We saw Brand New play at Upstate Concert Hall this past Wednesday, and I found myself in the midst of a semi-mosh pit about six rows away from Jesse Lacey. It was a great experience, and I highly recommend moshing to anyone who doesn’t mind being pushed around a bit, but during the last song of the night (“Seventy Times Seven”) something predictably bad happened. My glasses, an item I wear more often than pants, got knocked off my head and into the abyss of anonymous shoving. They were relocated later by my housemate and WCDB Program Director Jackie Carr about ten feet away from where they originally fell of my head, slightly bent but amazingly still functional and capable of being worn. I could say that this is the reason why I hate crowd surfers, but a crowd surfer isn’t the one who knocked my glasses off. That person was the guy standing behind me throughout the show who was moshing as well, and pushed into me with a decent amount of force while unintentionally hitting my head.
The point of that opening story is that “when you enter a mosh pit, that’s a risk you take”. That was a statement told to me by a good guy within the crowd, who subsequently protected my body and yelled at me as I broke one of the golden rules of not searching the floor while music is playing. I was ok with the fact that my glasses had been knocked off because it was understandable within the circumstances and unintentional, and I am extremely grateful that they’ve been returned in a functional manner. Ultimately, that’s a risk I do have to accept if I want to mosh at a show.
Continue reading Crowd Surfers, and Why They Suck
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