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Mine was Velvet Revolver in Worcester, MA in 2005.
Fistfights breaking out EVERYWHERE…massive amounts of booze on the floor, which was GA, drunk chicks on their boyfriends' shoulders flashing all over and guys darting in and groping them...giant zero-respect mosh pit of the sort you wouldn't want to get involved in…the band egging all this mayhem on…
At one point some random drunk came bouncing through the crowd grinning like a fool and busted my friend in the mouth for no discernable reason. We got that dealt with, but about ten minutes later I saw some other drunk grinning like some other fool do the same thing to some other guy…and we said "Screw it," and we walked out of the show and spent the rest of the evening in a bar watching baseball.
I've been to a lot of shows and seen a lot of crazed scheiss, but that was the absolute pinnacle of it.
Last Edit: Mar 1, 2013 8:38:15 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
That entire story reminds me of a Hank Jr. show I saw at a Pensacola music fest. I guess everyone was there all day and then had to endure Sugar Ray before Hank went on so people got violent.
The most surprisingly violent show I've been to was Thee Oh Sees in Vancouver a while back. Had only listened to a handful of their "softer" songs before the show. They came out swinging!
Post by Black Dynamite on Mar 1, 2013 9:14:45 GMT -5
I went to the original Mayhem Fest over in NJ. The key to this festival is the people who attend it. When you go to a local metal show, you find a bunch of 17 year old twigs in skinny jeans with some other people sprinkled in. At Mayhem Fest, you got men. 99% men. The concerts during the day are outside in a parking lot on 2 different stages, in the baking sun. In one pit, for The Walls of Jericho, I witnessed a (and I'm being super generous here) 6-3 280 pound man kick this massive samoan looking guy square in the face. I don't know how he got his foot up there, but it connected perfectly. The samoan guy went down head first, cracked his skull on the pavement, and was totally out cold. They cleared out a huge section and took the guy, still passed out, on a stretcher. It was pure Mayhem. I don't eff around in the Mayhem Fest pits anymore.
Edit: I'd also like to add that I saw a man that looked like Goldberg from the WWF. He was pumped full of roids, wrapped in barbed wire, and beating people with a combat boot.
Post by mizvalentine on Mar 1, 2013 16:10:47 GMT -5
Man, this brought up a lot of memories, most of em not so great!
Probably the most violent was when my old band opened for Darkbuster in Providence. Racist skinheads vs. anti-racist skinheads and punk kids, add booze and it went downhill from there. I think Darkbuster got 2 songs in before the place exploded in a full-on riot. I actually saw a friend of mine hit someone with someone else--literally, someone grabbed him from behind, and he picked the person off their feet and bashed someone else with them in self defense. My parents were there, but fortunately they are old school 70s NYC club goers and knew how to handle themselves. They still think that night was kinda funny.
At a club in Cambridge MA, I was in the audience when some tweaker bottled a friend of mine and stabbed another girl and almost killed both of them (they survived). That might've been the worst violent incident I ever saw in a club, and it was a freaking AC/DC cover band show. You just never know.
There was one once in a converted skate rink, now the Fillmore (Denver) and the bands were Ministry, Helmet, and Sepultura. It was the only time at a show I felt I could not get out of the crowd even if I would have wanted to. In the end: Memorable show for sure. cr****
Post by concertjunkie on Mar 1, 2013 23:11:32 GMT -5
Went to see the No Limit Soldiers and Scarface many years ago. About 100 people in red mobbed about 20 in blue. Show got shut down before No Limit even came out. Walked out of the venue to see about 20 police in full on riot gear shields and all marching down the street in a single file line.
A tie between Whitechapel/Through The Eyes of the Dead/Emmure or August Burns Red/As I Lay Dying. This was back in my scene kid metal fan days when I first started high school. Such an awkward phase.
Limp Bizkit at Thompson Bowling Arena in Knoxville back in like 2001. Sick ass mosh pits and titty flashin brah!
Yeah, Limp Bizkit with Metallica and others on the Summer Sanitarium tour at Gillette Stadium outside Boston in I think 2003, was a close second to that Velvet Revolver show I mentioned. Just ridiculous in terms of the violence going down all over.
My friends and I, all guys, were right down front, and next to us was another crew of a half-dozen guys, but they had this quasi-hot girl with them who was flashing the stage. A good time was being had by all. But then this weedy kid we'd never seen before comes up between us and these other guys and yells at them, "HEY, GET YOUR SLUT TO SHOW US HER TEATS AGAIN!" (except teats wasn't quite the word he used.)
They were on him so fast that we barely saw it happen. In books I've read the phrase "his fist splashed into the face of…" etc., but that was the first time I'd really seen what that meant. That's how hard that kid got hit. Anyway, they flat mobbed him, until he was bleeding all over. Fifteen or twenty seconds of stomping, and then we started telling them: "OK, OK, that's enough!" They eased up and the kid staggered away clutching himself.
But then…ah, yes…but then…
See, they assumed he was with us. So they rounded on us, and it took some fast talking to get the situation de-escalated. We were all roughly the same size and and build and there were the same number of us, so I'm not sure they really wanted to go…and I know we didn't. But still, sometimes you have to. Fortunately everybody got calmed down.
Little scenes like that suck all the joy out of a show for me. That was the last of that sort of concert I ever went to.
Edit: I have to say, give me a corn-fueled show over a booze-fueled show any day of the week.
Last Edit: Mar 2, 2013 7:54:53 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
Woodstock '99. Only festival I've ever fled because I feared for my life...
I was waiting for someone to post this.
My crew got in and out of Rome ok...
Ozzfest 97 was the worst for me (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Machine Head, Powerman 5000 on the main stage)
Great show but I saw so much violence and watched one kid beat another kid for a good 5 minutes but with it being packed, there was no way to get over to them.
Providing an outlet and a voice for music lovers to unite under the common theme of music for all. Join The Pondo Army to show your allegiance to musical freedom! Fighting for no censorship of the arts & music education in schools, The Pondo Army will triumph! The Pondo Army Movement
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Mine was Velvet Revolver in Worcester, MA in 2005.
Fistfights breaking out EVERYWHERE…massive amounts of booze on the floor, which was GA, drunk chicks on their boyfriends' shoulders flashing all over and guys darting in and groping them...giant zero-respect mosh pit of the sort you wouldn't want to get involved in…the band egging all this mayhem on…
At one point some random drunk came bouncing through the crowd grinning like a fool and busted my friend in the mouth for no discernable reason.
Welcome to the Palladium, population insane.
I saw Decapitated, Faceless, and All Shall Perish there in 2011, and that was easily the most brutal moshpit I ever seen. I stayed far away from that one. People were jumping up and kicking each other. Fistfights everywhere.
Surprisingly, Cursive at Cafe Metro back in 2005, I believe. They played Metro, a decrepit but wonderful little venue in Wilkes-Barre PA, under the name "Sgt. Snippy." A buddy of mine got word that this was actually going to be Cursives first run of shows since their hiatus, right before they started recording Happy Hollow. Obviously the info was leaked, because the show was f*cking packed, and extremely over sold. The opening bands were basically just background music for people to shove each other so that they could be close, and it was not pretty. Elbows were thrown, massive amounts of shoving were going on. It was so f*cking hot and anxiety inducing, but I endured, and once Cursive came on, everyone made peace and it was f*cking magical. Still probably the greatest show I've ever been to, in the end, even if half of the people left with bloody noses and another quarter left due to panic attacks from how packed it was.
Most of the shows I went to as a teen taking trains to Cabaret Metro and The Riv in Chicago were pretty violent. Naked Raygun, Jesus Lizard, Revolting Cocks. Ministry came out with the steel cage stage which was an open invitation to beat each other senseless. There was a Slayer show at The Aragon Brawlroom where somebody thought it would be a good idea to put metal folding chairs all over the GA floor. That turned insane quick. I got my head split open by a boot at an early Smashing Pumpkins show which still kinda embarrasses me. Why couldn't it have been Bad Brains?
Post by wannaberoo'ing on Mar 2, 2013 19:13:31 GMT -5
Back in my crowd surfing days, the guys always had to squeeze my boobs.
Most violent for me was the free concert in Hennepin Square, Minneaoplis that the Smashing Pumpkins put on. That night, actually, alot of people got hurt, paramedics couldn't get into the crowd, a TV tower came down from people climbing up it, store windows along the streets were smashed because people were panicking and couldn't get out of the crowd so they busted into the businesses to get out of the chaos. My friends and I tried to make our way out and while being squeezed from all around, I was pushed down and d*rug a few feet by someone, stepped on. Pretty frightening. Never saw the Pumpkins- just heard Billy pleading with the crowd to calm down. We got out and never looked back but from what I recall, the crowd somehow got under control and the show went on.
The next day, we left for the Ozzfest gets Warped Tour in Wisconsin since the Twin Cities wouldn't let Marilyn Manson in- they joined up with Warped Tour and made it a two day spontaneous camping affair. I had no clothes (just what I had on) and lost my Harley boots in a mud/mosh pit and had to go barefoot for the duration. Good times.
There was one once in a converted skate rink, now the Fillmore (Denver) and the bands were Ministry, Helmet, and Sepultura. It was the only time at a show I felt I could not get out of the crowd even if I would have wanted to. In the end: Memorable show for sure. cr****
Came to post that the Ministry, Sepultura, Helemet show at the Edwood Fairgrounds in Atlanta was the most violent I'd seen. People were getting carried out en mass from Sepultura on stretchers. It was an awesome show!!! I've seen some pretty brutal pits, Suicidal Tendencies in 91 or 92 springs to mind, but NOTHING like that.
Edit: CSB - Although the Sepultura pit was the most violent I've been a part of, the most violent concert moment came during a MR. Bungle show. Some giant ass-hole, easily 275 lb, would wait on the outside of the pit than with arms outstretched run through the pit clothes lining a swath of unsuspecting people. If you got caught in that bullshit you were going to the ground. This guy did this about 3 times than on the 4th or 5th run he got midway and someone smashed a bottle over the back of his head. The guy crumbled to the floor unconscious. What happened next left me feeling a little uncomfortable. His limp body was immediately surrounded by what looked like 10-15 people putting the boots to him HARD. I thought I was witnessing a murder. Security got to him and dragged him out but his face looked like it had been worked over with a rolling pin.
Post by HeavierThings on Mar 2, 2013 20:34:35 GMT -5
This thread makes my story seem like nothing.
Back in I think 2006, I went to OzzFest in Pittsburgh. This was the year it was free. I was watching Lamb of God from the lawn, which is on a slight incline. People were lighting fires all over, and the lawn was already torn up and burnt up from like, a Korn show or something the night before. Anyways, right in the middle of the LoG song Vigil, right before it really picks up, the band stops and Randy basically points at the lawn and commands someone to open up a huge pit. Next thing I know, this massive circle pit opens up right next to me. I was terrified, simply because at the time I was nothing more than a fat nerd with long hair.
Wow that sucks for sure. A few died at fests where I was, but I never saw them myself. Yea, I got caught in the Sepultura pit a number of times, and although I of course got out, it took effort on my part and it wasn't just, oh I think I'm done. That was when I had my Steel Docs lolz like some sort of fake madass. cr****
This is in some ways for more than just me the most violent. My gf had just got rotocup surgery about 3 weeks b4. We finagled up to the rail for the show. Halfway thru Korn, some dude puts an arm hold on her trying to get on the rail. She screamed and rightfully so. Security jumped him and lifted her and myself over the rail. We went backstage for a doc to look at her. That normally would be just a pain, npi, but I happened to be "lookin at stars" and there were LEO everywhere we turned. They put a splint on her and I said "Let's hit it now babe if you can do it." We were so out the backdoor. cr****
Post by lukescrazyarms on Mar 2, 2013 21:48:32 GMT -5
I used to play a TON of hardcore shows when I was younger. We had a band that was kinda getting around and opening for some pretty big names. I remember opening up for this band called Emmure...they're like tough guy metal core shit. Anyways, it was pretty ridiculous b/c it was in the basement of this shitty little club and it was PACKED and there were two rails on either side that kids kept sliding into.
Anyways, make a long story short....as we were unloading our equipment after we played, we had to carry it through the audience just to the right side (brilliant right?) I grabbed my high hat stand and snare drum and started to walk away and the band playing next started with a huge breakdown....some kid was hardcore dancing and ended up doing a windmill into me.
His hand went directly through the top of my high hat stand. Like I tried to keep walking and just suddenly got stopped by this kid being impaled through his hand. It was pretty insane. That whole show was a clusterfuck of injuries though. So happy I'm not a kid who plays hardcore shows anymore!
All three Pantera concerts I ever attended but of real note was Ozzfest in 97? Pantera shows always drew an unsavory lot to their shows hardcore skinheads etc. as they progressed through their career I had seen them in 93 when they just started however that Ozzfest they played was doomed to violence Black Sabbath was there playing a set along with Ozzy and their were far more people decked out in Pantera shirts. Hardcore types also on that tour was Marilyn Manson who oddly even though they were not at that tour stop still showed up and were evene dressed up in Emo/Gothy/Trenchy mode. Things had been getting rough from the moment I stepped into the venue. But let me tell you the Alpha beast started venting on the Manson fans right off the bat and it progressively got worse throughout the day. Near anorexic doom children should never ever try and go toe to toe with hardcore factory workers that are beefed up on roids/stimulants 24/7 that are wearing steel toe boots. By the time Pantera started shit was all in a frenzy Type O Negative had pretty much got run off the stage by Pantera fans that were ripping fresh squares of turf out of of the ground and pelting the lead singer with them. By the time Pantera hit the stage shit was nuts and then I seen some Manson kids try and jump in the mosh pit BAD CALL! I actually saw a femur outside a body peopel with missing teeth and covered in blood ejected from that hell of a dust storm pit and it was a dusty huge mosh pit by the end where they had ripped up the sod and dug down to the dead dusty grass layer underneath it. Those cats never had a chance every one of them that jumped into the pit was outweighed by 200 pounds of bricklayer muscle and had feet clad in steel toed boots. My buddy who was at that show was of the scrappy mindset and he said fuck that pit! And believe me this is a dude who was called a one man crimewave by a judge once!
1-1-12 Bassnectar NYE SHOW! 1-21-12 G. Love and Special Sauce 3-1-12 Radiohead 3-9-12 Experience Hendrix 5-15-12 Jack White @ The Ryman 6-7-12 Bonnaroo 6-19-12 Roger Waters presents "THE WALL" 7-7-12 Ringo Starr's 72nd Birthday Party Extravaganza at the Ryman
All three Pantera concerts I ever attended but of real note was Ozzfest in 97? Pantera shows always drew an unsavory lot to their shows hardcore skinheads etc. as they progressed through their career I had seen them in 93 when they just started however that Ozzfest they played was doomed to violence Black Sabbath was there playing a set along with Ozzy and their were far more people decked out in Pantera shirts. Hardcore types also on that tour was Marilyn Manson who oddly even though they were not at that tour stop still showed up and were evene dressed up in Emo/Gothy/Trenchy mode. Things had been getting rough from the moment I stepped into the venue. But let me tell you the Alpha beast started venting on the Manson fans right off the bat and it progressively got worse throughout the day. Near anorexic doom children should never ever try and go toe to toe with hardcore factory workers that are beefed up on roids/stimulants 24/7 that are wearing steel toe boots. By the time Pantera started shiz was all in a frenzy Type O Negative had pretty much got run off the stage by Pantera fans that were ripping fresh squares of turf out of of the ground and pelting the lead singer with them. By the time Pantera hit the stage shiz was nuts and then I seen some Manson kids try and jump in the mosh pit BAD CALL! I actually saw a femur outside a body peopel with missing teeth and covered in blood ejected from that hell of a dust storm pit and it was a dusty huge mosh pit by the end where they had ripped up the sod and dug down to the dead dusty grass layer underneath it. Those cats never had a chance every one of them that jumped into the pit was outweighed by 200 pounds of bricklayer muscle and had feet clad in steel toed boots. My buddy who was at that show was of the scrappy mindset and he said Quack that pit! And believe me this is a dude who was called a one man crimewave by a judge once!
Agreed on 97 Ozzfest, I got pretty beat up as well...did you go to the Columbus show Lono or just the one in Indy? Manson was at the Columbus show and it ended up being bad...a lot of people where throwing shit at him.
Providing an outlet and a voice for music lovers to unite under the common theme of music for all. Join The Pondo Army to show your allegiance to musical freedom! Fighting for no censorship of the arts & music education in schools, The Pondo Army will triumph! The Pondo Army Movement
Follow me on twitter@Pondoknowsbest
When I was in high school, there was a free music festival here in town called Fallout... all of the kids would skip school that day (the teachers and schools more or less allowed it, too, not counting absences for that day at my high school), so you have to know there would be a bunch of dumb shit going on. This was 2003, I believe, and featured the worst concert I have ever seen in my entire life (now that I think of it) in Zugg Island... other horrible stuff like Default, Eve 6, Hoobastank was supposed to be there, but I can't remember what had happened. I went because, hey, it was a free day from school and most everyone I hung out with was going anyway. The only act on the lineup that I had any interest in was Rooney (and that was a stretch).
Also playing that afternoon/evening was Powerman 5000... oh my god. It was like a big, lame ass, teenage melee. I only say this was the most violent because I don't tend to go to the type of concerts where the mood invites hostility. I don't think it was really this shitty band that only exists because of the singer's relation to Rob Zombie that caused the kids to go wild... it was just kids being dumb, and it was incredibly entertaining to watch. Nothing big, but really the only thing that comes close.
Skinny Puppy in Atlanta (2009) was violent in isolated incidents... I would say about 90% of the crowd was cool as hell and just wanted to see a great show, but that other 10%... Puppy had switched venues just a few days earlier and whoever made that decision didn't consider that there might be trouble in getting their somewhat elaborate stage props into the venue. Making the show late, it was decided after an hour or two of stalling that they had to break out a window and some of its framing to get Ogre's cage inside. So, some of the attendees were getting annoyed... some of the older fans showing something that came off as entitlement, in a "fuck all these kids, we're getting up front after waiting this long" kind of way. As a result of this, I saw fists thrown, I had to throw a shove or two myself to keep my spot and keep certain people around me from getting physically fucked up by these nimrods. Once the show started, it was much better, but as the show progressed and the music got more intense, it seemed that the crowd kind of released their frustrations along with the music. Again, these moments were isolated and relatively brief, but still enough to stand out and totally unnecessary.
I've seen a few violent pits from seated viewpoints but I was right in the thick of this one that had had bikers, street kids, and amped up teenagers going for it. Although I rolled my ankle badly at a Metallica/Suicidal Tendencies show getting shoved around about a year or two prior to this, I was badly bruised up after this White Zombie gig for a couple of weeks.
I used to play a TON of hardcore shows when I was younger. We had a band that was kinda getting around and opening for some pretty big names. I remember opening up for this band called Emmure...they're like tough guy metal core shiz. Anyways, it was pretty ridiculous b/c it was in the basement of this shizzy little club and it was PACKED and there were two rails on either side that kids kept sliding into.
Anyways, make a long story short....as we were unloading our equipment after we played, we had to carry it through the audience just to the right side (brilliant right?) I grabbed my high hat stand and snare drum and started to walk away and the band playing next started with a huge breakdown....some kid was hardcore dancing and ended up doing a windmill into me.
His hand went directly through the top of my high hat stand. Like I tried to keep walking and just suddenly got stopped by this kid being impaled through his hand. It was pretty insane. That whole show was a clusterquack of injuries though. So happy I'm not a kid who plays hardcore shows anymore!
I used to play a TON of hardcore shows when I was younger. We had a band that was kinda getting around and opening for some pretty big names. I remember opening up for this band called Emmure...they're like tough guy metal core shiz. Anyways, it was pretty ridiculous b/c it was in the basement of this shizzy little club and it was PACKED and there were two rails on either side that kids kept sliding into.
Anyways, make a long story short....as we were unloading our equipment after we played, we had to carry it through the audience just to the right side (brilliant right?) I grabbed my high hat stand and snare drum and started to walk away and the band playing next started with a huge breakdown....some kid was hardcore dancing and ended up doing a windmill into me.
His hand went directly through the top of my high hat stand. Like I tried to keep walking and just suddenly got stopped by this kid being impaled through his hand. It was pretty insane. That whole show was a clusterquack of injuries though. So happy I'm not a kid who plays hardcore shows anymore!
Emmure plays there constantly. Check. Carrying equiptment through audience. Check. Hardcore kid spinning like a moron. Check.
I knew it! hahaha
Croc Rock has turned into such a hole ever since it turned into a hardcore music shrine. I've seen alot of sweet injuries there. They used to get some really good bands to put on intimate shows there, but not anymore. I haven't been to Croc in probably 5 years. What band did you play in? Are you in a new band now?
Emmure plays there constantly. Check. Carrying equiptment through audience. Check. Hardcore kid spinning like a moron. Check.
I knew it! hahaha
Croc Rock has turned into such a hole ever since it turned into a hardcore music shrine. I've seen alot of sweet injuries there. They used to get some really good bands to put on intimate shows there, but not anymore. I haven't been to Croc in probably 5 years. What band did you play in? Are you in a new band now?
HAHAHAH yes it had to be thats awesome that you know that...I played in a band called Regret From Ruin for a while. We played a lot with Along Awaited Tragedy and that whole crew for a while. And I'm in a new band now but it's nowhere near HXC music. I kinda went the complete opposite route I'm in like an instrumental jazzy type band now if you wanna check it out its facebook.com/hahnandwolk