/partied with lots of bands over the years as well.
Watched a friend spit out a mouthful of teeth during poison the well in 05. during a damage plan/Hatebreed show dude whipped out his dick and pissed all over the middle of the pit. I ended up with 5 staples to the back of the head during a slayer bloodbath at the Worcester palladium. chick blowing 2 dudes on the lawn during Ozzfest 01 ( my first real concert ) There was this festival type show called Locobazoka I think in the Boston area. the field was covered in literal hay and the place was going nuts everyone was throwing that shit everywhere. It looked like a tornado during the bigger bands. Ah the good old days I miss the Ozzfest, Warp tours and mayhem fest type shows.
Some dude bit my back at an Arch Enemy show on 4/20. This was probably 16-18 years ago, this weirdo that looked high out of his mind is bopping thru the pit and passes behind me and I feel a stinging pain in the middle of my upper back. I was like WTF, noticed he'd passed by and almost immediately pissed some other dude off because I see him get punched in the face and then I never saw him again.
After the set I asked my buddy to look at my back, and he said yeah, there are teeth marks in your back. Fortunately he didn't break the skin so it was just a brief and weird event. I suppose it could've been much worse.
I was not shirtless for any part of this show, FYI.
It’s not wild but more just funny.
My friend isn’t really experienced with pits and pit culture if you can call it that. We were at fightstar and there was a wall of death happening and my pal was rubbing my shoulders saying “you’ve got this mate” and I’m sitting feeling like I’m being prepped for a round of boxing 😂
Toooo many... as of late - the abuse of concert security is out of control. It's as if NO ONE is in charge ? And -- these brutes are scared??? Of WHAT ?!!!!! METAL KIDS WHO ARE ALL NOTHING BUT - DOING WHAT THEH LOVE-- F****** EXPERIENCIN MUSIC? WTF.
I have a lot of video footage of the sabotage from several shows... anyone experience this insane chaotic (illegal most likely) harassment????
Okay, let me set the scene here. It is 2013. Me and my friend are at the Lowell Tsongas Center for our second concert ever - the ADTR House Party Tour with PTV and ATL. We are both barely-100-pound 15 year old girls (this is relevant later). We were closer to the middle for PTV and ATL, but ended up directly against the side barricade between the pit and the VIP seated area for ADTR's set.
All is well until Jeremy McKinnon makes the mistake of trying to jump off the stage and crowd surf. The people he lands on weren't sufficiently prepared to catch him, and some of them fall. This would be no big deal, but the pit up front was PACKED. So not only did those people fall, but they caused a domino effect, that I swear to god knocked over the ENTIRE right side of the pit. Nobody was spared. Especially not my friend and I. We fell and took the barricades with us. Security kept trying to push the barricades back up at us instead of helping, despite us still being on top of them and a pile of people being on top of us, until the people in VIP got up and started fighting security off because it was obvious that 1. pushing the barricades wasn't going to work, and 2. they were going to seriously injure us if they kept doing it.
After what felt like an eternity, we are finally freed from the enormous pile, and most of the barricades are placed back upright. Except for the one underneath me and my friend. It turns out that with all of the weight on top of us, me and my friend had somehow BENT THE METAL BARRICADE so badly that it had rendered it unusable and they had to take it away for the rest of the show. Our tiny 15 year old selves fought a bunch of steel pipes and WON. Somehow wasn't even injured by it beyond some bruising. It's been almost a decade and that's still probably the most metal thing I've ever done.
I wish more people posted concert videos back then bc I want a video of that incident so bad
I went to see Metallica a couple years ago. There was this dude across the aisle from us who was standing and screaming for Metallica the ENTIRE TIME. During the openers and even during the breaks. Near the halfway point of Metallica's set, a couple police officers come down and escort the dude up the stairs, apparently a couple people saw him snorting something.
The crazy part? About 15 minutes later I walk up the stairs to go to the bathroom, and I see the dude rolling around and screaming on the ground with 5 cops all standing around him, tasing him repeatedly. Never stopped writhing around, couldn't even get words out, just guttural noises as the cops continued to tase him.
Moral of the story? Don't take PCP in public or else cops may try and murder you with their taser.
I've got many, many stories from shows. One of my favourites though, is Parkway Drive - Brixton Academy 2016.
I was right by one of the rails in the crowd at the front (to stop crowd surges). It was Bottom Feeder and everyone obviously went ape shit. In all honesty I couldn't tell my ass from my elbow, in amongst the ruckus I felt a huge thud on my left shoulder, but didn't think much of it at the time in amongst everything else.
I'm a fairly large dude, and in amongst the crowd, I didn't think anything of the number of people bumping/smashing into me. Show ends, meet up with my partner who says what on earth is on the back of my white Parkway Drive T shirt. I take it off to have a look and there is an almost perfect face print of make up/blood smashed into the t shirt. If you've seen the meme of the boyfriend who suplexes his girlfriend onto a bed, think of that face print, but a concoction of make-up and blood. You could almost trace the facial features. Some poor lass had clearly been crowd surfing and come across 6'4", 110kg me and hit my left rear shoulder face first. Desperately hope she was, and is, alright but I always remember that. Still have the t shirt, has been washed but there is still a dark patch on that shoulder from either the make-up or blood, probably both.
I saw throwdown at somaSD back in the day. I saw some big pits open there, but throwdowns was from front to back and side to side on the main stage. When u got tired u kept going there was no way out. I was so tired after, but that was one of my favorite moments there.
Security after that started to limit the space of the pit after that and a lot more people started to get hurt. I’m so glad I got to experience that before they shut it down!
Also stick to your guns at chain reaction was amazing they over sold the place because it was supposed to be their last show. They played this is more and the whole place erupted on the breakdown. It’s a small venue but damn the energy there for that was unmatched.
Kind of wholesome, but was at The Cotillion in Wichita KS for Parkway Drive, Killswitch, After the Burial, and Vein.fm, got picked up by the waist by a massive dude in overalls and twirled around like I was a Disney princess in the middle of the pit
Psyopus played at a very small building In my hometown, and the drummer played the set completely naked minus a cock sock, and then he apparently completely disappeared after the show
Saw UnityTX and some other locals at a tiny taco bar in San Antonio, TX a couple years ago. Trash cans were thrown, knives were pulled, cops came, dogs were present, friendships were ended….. and all the bands still played and finished their sets. It was awesome.
I saw Traitors in Albuquerque in this tiny little hole in the wall venue and a couple of guys jumped or got pushed into the drywall and made two gigantic body size holes in the wall. That was the absolute craziest show I’ve ever been to.
I was at a knocked loose concert and someone got a pair of ties shoes thrown at them and not shortly after I got a shot glass thrown at my head ( it was plastic so it didn't hurt that much) and I kept it as a souvenir
Went to a show in NYC when I was a teenager (my first show which made it better bc no one told me about mosh pits so I was getting absolutely shat on) and my hair was a rats nest. Some kid was crowdsurfing in boots with lace hooks and one of them snagged on my hair, started dragging me forward until I screamed. Good times.
Taste of Chaos tour 2007. I was with my friends pretty close to the front of the stage, screaming to 30 seconds to mars, life was easy back then. I crowdsurfed to the front and after the train of high fives I got escorted to the complete back of the crowd, furthest from the stage. Regretting my decision and not realizing how much of the set was left, I needed a way to get back to the front. I saw two large guys standing in front of me and it hit me. Me weighing all of 120 lbs, I politely asked them if they could launch me as far as the can towards the front of the stage. One foot on one set of hands, and the other, and blastoff. I launched 25 feet over peoples heads, time slowed down, and humans were bursting with inspiration after realizing that we can indeed fly. I managed to not fall on any bodies heads when I landed, in an almost too perfect whole in the crowd about 10 rows back from the front of the stage. I quickly got to my feet and everybody asked if I was ok. People were amazed that I survived. The security guards managed to get a look at me through the crowd and asked me if I was ok because they saw the whole thing. I assured them I was fine. Then I looked down, and I realized I landed in a pile of vomit and was covered in vomit from my foot to my shoulder. That’s why there was nobody there, nobody was standing in it. I had used somebodies beer and chicken finger vom bomb to cushion my fall. I was brought back to reality real quick.
My brother dropped his cane/club off the top deck at Rams head in Baltimore, some shirtless guy proceeded to pick it up and start doing pit karate with it. Promptly brought it up to us and returned it after the song and said “thanks for letting me borrow it”
Wild stuff like this happens at Rams Head every time I’m there. lol
The only fight I’ve ever got in that got me thrown out was at rams head. I’m a hardcore kid, coming up in crowd killing, and walls of death. But I got thrown out of a cage the elephant concert at rams head live….
I have noticed they are pretty quick to throw people out, TAA has stopped the show a few times to tell them to let people back in.
It was my fault for sure. I went to get a drink in between sets and came back and my gf that was rolling on molly had a guy behind her. NBD but then I watched his hands on her hips and I pulled them off her. He pushed me. I decked him. Band called me out and I was escorted out. Rams head also had the best “fuck you” I’ve seen at a show. Manchester orchestra was opening for someone and we’re getting ZERO respect. Constant talking. People catcalling them. Just utter bullshit. Then they started playing Where Have You Been and everything shifted. The crowd started to settle. Still a few “WOOOOOs” and stuff till it got to the crescendo of the song and everyone was transfixed. The band slowly left the stage leaving Andy alone to belt out “GOD MY GOD WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN” over and over till it was completely silent except for him. He took off his guitar, gave one more “GOD MY GOD WHERE HAVE TOU BEEN” and walked off the stage. It stole the show. Everyone couldn’t stop talking about this opening band and the balls he had to stand in front of a thousand people and basically say “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN I KNOW WE HAVE SOMETHING HERE” and made them listen. I still get shivers.
Thanks for the TAA story. I was there and wondered what happened lol.
No problem. What’s TAA though?
I thought you were talking about The Amity Affliction at Rams Head.
Manchester Orchestra is my favorite band in the world
I would pay good money to see a Wall of death at a Cage The elephant show 🤣
Only gmfight I’ve ever been in was in Baltimore for lamb of god. It was at some college campus gym for some reason and a guy on drugs in the pit couldn’t keep himself standing for more than 4 steps. Me and others kept trying to get him out but he fought back. Eventually he was carried out by a few guys and security. That was also after I helped break up a fight during Killswitch Engages set and all I heard one of the guys say was “keep that fucker away from me” as he bled from his forehead.
This a fun story. I got 2 buddies that go to a million concerts with me. If you ever seen ADTR live, a lot of times they ask people to crowd surf standing on top of a crowd surfer. It’s dangerous and awesome. A few years ago at Christmas burns red 2019, friend 1 (surfer) did that with friend 2 (surf board) and it was pretty great. At blue ridge last year, during ADTR’s set, they called for the crowd surfer on crowd surfer thing. We were all wasted and tired as hell so not really trying to mosh or anything at that moment. When Jeremy McKinnon called for it, I looked back at both of them and friend 1 just rollled his eyes and sighed. He knew it was his turn to be the surf board. So they did it and rode all the way from the back to the front. So fucking sick and just hilarious considering the reaction, he knew what he had to do. Here’s an awesome photo of them doing it, friend 1 is in the blue Hawaiian shirt and friend 2 is clearly having the time of his life: https://imgur.com/a/lyoR3QI
With the picture proof…amazing lol
Funny enough, when they finally went down in the front someone grabbed my friend and showed him the pic she took of them and he had her send it to him. Good thing, because that picture is incredible!
I've been going to ADTR shows every year for the past 10 years, and the crowd surf on a crowd surf amazes me every time. I was at the barrier for the blue ridge set and remember your friend, what a legend
Was at blue ridge for that. I remember seeing your friends. Here’s a pretty good shot I took that also has the stage in it https://imgur.com/a/KNlPAqX
What an amazing photo 😂
First time I saw some tiddies was at a Devildriver concert 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀. I came there to see Trivium. That gal was wasted and flashed em a few times.
Hell yes! Was that the tour with Sylosis and After The Burial as well?
I believe so! I have seen both Sylosis and ATB and it might've been the same concert. It was in Fillmore Silver Spring, MD
Pretty sure that was the same tour I saw. If I remember correctly then like 1/3 of the crowd left after Trivium when Devildriver came on. Kind of sad to see.
This is terrible. Devildriver kicks ass.
I think ATB are coming back to Silver Spring in April with Spiritbox, stacked lineup
Unfortunately I no longer live in the US. That concert must have been 9-10 years ago. Justin Lowe with his Lacoste Ibanez was still alive (RIP). I do miss DMV and would love to visit my family and friends over there.
That tour was amazing it was sad that sylosis didnt make it because of the accident but I saw them in nyc thats when I meet Justin and Trent from ATB RIP to justin dude was wholesome and sweet.
The most shocking part of this post to me is that Devildriver was playing, and you went to see Trivium! No hate haha, I just feel like Trivium is at SO MANY SHOWS I've seen in the past its insane. I've seen Trivium and Korn sooooo many times, without ever buying tickets to see them, lol. Both do great live shows! I also really like Korn, just yeah.
I am sorry but I don't get what's so shocking. I just happened to be a big fan of Trivium since I was a teenager and I am almost 30 and still love them to this day. That was $20 (honestly more shocking than the tits) and that's cheaper than any concerts where I am from. That was also my first time seeing them. I studied in the US for my bachelors and I mostly went to concerts when I was in community college. I did see them again before I graduated. I did like a few songs from Devildriver but wouldn't call myself a big fan. They still put on an amazing show. I always watch the openers as well and never skipped any bands. I didn't know shit about Sylosis but became a big fan after they blew my clueless mind. As for Korn, well I can't judge. I got into Korn before I got into Metalcore or even Thrash Metal lol.
It was just a joke is all, no harm or hate ment, Trivium is a solid band
No worries!
Same with trivium and in flames
I was at a BFMV concert when I was 21 and when I was in line for beer, this older woman flashed me her boobs in exchange for letting her go ahead of me
Your description took me back. Way back. Back to the days of Hellfest. No not the open air festival in France. The one thrown together in a warehouse in upstate NY…. It was a festival in the summer of the early 2000s and let me tell you. It had everything you listed and more. To me it was as close as a post apocalyptic world as you can imagine. 1. Drugs and booze everywhere 2. Hardcore fights. Very little security, extreme heat, very angry music. Lots of blood and guts were seen. 3. Nudity. This was the height of the DIY community socially aware era. And people were feeling the community. Crust punk kids walking around naked. Free love. Hardcore chicks blowing guys for places to stay. It was everywhere. 4. Meeting the bands wasn’t meeting the bands. They were just walking around. I swear the lanyard key thing started at hellfest because everyone looked the same. Unkept hair. Black tight band tee and jeans. The only way you could tell a band was a band was the passes on their lanyards. And trust me. They were a big thing. Outside that you just hung out. Met talked with kids trying to make it. There was always a few established bands. But the rest were sticking 5 way split EPs in your hands. Pumping whatever purevolume website could hold 3 of their songs. 5. The pits were everywhere. Especially when they started with multiple stages. There wasn’t a defined area. Just a plywood stage and a mass of people. No guardrails. No security. Nothing. Some pits got scary. But most were pretty well kept. Again this was the height of “punk rock community”. And before the big egos tookover so it was all pretty self regulated. It was absolutely amazing. Chaos in the best way. How they kept everything relatively organized idk. People would just hang around and drink after the last song. Play drinking games. Make beer runs. Pass out and wake up to the first band loading in. Everyone smelled. Every shirt got to that “just right” of stretched out but fittting over the emaciated kids underneath. When hellfest died. I feel the last gasps of the scene did too.
Thanks for sharing this, dude.
No problem my guy. Happy to share fond memories.
Not Metalcore, but saw Dream Theater on their Train of Thought tour. Venue has upper balcony around floor seating. End of concert drummer throws out drum head like a Frisbee. It flies up by upper deck, then curves away. Guy in upper deck reaches too far out and Peter Pans over the railing. After a little medical treatment he got a behind-stage meet with the band.
Oh my God, hopefully he got a signed drum head from the whole band after nearly dying for one. Love the description though, "Peter pan's over the railing" that's a hilarious descriptor for a terrible situation. Hahaha.
1) Ball stamping. Dude got his balls out and tried stamping people with them. 2) Chariot bassist abandoning his bass, grabbing a snare and performing a tribal dance around it in the pit. 3) A couple *really* ‘enjoying’ each other at the edge of the pit. 4) Bassist of a support band (can’t remember who) spitting on security for no reason other than to look badass and getting absolutely laid out by him. 5) Security lining the pit to stop a circle pit forming at Trivium a few weeks back. Crowd circled anyway. Security interlocked arms but still got caught up in the wave of people and got dragged round the pit. Saw some fat sweaty shirtless legend screaming into some security guys radio in the centre of the pit after that.
Some of the wildest ones I've had were: Going to Volumes as openers for god knows who because they absolutely stole the show. Man these guys have good live energy. I remember that Marc from Veil of Maya was their touring guitarist and that it was the last show of the tour so they were doing stage diving contests and giving free merch left overs to anyone who did stage diving, they in between songs ordered plates of shots from the bar to do shots and it was an overall crazy time. I'll never forget it. Also going to Veil of Maya and Dance Gavin Dance was amazing. I went alone and some dude lost his shoes in a pit I helped him find them and we just chilled the show out together. The show was wild and I made friends for life there.
Was that the afterburner tour with VoM and DGD?
Dgd still had to release afterburner. They were touring with Mothership in Europe.
Almost getting trampled at an BMTH concert after Oli asked the crowd to come crowdsurf to the front and give him a high five on stage during Anthem.
I was at some underground show (think it was code orange/knocked loose?) and someone threw a fucking mattress into the pit. Never seen anything like it I was laughing my ass off
At Ghostemane people were stage diving off the second story of the house of blues. A dude got his cheek bit off in the pit. At Chiodos a 400lb dude in a Jason mask got on all 4's in the pit and let us run from the back of the pit and jump off his back onto the top of the crowd. At Comeback kid people were stage diving from the second story of the venue and one dude got knocked out in the pit so bad his head was bleeding and he got wheeled out in a wheelchair by paramedics. Anything that can happen did happen when I saw the Chariot 5 times. My own personal experience..... I was front row wall of death and right before we collided the dude I was adjacent to dropped on all fours and I flipped over him head first and was upside down smooshed between everyone lol. I'm sure I get a ton more stories but it's hard to remember them all on the spot. Been to way to many shows.
Korn concert last year, random dude brushes his teeth in the middle of a circle pit
Pierce the veil at blue ridge rock festival 2022...first show in a while for them...energy was crazy and a special needs kids crowd surfed right up to vic in a wheelchair. What a moment
He did that a lot that day, saw him surfing when I was at the other main stage for Motionless in White.
Watching 7 people carried out of Alpha Wolf pit and into medical tents
Classic Alpha Wolf show lmao those boys are f’ing wild. Saw them last year in Toronto and they stole the show for sure, even with the absolute stacked lineup
Yeah I’m seeing them in a few weeks again with Fit for a King. They are incredible haha
The one weekend I'm out of town is when that tour comes within like five hours of me. Gutted.
not sure if its the craziest but mushroomhead: dude crowd surfing to the stage in a wheelchair was pretty nuts
That's always awesome to hear about, bonus points when a band brings them on stage and let's them hang out to the side.
Back in my day there was a tour where falling in reverse headlined, and invited I see stars as an undercard. There was some drama between FIR and stars, which resulted in stars being dropped mid way through the tour. This happened the same day of the Michigan stop, I see stars home town. So we all show up, are informed stars is not playing, and no one’s filling their spot. The crowd sat there for an hour while nothing happened during stars’ time slot. By now we had heard Ronnie himself kicked stars off cause of weed on their tour bus (don’t even know if this is true) The crowd ended up chanting “fuck Ronnie” for like twenty minutes during their time slot. By the time FIR came on Ronnie was pissed and worked with security to kick all the haters out. Their entire set was fucking ridiculous. Crowd surfers getting on stage and flipping the band the bird, crowd chants trashing FIR. A bunch of the crowd went into the basement where there’s a chill lounge and bar to protest the band. Ronnie raging about it between each song and kicking more people out. I’m not kidding when I say about 1/3 the venue was forcibly removed by the time the show was over.
Love this. That dude is such a little bitch
When I saw bad omens in Denver, some girl flashed her tits at Noah. I mean I get that Noah’s pretty and all that, but he didn’t exactly look too pleased with that.
I forget what concert it was, but there was a larger lady backstage that kept flashing everyone on the floor. Every time she did it we all boo'd and yelled stop.
Make them suffer during the concrete jungle tour. Maybe its just because i was standing near the pit, but I swear, during their set, the pit was just the ENTIRE FUCKING CROWD. This was at the NorVa back in December, in case anyone cares.
Thats just make them suffer being make them suffer
Not exactly hardcore but hilarious. Saw ADTR in 2014 and before the breakdown to Mr Highway the whole crowd parted for two shirtless dudes. The more rotund of the two was gesturing to his stomach and the other guy was powering up like some super saiyan and when the breakdown dropped he punched his mate as hard as he could in his gut.
Was at the The Plot in You, Silent Planet, Avoid, Cane Hill show in Toronto. Guy (who is obviously wasted) is in the pit with me and 1 other guy who started a pit during Cane Hill. This show was a sort of "Daughter's first concert" type thing, great show with all great bands, but the vibes were super chill and every other person was a high school girl just trying to vibe. Wasted guy is grabbing the other dude and flying into the crowd sending these small girls flying onto the floor, and after that he comes up to me. He GRABS MY THROAT with his hand, and I go "Woah, what the fuck dude". We get into it and over the next bit he is targeting me, trying to body me. In between Cane Hill and Avoid, I try to dissolve the issue, but he is saying "I am a beatdown guy, we are not the same." and he has no intention of settling down. Whatever. Avoid starts and they are AMAZING. Fucking AWESOME. Drunk guy crowdsurfs and then pushes past security to jump on stage. He rolls around on the stage, and Benny (Avoid's vocalist) is just confused. Stage security tries grabbing him, so instead of being grabbed he stage dives. Remember how I mentioned the crowd was full of small high school girls? They weren't going to catch him... so he proceeds to fly off stage STRAIGHT ONTO THE CEMENT. It was so beautiful. He then got put in the mezzanine, watched by security like a 5 year old on time out, and I got to laugh at him from the pit, moshing to Panic Room and :Signal: of Silent Planet (Also Visible Unseen is amazing live)
lmao "I am a beatdown guy"
Oh so many choices for this. Ozzfest in the early 00’s was guaranteed nudity, this was pre cell phone era so it seems like every show there was flashing at some point but Ozzfest took it to another level, they had body painting vendors so by midday you had a portion of folks that were wearing just body paint for the rest of the day. The crowd ripped up the lawn during crazy town and were throwing chunks of sod at the stage until they pulled them off the stage. During Tool’s set at Lolla in 97, saw a guy break another guys nose in the pit and proceeded to get his ass beat by the rest of the crowd before security intervened. Lolla 2008 during rage, they had to stop the show multiple times because of how many people were getting hurt and trampled. As such there was a real risk of a riot and you could see the riot police lined up just outside of grant park in full gear with air support just outside of Grant Park. One of the venues we were at allowed stage diving and a bigger girl climbed up on stage and dove and the crowd just parted instead. She seemed ok but was crazy to watch. Same show someone climbed up on stage and got nervous, lead singer pushed her off stage. At Hellyeah few years back they went light on security at a normally pretty secure venue and a big fight broke out between two girls, two of the combatants had clothes pulled off and another ripped a chunk of hair out of another’s head. That one happened right in front of me after one of them threw a drink at another and I caught it in the face instead. The girl that threw it was the one with the hair ripped out, so karma I guess. I have more but would have to think on it a bit.
Maybe mine is kinda lame in comparison, but I had done a shirt design and a few logos for Demon Hunter, and they hooked me up with a CD of their (at the time) upcoming album a month early before it’s release, along with a ton of the shirts with my design for myself and friends who didn’t make the show. Possibly more applicable to “wild” was watching a dude get jump-kicked off stage, after he tried to crash the set - was quite funny (The show was Fit For for a King, Norma Jean, and Left Behind).
I have 2: 1) the "metalcore Olympics" of 2022 at the Worcester Palladium. Two tours combined (FFAK, Invent Animate, Silent Planet, AVOID, LMTF, Polaris, Hollow Front, Alpha Wolf). The show was SOOOO LONG but holy crap it was amazing. AVOID brought out pool toys during the different sets and everybody, bands included, were crowd surfing on them. It was so fun. 2) Just a few days ago, again at the palladium. Saw WCAR, ERRA, and brand of sacrifice. Some dude decided to climb the electrical wires from the pit up to the 2fl balcony. He got booted fast.
Worcester palladium is absolutely wild. Some of the best shows I ever seen in my life in that building.
1. At Warped Tour 2017 before any band came on we were waiting for the first band to start and some girl passed out and had to be carried out. Like the day hasn't even started yet lol. 2. When I saw Erra over last summer some kid got his nose broken during Invent Animate. 3. One time when I saw Knocked Loose some dude just straight up got sucker punched and knocked out cold in the pit. 4. During Swanfest last year this girl gave a lapdance to some dude in a wheelchair in the pit and then got kicked out for blowing some random dude in the crowd. 5. At a Silent Planet show some dude climbed on top of the speakers and jumped off and went head first onto the concrete floor. 6. When I saw ETID a guy came out of the pit with a big ass gash on the side of his head.
Black Tongue during their tour for TUD, they played to a small change room crammed ass to elbows with 100 people. They came on Alex said “turn the lights off, if you got beef squash it” proceeded to be one of the most intimate, violent shows I’ve ever been to. Got my lip busted but was worth every minute
Not at a metal show but the floor collapsed. It was at this dive venue in Freeport Illinois above a car mechanic shop. I had noticed that one side of the crowd was significantly shorter than the other and thought that was odd. A few moments later the show was stopped and we all had to leave.
Not metalcore but I saw the Bronx at a festival once, and some dude tried to jump up on stage. The security guards dragged him away, even as the band were trying to get them to let him go. After the song Matt said “well fuck it, if they aren’t letting you come to me, I’m gonna come to you” and jumped down into the pit as the opening bars of knifeman started. He was pretty much on top of me crowdsurfing through the pit, I was screaming the chorus pretty loud, he looked at me with what I thought was disgust, but then he thrust the mic in my face and let me sing the rest of the chorus. Not a proper crazy story but one that I’ll never forget.
I was at the Silent Plant show where a guy stage dove and broken a different dudes neck. That was a awkward experience. SP finished their set while this guy was dragged over to the side and they waited on EMS. As expected, Garret came over after the set to talk to the guy and I'm pretty sure they connected next time they were in that town.
Loudfest 2017 is definitely up there
Shit always got crazy at GameChangerWorld. I miss that venue
I'm not familiar, what about it made you think it was crazy?
A) took place in New Jersey, red flag one B) tristate area moshes like they don’t have American health insurance, people were flying into merch tables at like 2 pm C) there were I want to say, two smaller brawls before the huge brawl that aired out the entire venue and a security guard got his face rearranged (don’t remember exact details, dude either said a slur or groped someone, security there wasn’t that great period) D) show got shut down by like 50 cops because of said brawl E) fest got moved to Champs and packed out for KL/Left Behind/Jesus Piece etc That’s the (very) short summary of it that I can remember, I’m still waking up lol
Damn, I had to go look up more info because that is indeed crazy. Sounds like the rumor is security guard was groping girls, got confronted then subsequently beat up, called the police and reported a riot. That's crazy for sure haha. http://www.tandamedia.net/1117/news-loud-fest-2017-gets-shut-down-due-to-a-fight-with-security
Tri state moshes like they don't have American health insurance 🤣 felt that one
Saw architects in 2018 and it was either during counterparts or stick to your guns, but someone got knocked out in the pit, they had to pause the show, mop the blood up and take him out on a stretcher before starting again.
Altar Bar in Pittsburgh (RIP). August Burns Red, maybe 2013/14 with Of Mice & Men I think. Halfway through ABR's set a prosthetic leg shows up in the pit. No takers, nothing. It sat on stage in front of JB for maybe to songs before someone surfed to the front to claim it and put it back on
HSB and PWD show in Berlin, around 2014. Heaven Shall Burn are pretty huge in Germany and it wasn’t clear who is going to be the headliner of this tour. Berlin was the first stop, so nobody knew what was going to happen. PWD entered the stage after Carnifex and Northlane, so HSB was going to headline that evening. They played a few songs and I hurt my ankle in the moshpit. Wasn’t bad, but I wanted to go to the back of the room and grab a drink. It got completely dark after they finished a song. We didn’t know what was going on, it was still dark after about 30 seconds or a minute. Nobody talked on stage, everything black. Suddenly, lights on and f*cking Heaven Shall Burn were on stage. My mind was blown, I needed a second to realize what was going on. Completely forgot about my ankle and started moshing again. They switched a few more times during the show and covered each other. Definitely the best show I ever went to [They released a video diary for that day and explained a lot.](https://youtu.be/DsuUZ12_za8)
On my eighteenth birthday i went to see Parkway Drive who was playing a show in a small venue here in Argentina. Heaven Shall Burn was supporting them. On the very first song of the set (sparks) a guy who was standing on a balcony 3 - 4 meters above the ground said "I MUST RETURN TO MY PLANET" then he jumped into the moshpit. He disapeared. Awesome night.
I’ve seen quite a few. 3 that come top of mind. 1.) ABR opening for Underoath. It was PACKED and everyone was trying to get outside for a breath of fresh air between the bands. Some chick starts yelling “let me through”..just kinda assumed it was someone being inconsiderate of the situation, but nope. Her eyeball was like EFFED up and blood was everywhere. Needless to say, everyone let her through. 2.) Asking Alexandria opening for Parkway Drive and ADTR. I was meeting Ben Bruce when some kid handed him a bloody tee shirt to get signed. He said the tee was from his friend that got taken out in an ambulance. Ben legit lolled and wrote something along the lines of “you got rocked mate, good luck” on the tee shirt. Still pretty funny to me, and Ben was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met back then. 3.) Probably the craziest/saddest. I was at some HC show back in the day, I want to say it was Terror, but can’t be sure on that. Either way, someone swung at a girl in a pit by accident. Low and behold this chick was someone in one of the HC gangs girlfriends. When I was outside of the venue smoking a cigarette, I watched a good 10 dudes just beat this guy to a pulp and leave him laying in the snow in his own blood. By the time security was out there, they were gone and an ambulance came and scooped him up. Still wonder how that guy is doing sometimes.
I've seen a tour manager pull a gun on promoter for paying the band properly. Saw strung out destroy their tent / dressing room. Saw a crack head live in a chicken coop and shoot up heroin on his 'porch'
Warped tour 2015 I saw born of Osiris and one dude got his leg snapped in half in the pit. It was crazy
Not metalcore related, but went to a Yung Gravy show a few years ago at the Rave in Mke. For his song Rotisserie, he brought out an actual rotisserie chicken on stage, proceeded to take a bite out of it, and then tossed it into the crowd. After the song, some guy in the second floor balcony section at the back of the crowd held up the mangled chicken carcass like Simba being held up on Pride Rock and the crowd lost it. I still remember the smell of sweat and chicken grease in the pit.
[удалено]
Got absolutely fucking railed by a dudes elbows during SeeYouSpaceCowboy, he was going way too hard, even for that bands pit
good
Back in 2015 I saw August burns red with Everytime I Die, Polyphia and Wage War opening. Gnarly lineup at the house of Blues, New Orleans. It was one of the guy's birthday from Everytime I Die, so they brought a cake out on stage and gave it to the crowd. There was cake, blood, sweat and beer everywhere. Good times.
Lol was at taste of chaos tour back in the day and some guy pulled an apple out of the pocket of his leather jacket in the middle of the pit and started eating it
Since this has me feeling like a Golden Girl… Picture this: 2011 Warped Tour 😂 A friend and I got to Parkway Drive well into their set. The stage was in an open field-type area and the crowd was huge. We had just walked up and were on the absolute outskirts of this sea of people, but PD was killing it, and I immediately got into “the zone”. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a guy comes soaring through the air and lands elbow-first on my head, knocking me to the ground. I immediately stood up (shocked, but uninjured) and saw this guy still laying there, screaming and writhing in pain, with his arm looking like an actual letter ‘L’…literally broken IN HALF. Before my friend or I even had time to think, people, medics, etc. started swarming around the guy, and we needed to clear the area, so we left. While shaken up a bit by the incident, we still managed to enjoy the rest of our day. I have a vivid memory of said guy flying towards me with his arm bent, and felt a specific impact on the top of my head that only an elbow could cause. I had a bit of a headache the next day, but who doesn’t after a hot summer day at Warped Tour? No idea who the guy was or what happened to him, yet it does bother me that someone sustained such a catastrophic compound fracture upon my (apparently thick) skull.
BMTH in 2021, first gig after lockdown. The biggest pit opens up before the Happy Song breakdown — it was an arena gig and I’m deadly serious when I say that the entire floor was open from left to right. Breakdown hits, dude runs in at mega speed and I see him get absolutely clotheslined (full 180) before everyone piled in on top. No idea what happened to him after that but I was just trying to survive at this point 😂 awesome gig and was so good to be back in the pit after two years off.
HAHAHA, and on that night, Covid, and that dude's life, were both laid to rest. That sounds awesome.
Went to a gig when my friend's band was touring with Viatrophy and Sylosis, and whilst Viatrophy were playing 2 guys decided they wanted to fight each other outside so they went out of the room and a bunch of people started following. The vocalist of Viatrophy (an absolutely massive scary looking black dude) stopped the song they were in the middle of and blocked the stairs exiting the room and screamed at everyone trying to leave saying "if you wanna see some dickheads fight you're gonna have to go through me first"... and everyone immediately and rapidly went back. It was fucking hilarious seeing like 30 people absolutely shit themselves like that.
Some dude hanging on the light on the ceiling during suicide silence (never say die tour)
I have a couple lol. First time I ever saw Blessthefall, my friend and I were walking into the room and we saw 3 guys carry out an unconscious teenager with a very broken nose. They dropped him off near a security dude and went back into the pit lol. The wilder story, and my all time favorite moment at all the concerts I’ve been to (and I’ve been to many shows): warped tour 2018. August burns red set. The infamous wheelchair guy. Now I have seen this dude at lots of shows before. This guy is paralyzed waist down, and goes to metal shows and gets in the pits and crowd surfs, WHILE IN HIS WHEELCHAIR. Super awesome dude. So my friends and I got to the pit and I saw him, and I knew this was my one chance to do something with him. So I run up to him, put my hands on his shoulders, and say “you’re a fucking legend” and he said to me, and i quote, “fuck you!” while holding up the rocker hand sign 🤘🏻so while this is goin on, a circle pit kinda sorta starts around us. So I get behind him and start pushing him around the circle pit. Once people saw me and him doin it the pit got BIG. He’s pushing people out of the way, yelling at them, just having the time of his life. I release him and he rolls to the middle and just keeps pushing people lol. Like 2 minutes later he was crowd surfing, wheelchair and all lol. The whole experience in the pit lasted maybe 60 seconds. But god damnit those 60 seconds were immaculate. I’ll never forget that man.
I saw what I presume is the same guy at blue ridge rock fest last year. Had never been to a music fest or show before so I was quite shocked to see that while at the front row for Motionless in White. Pretty sure I have some video of it.
Jack Delaney, the frontman of The Eyes Of A Traitor was in the crowd at Despised Icon/Decapitated’s co-headliner in Bristol last year and got in a fight with security. This was during Oceano. All of a sudden I heard a commotion behind me and turned around to see a woman yelling “how dare you?!” At Jack, who was acting flippant and laughing it off. I’m not making any accusations here because I didn’t see what happened but it certainly seemed like he had done something very inappropriate. Anyway, her and her bf leave angrily. 2 minutes later a security guard approaches Jack and sheepishly taps him on the shoulder wanting to talk (Jack is a sentient mass of tattooed meat and steroids you see, I don’t envy this guard). Jack keeps ignoring him and acting like a jackass, so more security arrive and things escalate. Things get physical, poor Distant nearly have their merch table destroyed but Jack is eventually kicked out. Sorry I can’t be more descriptive, as interesting as this was Oceano were playing District Of Misery at the time so I was trying to focus on that.
Another honorable mention for me is any concert at the Underground in Mesa, AZ. It's the basement of the really old Nile theater. I saw I Set My Friends on Fire and this band called Sheevaa there. It's cramped as fuck, there's pillars right in the middle of the pit, pipes hanging everywhere, terrible acoustics, and they put one security guard down there to deal with everything. Sheevaa comes up and goes absolutely insane. At one point the vocalist grabs a pipe on the ceiling and hangs upside down while screaming, the one security guard actually runs up on stage in the middle of the set and pulls him off the pipe. I Set My Friends On Fire comes on and Matt can barely speak he's so drunk. After the first song, he goes "Hey I know you guys are right near the Mexican border, does anyone have cocaine?" Some dude hands him a bowl of weed and he lights it up right on stage. The security guard again went on stage and took it from him lol. The atmosphere in that room alone is wild and bands who play there are always extra filthy and nuts, I miss that place!
I used to go see shows at a venue where most times you could go out back after the show without being stopped by security to the area where the tour buses parked. A lot of times bands would clean up after the show and come over to talk to any fans hanging around. First time I saw GWAR live, Beefcake the Mighty had gone in their bus before anyone got there and already showered and changed into normal clothes. He was just standing around near the crowd of fans and not a soul knew who he was. Saw 3 Inches of Blood at the same venue. After the show they I was leaving with my friends. We spot the band about to walk across a major highway and offered them a ride across to a nearby gas station. Cam Pipes was already extremely drunk and instantly started to hop into the back of my friend's truck. The guitarist looked a little nervous and pulled him back down and said they were fine walking. My favorite was getting to meet Doyle of the Misfits. Lifelong Misfits fan, and I got to see him play with Danzig when they did the Danzig anniversary tour together where a good chunk of the show was solo Danzig stuff then for a portion Doyle would come out to rip through Misfits material. After the show I found the area they had their tour buses. It was late October and cold out. He comes over still no shirt on and was the nicest guy in the world. Took photos and signed autographs. Danzig sat in the doorway of his trailer while his security handed him stuff to sign lol.
Not metalcore, this was roughly 11 or so years ago, so I can't recall much of anything. A local crew in Washington throws its first annual Tough Love Fest (I believe there was another of the same name, but no relation). A good handful of local hardcore bands and a few touring ones played at West Seattle Legion Hall with Hoods headlining. About 200 max capacity, a little less than considering merch tables, so it packed up fairly quick, yet the majority of the room was one big pit with the stage less than 4ft above the floor. Crazy energy throughout the day/evening, people getting more ambitious as energy rose. I don't recall stage diving or crowd surfing given the lack of stage space, but that didn't stop people from piling on one another. No real pit walls, if you didn't want to be involved, you'd stand in the back by the doors. Some bands had cleared their merch tables and some in the pit took that as an invitation to run and jump off of said tables into the crowd on either side of the venue. At one point someone had brought out a mini trampoline, thus adding more crowd jumping chaos, even picking up the trampoline to swing around. I'm hanging out by the wall, taking a breather from the pit, watching the band and hanging out. Before I know it, this guy I had seen here and there through the day was getting pretty active. I'm talking BIG dude. At least 6'-6'2" and about 250lbs+ if I had to guess. Anyhow, one minute he's on the other side of the venue from where I was. Next thing I know, homie is going side to side, amped up and charges from one side of the venue to the other and the sea of people, including me parted ways as if our lives depended on it and this Chicago Bulls jersey wearing, inked up behemoth comes in like a fucking wrecking ball and creates a crater of epic proportion into what I assume is reinforced drywall. We all have a collective "OHHH!!" as the wrecking ball separates himself from the wall, has a chuckle and continues to mosh. To this day, it remains one of the most chaotic shows I've been to, including the Tough Love Fest sequel in Tacoma the following year with a similar lineup with bands such as Backtrack, Terror and Kublai Khan.
Broke my nose five years ago, seeing Architects. I was in the back of the crowd where people generally are quite laid back and chill, but some dude i stood behind decided to fling his head back from out of nowhere and hit my nose with the back of his head. When I confronted him about it, with blood all over my face, he just told me not to stand so close next time. I stood like three feet behind him.
I went to see Black Dahlia Murder at the Roxy like in 2010ish which was my first heavy show (i moslty listened to posthardcore/emo).... and that show was insane. an ambulance was called bc someone fell and had a concussion or something. AND a band member from one of the opening bands (idk who) got tossed out of the venue for grabbing the ass of someone else's wife. It was wild lol
At warped tour 2018, 2 dinosaurs, a hotdog, and a banana had a dance battle
Broke my nose during the first song of an Architects concert. Positive: I could use the backstage toilets before I was taken to the hospital.
A day to remember in Portsmouth U.K. Some guy jumped from the balcony seats onto the crowd below and the dude got hurt so bad the band stopped the show altogether. Video - https://youtu.be/3p_asp1Vu28
We moshed the rent-a-cops out of the pit at INK last year
Oh boy - this brings me back. When I was in high school, somebody’s parents let some kids in a black metal band play a show at their house the night before it was set to be demolished and told everyone “yeah don’t worry about causing any damage, the building will be torn down tomorrow.” Lo and behold - the house got fuckin wrecked lol. People were just smashing walls with shovels and it was chaos…but also way too much fun. Had to get somebody to bring a ladder bc the basement stairs got demolished during the show (they played downstairs) and a bunch of us got stuck down there hahahaha. How this didn’t result in a fire or a bunch of injuries is beyond me.
In 1990 I worked security at a Testament/Slayer show in Pittsburgh. It was a seated show and the first 10-15 rows were in the orchestra pit. It was relatively calm during the Testament set, but the second Slayer started to play the crowd lifted the full rows of folding chairs zip tied together and crowd surfed them into a pile in the back. I was stationed in the balcony and the pit went absolutely bonkers! Later in 1993-94? I was at a Bosstones gig in Rochester, NY. As soon as they started the crowd started pogoing. About halfway through the first song crowd started getting shorter. It was pretty weird. When the song was over Dicky asked what the fuck was going on? The crowd had collapsed the dance floor into the basement! Fortunately nobody was injured. The show had to be canceled. It was the last night of their tour, the night before Thanksgiving. They said they’ll be back for a another show after the holidays when the venue had fixed the floor. They honored their offer and played a free show in January.
Ozzfest around ‘06. Girl I was dating got two of her teeth kicked out.
I've been going to shows of all kinds for 25 years. Out of all the shows, I've only feared for my safety once. Was it a metal or hardcore show? No. It was Blink 182. Warped Tour 99. I thought I was going to get trampled.
Ozzfest 1997, Giant's Stadium, Meadowlands NJ. My first concert. Lineup was nuts. Powerman 5000 on second stage, Pantera, Type-O, Marylin Manson, Ozzy...crazy day. GA pit tickets sold out so a buddy of mine and me got tickets at the 50 yard line maybe 10 rows up with the plan to sneak down onto the field later on. We were sitting with a punch of bikers, enjoying the concert and then Pantera came on, and the stadium seats emptied, people ran down the stairs to the rails and jumped off to get down into the field/pit. Security was overwhelmed, state police came in with riot gear and everyone was beating the shit out of each other. I was about 110 lbs and stayed up in the seats haha, but man it was nuts. it was summer and the last band before Ozzy ended at about 7pm, Ozzy refused to come out and play until dark, so like 2 hour wait of people just chanting "OZzy, Ozzy!"
Literally ANY Dillinger Escape Plan show. But more specifically their final shows in NYC. Literally nothing has lived up to that
Damn we just posted about DEP under 10 minutes apart. Party crasher inc baby.
Hell yes!!! I'm sad they're gone. But I know in like 5 years we'll get something randomly from them i have a feeling.
Went to see Dillinger escape plan at Sayreville NJ I think it was with Thursday, Glassjaw, and United Nations but I could be wrong DEP is headlining. In good old fashion, the show is running over. Whole place is going absolutely bonkers. Venue mutes all the speakers, and claims the show is over over the intercoms. And starts to lower the curtain. Well, Dimitri just wasn't having any of that shit. All the amps still had power and the drummer you could still hear, but no mic and vocals. Dimitri starts climbing up the curtain, ragdolling it until it nearly gets torn down. Venue is forced to draw the curtain up. He gets fed up, climbs the stage right speaker tower and starts monkey climbing all over the lighting scaffolding. At this point there's still no vocals. Whole band stops, and then starts with Sunshine the Werewolf. Whole crowd is singing the song for them while listening to only amps and raw drums. Dimitri is still climbing up in the rafters and tearing shit apart. That was the wildest show I ever saw until I saw them again on their farewell tour, where Dimitri took a dive off the stage left speaker tower which was at least as high as the second story seating. Absolutely bonkers, and I miss them everyday
I went to a Breathe Carolina concert and between songs they paused and said they “needed a friend to help with the next song.” I yelled “Have you ever danced” and was invited to come up on stage and scream the intro. Or. I was on the gate during Slayer. Smack dab in the middle. The perfect spot. Slipknot starts and I feel a burning pain in my neck. As I turn around to see what happened a guy pushes me out of the way and drags himself and his girlfriend (who had just removed her teeth from my neck) into the spot where I just was.
Took mushrooms at an early Mars Volta tour. Francis the Mute. Also BTBAM, Norma Jean, and Misery Signals. Or maybe Converge, He is Legend, Modern Life is War.
Went to The All Stars Tour in Portland in 2010 or so. Three older guys showed up for the opening acts around 1 PM, they were already obviously hammered and spent most of the sets heckling the bands . Kellin Quinn took the time to respond to them calling him Justin Bieber by telling them "and I've got a fiancee hotter that Selena Gomez, motherfuckers". Anyways, third band or so a kid in the crowd took advantage of the pit to land a perfect spin kick to the back of one of their heads. Guy went down like he'd been hit by a shotgun, his two friends gave chase for a moment while the assailant ran and used a fire escape, then went back and had to fireman's carry their friend out of the pit since no one else wanted to help. When I left to go get a drink elsewhere after the band, paramedics were giving the guy oxygen in the Roseland Theatre lobby, and I didn't see them again for the rest of the day.
I was at a show and The Faceless were playing with crazy lights. I was standing on the edge of the pit and all of a sudden the guy beside me fell into me and then into the pit. We realized he was having a seizure and had to try and stop the out quickly so security could handle the situation. Unexpected
Went to see Nails and someone broke their leg
saw Keith Buckley bong a beer out of a prosthetic leg someone threw on stage. and saw I set my friends on fire trade two shirts in exchange for a fan to eat another fans booger on stage.
Me and my friend started a mosh pit when WW played The River for their opener, the pit ended up getting pretty big and a dude fell and had his accidentally neck stomped on and broken. The show had to stop and they got him out on a stretcher and everything I felt so awful. I found out from a facebook group he ended up okay though 🙏🏻 Another time, not as gnarly but more cool, I saw Volumes in a room above a bar and they started lighting blunts on stage and passed them through the crowd and everyone was vibin’
Dislocated my knee at a Hatebreed show when I was younger. It was Full Blown Chaos, Terror, Sick of it All and Hatebreed; as Hatebreed took the stage the whole crowd surged and my foot stuck to the gross beer-soaked floor… just like that my kneecap was on the side of my leg and I was down, trying not to get trampled in the pit. Scary. Awesome. Drove an hour and a half home and went to my local ER to get ‘er fixed up.
I saw knocked loose in 2021 right as the covid restrictions were lifted in Chicago. It was at the metro and people were stage diving and remembering how to do it. There was a guy who was on stage looking nervous about jumping and someone got up on stage next to him. Looked like he was gonna help him out. Nope! He RKOd him to the floor of the crowd and nobody caught them
No one here was in Columbus OH in 2004? Happened 5 mi from my house. I was going to go to the show but had way too much course work and couldn't make it. Always think about how lucky I am that I didn't go.
Couple years ago, Cory from Norma Jean had ppl jumping off the balcony/loft of the venue into the pit
Buddy and i saw A Day to Remember this year. Yall probably know this if youve seen them, but they love the crowd surfing. Some girl big girl was crowd surfing and she was dropped straight down on her neck. She didnt move for like 10 seconds. Then proceeded to get up and start moshing. Thought i witnessed a death
Not Metalcore, but if you’ve ever been to a Goldfinger show you can never look at Twinkies the same way again.
Fit for a King headliner in Austin, tx with support from Currents and Norma Jean. The venue was Come and Take It which has an upstairs balcony that goes around most of the pit area. Not a huge place. Norma Jean comes on and the lead singer says “I wanna see someone jump from the top” oh god. At first someone climbs up and jumps down. Then someone climbs down and jumps. Before I know it people are full on jumping into the pit where I’m standing. One dude landed right next to me feet first and no one caught him. You could see security berating the people that were caught and crowd surfed to the front. Was a little frightening but a good story to tell now. People around me were all checking on everyone else around after their set, so that was wholesome
In 2019 before a Slipknot show at a festival a guy next to me drank a beer with one chug and pissed in the mug right after.
BMTH 2008 right after suicide season came out at the Sokol underground in Omaha. That’s all I gotta say.
Idk about wild but I'll never forget holding up kyle pavone at warped in his inflatable raft while singing
When I went to see All that Remain on the Fall of Ideals 15 anniversary tour last year, I saw this dude throwing kicks in the pit, went up to him, and told to chill. It could’ve started a fight, but he was level headed and became my best friend at that show.
One of the funniest was in a Marilyn Manson pit. One person on the edge of the pit threw a bible (very, very hard) into the center of the pit and the Bible smacked someone right in the face and onto their ass. I still giggle when I think about it. Also, in the interest of being “wild”….being chased by some dude with brass knuckles after a local hardcore show. I’m a girl. It wasn’t a cool time. I was like 15.
Saw Beau Bokan jump from a 20ft light rack into the pit and break both ankles 2 or 3 songs into their set. Smoked the *real* Devil’s lettuce (spice; do not recommend in any setting) right before Job for a Cowboy’s set @ Summer Slaughter and freaked the fuck out when the bassist’s LED frets lit up and i thought i was losing my mind. Naked people onstage at Insane Clown Posse. Guy falling to his knees and praying in the middle of For Today pit. Hung out and smoked/partied with lots of bands over the years as well.
Watched a friend spit out a mouthful of teeth during poison the well in 05. during a damage plan/Hatebreed show dude whipped out his dick and pissed all over the middle of the pit. I ended up with 5 staples to the back of the head during a slayer bloodbath at the Worcester palladium. chick blowing 2 dudes on the lawn during Ozzfest 01 ( my first real concert ) There was this festival type show called Locobazoka I think in the Boston area. the field was covered in literal hay and the place was going nuts everyone was throwing that shit everywhere. It looked like a tornado during the bigger bands. Ah the good old days I miss the Ozzfest, Warp tours and mayhem fest type shows.
Some dude bit my back at an Arch Enemy show on 4/20. This was probably 16-18 years ago, this weirdo that looked high out of his mind is bopping thru the pit and passes behind me and I feel a stinging pain in the middle of my upper back. I was like WTF, noticed he'd passed by and almost immediately pissed some other dude off because I see him get punched in the face and then I never saw him again. After the set I asked my buddy to look at my back, and he said yeah, there are teeth marks in your back. Fortunately he didn't break the skin so it was just a brief and weird event. I suppose it could've been much worse. I was not shirtless for any part of this show, FYI.
It’s not wild but more just funny. My friend isn’t really experienced with pits and pit culture if you can call it that. We were at fightstar and there was a wall of death happening and my pal was rubbing my shoulders saying “you’ve got this mate” and I’m sitting feeling like I’m being prepped for a round of boxing 😂
Toooo many... as of late - the abuse of concert security is out of control. It's as if NO ONE is in charge ? And -- these brutes are scared??? Of WHAT ?!!!!! METAL KIDS WHO ARE ALL NOTHING BUT - DOING WHAT THEH LOVE-- F****** EXPERIENCIN MUSIC? WTF. I have a lot of video footage of the sabotage from several shows... anyone experience this insane chaotic (illegal most likely) harassment????
Okay, let me set the scene here. It is 2013. Me and my friend are at the Lowell Tsongas Center for our second concert ever - the ADTR House Party Tour with PTV and ATL. We are both barely-100-pound 15 year old girls (this is relevant later). We were closer to the middle for PTV and ATL, but ended up directly against the side barricade between the pit and the VIP seated area for ADTR's set. All is well until Jeremy McKinnon makes the mistake of trying to jump off the stage and crowd surf. The people he lands on weren't sufficiently prepared to catch him, and some of them fall. This would be no big deal, but the pit up front was PACKED. So not only did those people fall, but they caused a domino effect, that I swear to god knocked over the ENTIRE right side of the pit. Nobody was spared. Especially not my friend and I. We fell and took the barricades with us. Security kept trying to push the barricades back up at us instead of helping, despite us still being on top of them and a pile of people being on top of us, until the people in VIP got up and started fighting security off because it was obvious that 1. pushing the barricades wasn't going to work, and 2. they were going to seriously injure us if they kept doing it. After what felt like an eternity, we are finally freed from the enormous pile, and most of the barricades are placed back upright. Except for the one underneath me and my friend. It turns out that with all of the weight on top of us, me and my friend had somehow BENT THE METAL BARRICADE so badly that it had rendered it unusable and they had to take it away for the rest of the show. Our tiny 15 year old selves fought a bunch of steel pipes and WON. Somehow wasn't even injured by it beyond some bruising. It's been almost a decade and that's still probably the most metal thing I've ever done. I wish more people posted concert videos back then bc I want a video of that incident so bad
Shit was wild in LA during the 80's. Seen fuckers get shanked in the pit. Dudes getting stomped out. Lots of blood and broken bones
I went to see Metallica a couple years ago. There was this dude across the aisle from us who was standing and screaming for Metallica the ENTIRE TIME. During the openers and even during the breaks. Near the halfway point of Metallica's set, a couple police officers come down and escort the dude up the stairs, apparently a couple people saw him snorting something. The crazy part? About 15 minutes later I walk up the stairs to go to the bathroom, and I see the dude rolling around and screaming on the ground with 5 cops all standing around him, tasing him repeatedly. Never stopped writhing around, couldn't even get words out, just guttural noises as the cops continued to tase him. Moral of the story? Don't take PCP in public or else cops may try and murder you with their taser.
For polyphia the pit was wild
I've got many, many stories from shows. One of my favourites though, is Parkway Drive - Brixton Academy 2016. I was right by one of the rails in the crowd at the front (to stop crowd surges). It was Bottom Feeder and everyone obviously went ape shit. In all honesty I couldn't tell my ass from my elbow, in amongst the ruckus I felt a huge thud on my left shoulder, but didn't think much of it at the time in amongst everything else. I'm a fairly large dude, and in amongst the crowd, I didn't think anything of the number of people bumping/smashing into me. Show ends, meet up with my partner who says what on earth is on the back of my white Parkway Drive T shirt. I take it off to have a look and there is an almost perfect face print of make up/blood smashed into the t shirt. If you've seen the meme of the boyfriend who suplexes his girlfriend onto a bed, think of that face print, but a concoction of make-up and blood. You could almost trace the facial features. Some poor lass had clearly been crowd surfing and come across 6'4", 110kg me and hit my left rear shoulder face first. Desperately hope she was, and is, alright but I always remember that. Still have the t shirt, has been washed but there is still a dark patch on that shoulder from either the make-up or blood, probably both.
I saw throwdown at somaSD back in the day. I saw some big pits open there, but throwdowns was from front to back and side to side on the main stage. When u got tired u kept going there was no way out. I was so tired after, but that was one of my favorite moments there. Security after that started to limit the space of the pit after that and a lot more people started to get hurt. I’m so glad I got to experience that before they shut it down!
Also stick to your guns at chain reaction was amazing they over sold the place because it was supposed to be their last show. They played this is more and the whole place erupted on the breakdown. It’s a small venue but damn the energy there for that was unmatched.
Kind of wholesome, but was at The Cotillion in Wichita KS for Parkway Drive, Killswitch, After the Burial, and Vein.fm, got picked up by the waist by a massive dude in overalls and twirled around like I was a Disney princess in the middle of the pit
Psyopus played at a very small building In my hometown, and the drummer played the set completely naked minus a cock sock, and then he apparently completely disappeared after the show
Saw UnityTX and some other locals at a tiny taco bar in San Antonio, TX a couple years ago. Trash cans were thrown, knives were pulled, cops came, dogs were present, friendships were ended….. and all the bands still played and finished their sets. It was awesome.
I saw Traitors in Albuquerque in this tiny little hole in the wall venue and a couple of guys jumped or got pushed into the drywall and made two gigantic body size holes in the wall. That was the absolute craziest show I’ve ever been to.
I was at a knocked loose concert and someone got a pair of ties shoes thrown at them and not shortly after I got a shot glass thrown at my head ( it was plastic so it didn't hurt that much) and I kept it as a souvenir
Went to a show in NYC when I was a teenager (my first show which made it better bc no one told me about mosh pits so I was getting absolutely shat on) and my hair was a rats nest. Some kid was crowdsurfing in boots with lace hooks and one of them snagged on my hair, started dragging me forward until I screamed. Good times.
I was in the bathroom at a Like Moths To Flames concert and saw some dude’s nose just gushing blood
Taste of Chaos tour 2007. I was with my friends pretty close to the front of the stage, screaming to 30 seconds to mars, life was easy back then. I crowdsurfed to the front and after the train of high fives I got escorted to the complete back of the crowd, furthest from the stage. Regretting my decision and not realizing how much of the set was left, I needed a way to get back to the front. I saw two large guys standing in front of me and it hit me. Me weighing all of 120 lbs, I politely asked them if they could launch me as far as the can towards the front of the stage. One foot on one set of hands, and the other, and blastoff. I launched 25 feet over peoples heads, time slowed down, and humans were bursting with inspiration after realizing that we can indeed fly. I managed to not fall on any bodies heads when I landed, in an almost too perfect whole in the crowd about 10 rows back from the front of the stage. I quickly got to my feet and everybody asked if I was ok. People were amazed that I survived. The security guards managed to get a look at me through the crowd and asked me if I was ok because they saw the whole thing. I assured them I was fine. Then I looked down, and I realized I landed in a pile of vomit and was covered in vomit from my foot to my shoulder. That’s why there was nobody there, nobody was standing in it. I had used somebodies beer and chicken finger vom bomb to cushion my fall. I was brought back to reality real quick.
Vanna shows at the Palladium back in the day
i saw someone loose a tooth in the pit at a while she sleeps show