Moshing and local venues

With the North American portion of the Wolf Parade tour beginning, conversation at the band's bbs has started to revolve around the startling phenomenon of moshing at Wolf Parade shows. I mean, this isn't Slayer or Sepultura we're talking about here, it's a freaking indie band. But, at the Philly show in 08 I attended, there was certainly too much moshing and I heard that the NYC shows that year also had moshing.

I, for one, think this is fucking bullshit and venues should be ejecting moshers by the busload. I understand that 9:30 and the Black Cat have signs up saying ABSOLUTELY NO MOSHING, but are they actually enforced?

Venues that allow people to mosh at indie shows are doing their loyal customers an incredible disservice by letting a bunch of fucking assholes ruin the experience for others. Moshing is easily one of the most selfish phenomenons in music. I'm going to the show on Tuesday and I hope I don't end up punching someone in the fucking face. Rikers would be a bad place to end up.

Getting old?

You should be punched in the face for liking such a lame band.

the club has no signs that say "absolutely no moshing." 

if the band does not make any requests regarding moshing, our policy is on a sliding scale.  if a pit breaks out at a show, we will monitor the area.  there are some behaviors that are always unacceptable, but the crowd determines the acceptability of others.  what is ok at a metal or hardcore show would not be ok at a pop punk show.  it's a subjective decision, but the staph has many years of experience and we do our best to determine the appropriateness of any moshing activity at any show.  if the participants aren't out to hurt anyone and the crowd is ok with it, moshing will be allowed at some shows.

there are plenty of spots in the club that patrons can watch the show from if they do not want to be in the vicinity of a mosh pit.
   

Thank you for your input, thatguy.

Been a little while since a TMUL bitch thread.


I was kind of surprised (and disappointed) at the lack of a significant pit at the Melvins a couple weeks ago.

moshing at a WP show?  seriously?  is their live show a lot more aggro than their recorded stuff?

azaghal1981 wrote:
I was kind of surprised (and disappointed) at the lack of a significant pit at the Melvins a couple weeks ago.

good point - this is DC.  moshing = form of dancing.  TMUL, i think you'll be safe ;D

I think moshing at the She & Him show would have been super  ;D

people were moshing at Animal Collective last year. The pushing and whatnot was comparable to that of Prodigy's show at some point, which stunned me.

I think moshing is ok when the music style calls for it, and as long as people are respectful of those around them.

We don't allow any moshing/crowd surfing whatsoever at The National. (I say "we" because I work part time customer service/security during shows there.)

betao wrote:
people were moshing at Animal Collective last year. The pushing and whatnot was comparable to that of Prodigy's show at some point, which stunned me.

I think moshing is ok when the music style calls for it, and as long as people are respectful of those around them.

We don't allow any moshing/crowd surfing whatsoever at The National. (I say "we" because I work part time customer service/security during shows there.)

The Prodigy show was amazing.  I can't say it was a mosh pit per se, but people were going nuts.  I also saw a few crowd surfers too, which I thought was a no no in the club but it was quickly dispersed (either that or the dude fell on his noggin)  ;D


oh, you work at the National??  cool, the security there are always awesome.  No dickheads in all the times I have been there  ;D

Some idiot crowd surfer landed on my head during BRMC. One of the last shows where I thought that would happen.

azaghal1981 wrote:
Some idiot crowd surfer landed on my head during BRMC.

crowd surfing annoys me way more than moshing, for the most part.  moshers make it clear where the pit is, and you can move away if you don't like it.  a crowd surfer's boot or elbow can come flying in from any direction.  also, if there is crowd surfing happening, it means that people are packed in tight.  little option of moving out of the way of an incoming surfer.

The Melvins/Isis gig had plenty of moshing I thought. Moshing at shows was a right of passage back in my teenage years (the nu/alt/rap metal days lol) I really do think indie rock is the new Nu Metal. So the crowds it draws will reflect this.

The 9:30 Club combats moshing by packing in so many people no one can move anyway

wml7 wrote:

betao wrote:
people were moshing at Animal Collective last year. The pushing and whatnot was comparable to that of Prodigy's show at some point, which stunned me.

I think moshing is ok when the music style calls for it, and as long as people are respectful of those around them.

We don't allow any moshing/crowd surfing whatsoever at The National. (I say "we" because I work part time customer service/security during shows there.)

The Prodigy show was amazing.  I can't say it was a mosh pit per se, but people were going nuts.  I also saw a few crowd surfers too, which I thought was a no no in the club but it was quickly dispersed (either that or the dude fell on his noggin)  ;D


oh, you work at the National??  cool, the security there are always awesome.  No dickheads in all the times I have been there  ;D

Ah thanks man, words like that are much appreciated.

Both Prodigy shows (06 and 09) had crowd surfers and moshers. I don't mind moshing as long as its controlled (somewhat), but I hate crowd surfers. It's pretty annoying to be enjoying a show and then out of nowhere a foot kicks you in the back of the head.

thatguy wrote:
the club has no signs that say "absolutely no moshing." 

if the band does not make any requests regarding moshing, our policy is on a sliding scale.  if a pit breaks out at a show, we will monitor the area.  there are some behaviors that are always unacceptable, but the crowd determines the acceptability of others.  what is ok at a metal or hardcore show would not be ok at a pop punk show.  it's a subjective decision, but the staph has many years of experience and we do our best to determine the appropriateness of any moshing activity at any show.  if the participants aren't out to hurt anyone and the crowd is ok with it, moshing will be allowed at some shows.

there are plenty of spots in the club that patrons can watch the show from if they do not want to be in the vicinity of a mosh pit.
     

I think that is a terrible policy.  I was at the 30th anniversary show and 3 idiots started "moshing". It was annoying.  We had been there all day.  If they want to "Mosh" let them do it in the back of the club. 

I can see slam dancing at the hardcore shows in the 80's when nobody cared about the music anyway.  But really at a Wolf Parade show.  This is basically a way of keeping the females from the front and is really a sort of sexism.  If someone shoves themselves into me at a show like that expect to be shoved back in the face.

atomicfront wrote:
I think that is a terrible policy.  I was at the 30th anniversary show and 3 idiots started "moshing". It was annoying.  We had been there all day.  If they want to "Mosh" let them do it in the back of the club.

that's the thing about a standing room venue.  they have just as much right to enjoy the show the way they want to up front as you do.  if the crowd decides that there's room for a mosh pit up there, it can happen.  if they don't, it won't.  power in numbers really does work.

like i said, it's a sliding scale.  that means it goes from no moshing allowed all the way up to some pretty heavy stuff.  if it's totally out of place for the show, we'll stop it.   

i can't remember more than a handful of times over my tenure at the club where a mosh pit broke out at a wildly inappropriate show.  i'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that in my experience it doesn't happen very often.  when it has, we shut it down.

This is basically a way of keeping the females from the front and is really a sort of sexism.

you lost me completely here.

 

If someone shoves themselves into me at a show like that expect to be shoved back in the face.

or, you could alert the nearest door staph member.

thatguy wrote:

This is basically a way of keeping the females from the front and is really a sort of sexism.

you lost me completely here.

i believe the intent of that statement is that women, being smaller/not as strong/shorter/etc are intimidated by the aggressive nature of mosh pits.  fearing for their own comfort & safety, they need to keep their distance, thus they find themselves excluded from the front section of the floor where mosh pits usually take place.

so, all you big mean ogres who like to mosh: stop it, you sexist pigs.  you're oppressing women.  again.

The only "pit" that I know of that broke out during the Melvins was a tiny one on the right side in the very front. I missed most of the Isis set, though so I can't comment on that. As far as the "oppressing females" thing goes, the female friend I was with was also annoyed with the DC crowd for not moshing at that show.

azaghal1981 wrote:
The only "pit" that I know of that broke out during the Melvins was a tiny one on the right side in the very front. I missed most of the Isis set, though so I can't comment on that. As far as the "oppressing females" thing goes, the female friend I was with was also annoyed with the DC crowd for not moshing at that show.

you should have pushed her to the ground, so she didn't felt left out  ;D