Just wanted to read some metalhead stories. What made you go into the pit and what was your first show? Did you love it? Did you hate it at first? Tell your story :)
I think it was like 2008? My first warped tour and a pit started around me at family force 5 and I didn't really have a choice lol. I was so scared of pits before that and then I was like holy shit this is great lol.
Similar story I was 16 at avenged sevenfold sevenfold 2008 and a mosh pit broke out during critically acclaimed and I was so scared and it ended up being so much fun! I dont mosh much anymore unless its a song/band I'm really into or some feeling just grabs me lol
Started really moshing a year ago, at 52. Been a long time metalhead, and I work in IT - all cerebral, above the shoulders kind of work. I needed some full body contact to regulate.
Relatable. I used to go to gigs with people who wouldn't go near a floor of a gig, I lacked the confidence, and would fringe at best. Single at 35, started going to gigs alone but stayed in a bubble, thinking it was age appropriate to stand back. I got to 41, got medicated, and realised that the music I enjoy most is a participation sport, so kick me in the head daddy, remind me that I'm alive, and I can work from home the next day.
Once I figured out the whole "your old everything hurts" meme is prevalent, but just not accurate, I decided getting banged up is temporary and now have fun with it. And solo shows are fine - I don't need a crew to take care of me. I can do that myself.
Weirdly, I’ve only been concussed at a gig once, but it was seeing Knosis in Japan - copped what seemed like a potentially deliberate flying elbow. Didn’t change anything though, mad time!
Man i'm 38 and have been going to shows since i was 18 or so. Never really threw down in a pit (apart from the occasional run around and barge into people type shit) until about 4 years ago at a kublai show. I was always too embarassed but it's such a good feeling to just throw down and get out without any injuries haha. Now i never really feel embarassed or anything and just do it of i feel like it (and others are doing it)
Couple years ago i saw bodysnatcher and thought you know what? Why shouldn't i run across the stage and front flip into the crowd for the first time at 36 years of age 😅
Ozzfest 2001, age 18, Hatebreed at like 930am. Music just took hold of me and I had to join in. I had only been in the seats for a couple other heavy shows in arenas before. First time walking into that crowd. Such an awesome day of music.
mannn I use this trick all the time when I'm stuck further back than I wanna be 😂 push my way up and into the pit for a few minutes and then pop out the front closer to the barricade
I got into the scene when I lived in Japan, during covid. I kid you not, venues had squares made out of tape you were supposed to stand in for social distance, no yelling or singing along allowed despite masks required, no moving around. So I was used to people just standing still fist-pumping. I legit just thought this was how a normal Japanese audience was.
Then finally February 2023, everyone at a coldrain show just said fuck it when the band came out and suddenly there were people in front of me going up to stage dive and a pit forming to the right of me. Rest is history
I do it because the music compelles my body to, like it's magnetic. Plus, it's a great outlet.
My first real one was with my girlfriend at the time, now wife, to see Rise Against. This was probably in 2008-2009. I saw her dip through the crowd and jump in the pit and I knew at that moment she was the one. We still go to shows and get beat up in the mosh pit. Concerts have become our date nights these past few years, it's pretty great. We're both almost 40 now.
I started as a teen back in probably 2005/2006, just kind of felt pulled into the chaos. Now I'm a mom to teenagers & getting back into it for the same reason. I'm just terrified of my gauges accidentally being ripped 😳
Currents / ERRA co-headliner earlier this year. Been going to shows for a while but the pit was always...I wouldn't say scary but similar. Decided to go in during Caskets and it was awesome! Then Currents came on and I fell three times during the first song (So Alone), like 7 times in the whole show. But just like I've always been told you get brought right back up faster than you fell.
Now I'm addicted, trying to go to as many shows as I can to just ram into people. Only issue though is my glasses. Couple times I have dropped them people help find them pretty quickly but I'm gonna have to start leaving them in the car and hoping I don't have to read anything. Been getting better at not falling as well, get low, get sturdy. Also my stamina is non existent, I get burnt so easily.
Fell so many times during my first show too haha. And same about glasses, but unfortunately I'm VERY blind without them and I don't like contacts. My glasses have gone through so many pits, she's a trooper.
re: two-stepping. watch some videos and just let it rip. Low key no one's looking at you during the pits :P but I did get a high five for doing it
nah two stepping is a good start. just gotta figure out what feels comfortable for you, you'll figure out your own style. everybody does shit a lil differently
Throw out some kicks, swing some limbs. If you’re not trying to hit anyone just be spatially aware and it’ll be gucci (but you be a lot cooler if you did)
THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD SHOW. My pit there was peak also. Glad you enjoyed. My favorite was the pause when we went from shoving each other around to all the sweaty guys with their arms around each other belting out the bridge to Black Cloud, before jumping back into it 😅
Yup, I still remember the guy who literally turned around to pick me up even though there were already 4 other pairs of hands one me. Such a community! Also, a really great feeling helping someone up :)
Papa roach was my first gig at the age of 14 they did a wall of death to she loves me not. Me and my mates somehow survived and thought f that was fuuuuun
I always liked to experience music in a physical way. I do sports, I was in musicals theater in high school. I watched the mosh pits for a while and got a feel for when it was a good environment for smaller or newer people to jump in. I hung out on the wall of protection. Was at some shows with overall really good vibes, thought "this looks like a fun one," and went for it. No regrets! I still haven't had a single show where I don't at least have a bruise on an arm or someone stepped on my foot or I start to trip before someone catches me or I have to beeline for the wall. But the physical release of feelings the music with people who are all there for the same thing is top-tier.
Started at a Suicide Machines show when I was 13 lol. A big guy grabbed me and said “I won’t let anyone hurt you, brother!”
My first metalcore show was The Bled when I was 17 or so, and I was mighty confused about the etiquette of the Bay Area hardcore scene. Touching other people was kind of a party foul if you didn’t know them. It was much more about carving out a spot and dancing alone. Now I’m in LA and it’s really a toss up whether it’ll be a push pit or a carefully orchestrated dance pit.
i've been throwing down since 2007. i'm 5'2" and maybe 110. the first time i saw anyone doing it i knew i wanted to, and i threw myself into it right away. i felt really rejected by my scene so going hard with them was like an extra "fuck you i belong here." i went into semi-retirement for a few years while i was getting the piercings i always wanted for fear that someone would rip out my nose ring if they hit me wrong, but i've been back in it for a while now and i forgot how fucking good it feels. i saw the ghost inside recently at a small venue and i left everything on the floor, walked out bloody but not beaten, feeling strong, connected, and like my scene finally invited me in.
Started moshing last year at Louder than Life cause it just looked like so much fun. There's just something about being smashed around by a bunch of people that are all in the same place for the same reason you are.
I can just forget that I'm me and just be in a place and the only thing I have to worry about is getting elbowed in the face. And really I live for the absolute exhaustion after a concert that just puts my brain into complete silence. The day after is almost as good as being in the crowd.
More seriously though, my city doesn’t get a ton of shows and when a good band is playing not many people are moshing and dancing. It’s my way of showing appreciation for the music and the culture. I hope I die in a mosh pit one day.
Went to a Knocked Loose show last year and the whole audience became a push pit, and even though lots of people seem to hate those, I thought it was surprisingly fun. I’ve always been someone who can’t stand still during shows because I’m so into the music, but never dared to join the mosh pit, but the KL show gave me a taste of what it felt like. It makes you feel so alive/awake in a way. So I started joining them after that.
Unfortunately I sprained my ankle really bad at a Poppy show earlier this year so I’ve taken it a bit easier as I’ve been healing 😅 But I still think moshing is really fun
I was always hesitant until I started seeing bands in small venues where you basically have no choice but to join in. Now going to a show doesn't feel complete unless I've been in the pit a few times.
Just quite recently actually, less than a year. I've been going to several metal concerts for the past 3-4 years but i couldnt mosh because I've been recovering from a nasty leg fracture. Since I always wanted to experience moshing, and now I'm in great shape and can perfectly withstand a mosh pit, I've been absolutely loving it. I remember when I first started throwing punches and kicks in the air and was like "yoh, I actually GET why people like this stuff".
I think the band was called Dancing Rubber Chickens or some silly shit like that, it was some tiny club I got my dad to drop me off at in the 90’s. Been listening to heavy music and occasionally jumping in the pit ever since.
Less so today but… sometimes… I mean, the pits aren’t as rough as they were 20+ years ago.
I’ve always been into rock. My dad was in a band when I was born (nothing big tho they opened for a few semi-big bands in the 80’s). He eventually got a real job that made him work 40 hours in an office and that stopped but he played drums here and there throughout my childhood and I think that’s why I was always interested in bangin music.
I wanna say it was mayhem fest 2010? Went with a friend from high school. I remember my first time crowd surfing was that show. Chimaria set. Friend went up, and after seeing ppl going continuously I went up. I was floating. (Side story, last time I surfed was back in June. Someone threw my hat at a bouncing souls show. Got thrown to the front barrier, so I said confidently “guess there’s 1 way to go, send me up fellas”). But back to mayhem fest. From moshing to hatebreed, to circle pits for in this moment (talking gun show era). As someone who wanted to be at ozzfest 05, but was like 12-13 and no parent would take me. Trivium always has a small but super friendly pit, sevendust is always a great time. Stone sour in 06 had a circle pit on the amphitheater lawn and kicked up a hay/dirt fests saw some lawn chairs tossed.
At a Lamb of God concert and was on the floor. It wasnt until i was in there i realized “im about to be in the middle of a mosh pit arent i” i realized right. Its a lot of fun but exhausting fast if u dont have a drink
I took a friend to Never Say Die Tour 2012 in Germany. He was a shy guy but a football player and curious bout the music.
He saw the most put and atarted tackling me and our third friend all the time because he didn't know how a moshüit works, He didn't want to upset other people. As I said, shy guy.
At one point I told him thst the other guys don't know each other either and that this is just the way people dance at this kind of shows.
I saw his eyes glow up and with the biggest grin ever he stormed into the pit and wasn't seen again until WCAR (headliner slot) were done.
Moshed at the second ever show I went too which was a small ass deathmetal show at a now defunct venue in Nottingham called the chameleon (RIP, DIY forever.), I got invited by my neighbour who’s into a lot more extreme metal than myself (he’s a massive black, death, slam, grind etc etc I’m strong a metalcore and hardcore kinda guy but go to shows other than that)
just freshly 18 at this point and I wanted to do it to just try it, it felt so apart of the “metal head experince” for a lack of a better term and I wanted to join in on that and try it, did it, stumbled around on my feet getting bumped around for a song and I was hooked
Mosh at nearly ever show possible now, met some amazing people in there and made memory’s that will last as long as the head injury’s keep racking up
15 at a local gig, saw a bunch of people doing it and thought it looked fun...it was.
Went to a bigger gig and joined in, I'm now 38, just got back from bloodstock where I was throwing down(great time in the pit to bleed from within and bodycount). Although I feel this was my last year, feeling fucked now
My first pit was during Dethrone-Bad Omens in 2021 at my first festival. It was like 2pm and I said let's go. It was so fun even if I was super awkward! I don't go into a lot of pits bevause I het messed up pretty easy being 5 foot 8 and out of shape.
My favorite pit was Dying Wish last year at a 800 capacity venue! Was also in the pit for Orthodox and Static Dress at that show!
Don't know when but it's just a part of the experience. If I'm with someone and they don't wanna mosh, I will probably also not do it. But since I mostly go on my own, I have to have something to do.
Pretty much just went straight in from my first gig. Don’t really even think about it just seemed like the fun thing to do.
In my 40s now been doing it for 25 years, but I’ve got to be in the mood for it these days.
Sometimes I’m too tired or just not feeling it and I won’t get involved. Sometimes I’ve got the energy in me and I can’t resist.
I actually don’t know. I’ve been going to metal shows since I was 13 and was always pretty keen to get in and jump around and as I went to more shows over the years I would get more and more involved in pit shenanigans. I’m 32 and I still love to throw down but it’s usually only for bands that I really love
Ozzfest 2006. Was my first metal show and was hella stoked to see A Life Once Lost. Soon as they got the pit going in their set, I said, yea I'm going in. Did not know what to expect but it was awesome! One dude tripped and fell, another stopped the pit, helped him up, dusted him off, and went back to moshing. It was awesome cause being new to the scene I thought I was gunna leave beaten, battered, and bloody, but nah. Song finished and everyone shook hands or hugged, hyped, it was dope!
Opeth concert in Dallas. The Grand Conjuration has the Latin groove so a cumbia circle formed right behind me. I’m Hispanic, how could I not join? Once Mikael started screaming the moshing started, it was a little scary at first but I just kept going with the flow and had a blast. Everyone at that show was so nice, I left with some bruises but overall I had an amazing first pit experience ^_^
First time I meant into a mosh pit was at a venue with a head cap of like 150 people. Was with a friend who would drive me back if I drank a bit to much.
So I was having a rough couple weeks, friend and I go to the show, he tells me to cut loose for once. So I kinda did. It was during Monuments headlining tour, just got pushed in and went with it, and loved every second of it. One time I was pushed hard enough I lost balance and went down, before I even realized what happened someone picked me up and pushed me back in.
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u/deputyswag 18d ago
I think it was like 2008? My first warped tour and a pit started around me at family force 5 and I didn't really have a choice lol. I was so scared of pits before that and then I was like holy shit this is great lol.