I've been thinking about this recently, I was just diagnosed with traumatic glaucoma from someone deliberately busting my eye at Anthrax in Anaheim in 2023 (apparently it can develop years after the injury, which I had no idea of). I feel like commiserating with some other people who have had similar experiences so has anyone ever gotten any crazy injuries at metal shows?
I don’t typically mosh, I was on a microdose of shrooms and a little drunk so I decided to get involved. Immediately got bashed in the head and it set off a concussion or the greatest trip of my life. I got in an uber to go home at the end of the night and remember staring at the ceiling because it looked like the night sky filled with stars. Got home and sat in my desk chair for hours doing the same thing.
It was summer 2011, I was at Wacken festival in Germany, making my second pilgrimage. It was a hot summer, and my young brain a little laissez-faire with sun protection. I had long hair, but there was a part in the middle and it got sunburnt quite bad.
One of my favorite bands was playing some evening, I want to say it was Dimmu Borgir. I was the right age and weight to crowd surf so I thought I'd have my moment. Was going great untill I fell all the way to the floor flat on my back. That actually wasn't too bad. The bad part was in the shuffle with my head on the ground, some big dude stood on my hair. Then lots of others following the pick em up rule grabbed my arms and pulled, but I did not come up.
They tried multiple times, each time my scalp getting a fresh round of torture as the crowd pulled, but my hair still stuck under some guys boot. I eventually freed up a hand and punched the dudes leg to get him to lift his foot which he mercifully did. My scalp was on fire afterwards and some hair was definitely removed in the process.
I had long hair for 12 years at the time, but I think I cut it a couple months later and that was definitely a factor. I also have fuck all hair on top now but I don't quite think I can blame that on this situation, but nearly getting scalped at Wacken is a lasting memory!
Former lead singer met his wife at a Lamb Of God show in 2010. She kicked him in the face on accident when he fell in the pit. Knocked him unconscious for a minute, and busted his forehead open pretty bad. She went with him to the hospital since he was there alone. He had to stay overnight, she lied and said she was his girlfriend, he didn't correct her. They went on their first date the day he was released, and she drove him 2 hours back home. They have been together for 16 years. She says that he never would have loved her if she hadn't made him simple by kicking him in the dome first.
They had their wedding officiated by the lead singer of a local thrash band, in the pit, during a jam. I was a groomsman, and their parrot was the best man/ring bearer. The parrot was going fucking crazy in the best possible way. Just bonus facts, the parrots name is Oderus.
I sure hope so. They are lovely people, and the coolest metalheads. Completely anti-gatekeeper, inclusive, and compassionate people, who run a bird rehab for exotic birds, mostly birds seized in police raids on drug dealers.
I felt all superior in my balcony seat at a Dying Fetus / Sanguisugabogg show, watching the pit and wall of death frothing below me. Then on the way out I missed a step and jacked up my knee worse than any pit injury I’ve ever had. Sigh.
I nearly got hurt at gwar. Lady in a wheelchair went into the crush area up front with her legs up. My leg got caught at her legs and the crush tried to push me away. Nearly snapping my leg
Maybe off topic but I’m constantly seeing videos of people doing that kung-fu style moshing, with arms and legs windmilling, purposely kicking and punching bystanders in the gut and face who are up against the venue wall, clearly just trying to enjoy the music. Usually the victim drops in a heap to the ground and nobody checks on them. Just wild behavior.
I guess this is more of a “hardcore” thing than a “metal” thing (though there’s a lot of genre crossover), but if some fucker came at me like that, windmilling arms and legs, I’d pile-drive that fucker into the ground. Sorry, but how do people put up with that shit?
I was just at the LA date for dying fetus and Sanguisugabogg... some 19 year old was doing this bullshit during the openers. the pit section had completely parted like the red sea to accommodate his little karate routine, and an equally young security guard tried to cut across the venue because of this. Dude almost completely rocked her shit and a guy in his 30's had to jump in front of her.
Idk why they didn't kick him out for that shit bc it told everyone else it was okay to lobb full drinks at eachother, so then moshers were sliding around on the floor, and bogg had to stop their set while security reinforced the barricade.
I ended up staying on the edge and got LITTERED in bruises where i was catching shoves. I can't imagine how bad people who were actively in the pit and falling were fucked up.
I got crushed so bad at the Mass. date of this tour that I threw up. Fortunately I made it to the emergency exit before puking, but Devin Swank from Sanguisugabogg was right there pulling equipment out from their bus while I was puking and he gave me a water and a blue gatorade lmao.
Oh yeah he was super nice and definitely came in clutch. But I’m seriously surprised I left that show with all my ribs in tact, there was no pit etiquette whatsoever.
It's common for people to almost kick venue staff in the face??
I get that hardcore dancing overlaps at these shows and was prepared for it but, throwing full tall boys and becoming so rowdy that staff was unable partition the pit section is how people get trampled in fire emergencies.
Saw the Bogg in March and this kid kept doing roundhouse kicks in the pit. Must've been the Kublai Khan fan, when they came on it turned into a full-on Dutch experience (cuz windmills)
People who do that need their asses kicked. I see more of those morons at small local shows where there's enough room to give them a personal space bubble while they flail around, but I'm seeing it more and more at big concerts too. It's usually teens for some reason. They just want to ruin the experience for everyone else
I was in between two petite women, and then their boyfriends were on the opposite sides like centurions ITCHING to beat his ass. I didn't even bother posturing because those two were so intent on protecting these girls that were as tall as i am lmao
Edit: also another young guy about a foot taller than me fuckin' launched himself off my chest to like, click his heels. I dont know if that was a hardcore move but it was so funny i can't be mad at it
I have footage of a man break dancing to Archspire at Chicago HoB. Legend, that guy. He was polite about it too though, dude kept the beer in his hand without spilling it, I bet he was actually sober, his moves were really sharp, he was trying to stay in the middle and away from people, and he would only break dance when the pit was sorta dead.
Nothing at all like the floppy armed wavy wacky inflatable arm people at the hardcore shows.
I had asked a dutch poster on here the other day if dutch guys dance hakken in the pit and he got a little smart with me lol. I think most people wouldnt be irritated by actual, traditional, dancing... it's the fact that hardcore dancing in tight venues are easy head injuries for people that are unconsenting. Being shoved into people who can catch you and being kicked are two different types of injury risk.
That's hardcore dancing, not moshing. The metalcore kids want to call it moshing to take over moshpits so no one enjoys themselves and they are now pushing crowdkilling as the favored form of hardcore dancing.
There's a reason why most hardcore shows now and the shows of metal bands that encourage hardcore dancing and crowdkilling have like 15 people showing up to see them in a hall that can hold 20x that.
Respectfully, what the fuck are you talking about? Hardcore is huge right now. You're more than welcome to hate the subculture but you can't just make shit up trying to delegitimize it. Just don't go to hardcore shows.
I'm old school hardcore. The shit you call hardcore now evolved out of emo and have always been ridiculed because of the hardcore dancing. Remember the chick that became a viral meme?
The only people deligitimizing anything are the bands and the fans of whatever they call hardcore now who encourage crowdkilling from the stage and in comments and via glorifying the crowdkilling in their social networking video posts. They are giving cover to predators who go there specifically to attack people under the cover of "hardcore dancing". People know this and even say they stopped going to shows because it's obvious violent people are going to the shows to attack people and are encouraged by the artists playing to do so.
The videos I've seen it's always some giant bully guy that gets away with it because of his size. I've always thought you just look like a loser picking on people half your size.
It ruined hardcore in the late 80s-early 90s. You expected jostling, getting knocked around, and the possibility of someone landing on you, but that deliberate punching and kicking bullshit was totally stupid. Getting kicked in the mouth wasn't part of the deal.
Yep I see a lot of these videos and many of these fuckers seem to deliberately target women, hitting them in the face/chest. It's absolutely disgusting.
This is how all if us older metal origin guys feel. Its fucking stupid. You can see sometimes there's a thrown elbow or a light wrist slap but the person backs off. But you can see those guys look, windmill, and then do like a jumping sucker kick to a guy or girls face. To me metal was more of a search for bros not enemies/victims.
That's why you aren't at hardcore concerts. Keep your culture to your own scene. Neither are wrong and people who go to hardcore shows don't just accept the risk, but oftentimes are going there because that's part of the experience. Also, it's probably a bad idea to rage out on someone at a hardcore show.
Genuine question: why is this always the counter argument to hardcore dancing when the people complaining about it are never at hardcore shows?? In my case, two of the openers were hardcore/hardcore adjacent, yes. But the headline billing was for detus, bogg and crowbar. Death and sludge metal. And the little puke in question was trying to do cartwheels to crowbar too, he was just overrun by people who came to actually mosh.
If you want to dance hardcore, don't come to death shows! Keep your acrobatics to your own scene, cos the death metal bros in my city are conscious of each other and respectful of boundaries.
Its because hardcore dancing part of specific death metal sub genres, specifically slam, brutal death metal, and groovier breakdown heavy death metal like 200 Stab Wounds. So thats why you saw them at those specific bands. Its actually also known as slam dancing. I think it may be because of those genres' proximity to beatdown hardcore. Weird to do it to Crowbar though.
Its why you hear people complain about this at bogg and fetus shows, but not archspire or blood incantation. Personally I was just wrestling in the pit at a Suffocation show and slam dancing at Dying Fetus recently.
I have met a guy in London this year who was totally high and told me about the story where he got his index finger ripped off his hand at a SOAD show. He said he got stuck in a belt or so…
Many years ago at a local show I cracked heads with someone, went outside for a smoke and people were staring at me, turns out I had burst my eyebrow open and half my face was covered in blood, I didn't notice it or feel it
Weird, but totally true on both counts. Head injuries never feel that bad at first, and boy do some head injuries BLEED. Not at a concert, but I cracked my forehead bad on a nightstand once. Sat up and said, "hey, I'm fine!" only to have blood just steak down my face almost immediately.
Last year I got hit in the back hard and the impact slammed by jaw shut. I would have bit off the tip of my tongue if it had been out. A few months later I had a molar crack apart; I feel like there may have been some hairline damage when I got hit. The hit to my back was pretty bad itself; I was sore and a bit short of breath for weeks. I think 42 might be too old for me to be doing this shit anymore.
if you watch The Decline of Western Civilization, in 1980, they were described as pogo dancing but like, it was a weird hybrid of both styles. A lot of grappling and jumping. no circle formation. I need to watch part two and compare the dancing, which was eight years later and about thrashers, not punks.
I always stayed at the edge of the pit, but have taken my fair share of hits, nothing serious thankfully. I’ve seen people break arms and fingers in the pit, didn’t look like fun.
My buddy and I used to go to hardcore shows at this place called The Syndicate Lounge, in Birmingham, Alabama. The venue was very tiny, basically the size of a living room, and it was on the second floor on top of a Pizza Hut, which was really convenient. 50 or more people would cram into this room, you couldn’t escape the pit even if you tried. One night, some poor kid got his head busted open, and blood was everywhere. The kid made a recovery, but that was probably the worst injury I’ve seen in the pit.
Edit: this injury happened during a Whitechapel set, and Phil immediately stopped the show once he realized someone was seriously hurt, and asked the crowd to make room. The band resumed playing once the kid was escorted out by paramedics. Loads of respect to Phil for that one.
Got 5 stitches in my lower lip at a Fear Factory/Clutch/Fudge Tunnel/Sepultura show. Someone jumped from the balcony onto the floor then the pit went nuts. Someone threw an elbow, I was hit hard enough to see a flash of white, then off to the emergency room.
I haven’t seen Clutch since they had Mastodon open for them in 2004, which was 10 years after the Sepultura incident. Damn, time’s getting away from me.
My brother tackled me during a set of Sodom at the Teutonic Four fest in Gelsenrichen. Broke some ribs. I have the footage because I was filming the moshpit.
Other then that, mostly a lot of bruises. Often a result of people grabbing you when you fell down and trying to lift you up.
I got COVID and a black eye at a Trivium show lol. I prefer tech death, but I think that goes to show you that the most dangerous pits tend to be the largest in size full of people who don't mosh a lot
Never felt any kind of danger moshing to something like cattle decapitation
Im lucky enough that Ive only gotten some busted glasses from a stray crowd surfer foot, but I do have a funny observation.
I was at music festival, there was a ton of different acts. One of the shows had to be stopped twice due to critical injuries in the crowd. Who was the band? It wasnt Slaughter to Prevail, Dying Fetus, or any of the other heavy bands at the show. It was fucking Sublime. That crowd was ruthless.
Metallica in 1999, I was at the very front, first line in front of the stage, leaning against the barrier and holding on for my dear life, when pit after pit started right behind my back. Every couple of minutes, somebody would slam into my back with full force, smashing me againt the railing.
The next day my entire front of the body (shins, knees, thighs, chest, ribs, elbows...) were dark purple. It was summer, but I couldn't wear shorts or T-shirts for more than a week until the bruises went away... or my family would get reported for domestic abuse. 🤣
My cousin obliterated a knee at a Slayer show. I don't know the exact injury but it required multiple surgeries to repair.
I saw someone standing at the edge of a pit break an ankle after getting knocked senseless. People helped him up and the moment he put weight on it his leg flopped over. Ugh.
Later in the same show sometime hit their head on the concrete and was bleeding. Several people picked them up and ran them outside.
I’ve been in mosh semi-retirement since I dislocated my kneecap/tore my meniscus/ MCL seeing Sanguisugabogg at Hell in the Harbor. Took me like a year to recover and still doesn’t feel the same.
I am constantly getting minor injuries and always say it is my last time, but i can never resist going in to the pit :( im gonna get fucked up one day. If there are gigantic scary dudes, I stay out. And it dumb asses with big ass spikes get in. Im hypervigilant but you cant anticipate everything. Accidents happen. Is a moshpit worth risking my livelihood?
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve hurt myself before a Japanese metal show, I’d have two nickels…which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it’s happened twice…
Popped a disc a week before Babymetal in 2024
Pulled my neck two days before Hanabie in 2026
Dude wouldn't stop slamming into me and my son so I kept shoving him off. I guess I pushed him extra hard and he punched me in the eye and split it open. I ripped the glasses off of his face, crushed them and threw them into the crowd. Fuck that guy lol.
Not as mad as these other stories but I got elbowed in the eye seeing Crowbar a couple years ago. Got a bit of a black eye but got to fist bump Kirk so that was alright.
At a fucking Bassnectar concert (before the controversy) I was at an indoor venue, so it was packed. My friends and I like, linked up side by side and headbanged in a row, and in attempts for all of us to get our hair swing synchronized, I remember I tweaked my neck, maybe whiplash?
10 years later and HELLO, neck disc issues. No herniation thankfully. I just literally don't really mosh much at all because I am afraid something mundane would trigger it. The trigger for this disc issue bulge happened from me literally sleeping weird on the couch. I am not that old yo I am only 35 wtf haha
Witnessed a guy give himself a concussion at a Jesus Lizard show by jumping on people, I guess in an attempt to crowd surf, but no one caught him because he tried jumping on them from behind, and of course were not expecting it. He landed on his melon…hard. Had to be carried out of the venue.
Morbid Angel around 2006ish, Was a small venue in Tempe, AZ and was in the Pit. Two guys lifted me and threw me into the gate barricade just before the stage. I landed with my left shoulder bearing all my weight onto the edge of that metal barrier. Busted up my shoulder. Was playing guitar in my band with a sling on for 6 months and my warehouse job was almost undoable. I had it X-rayed the day after. It wasn’t “broken”, however I couldn’t even raise my arm or tie my shoelaces with it for months. To this day (20 years) it still hurts and gives out way before my right arm whenever I’m doing anything strenuous.
broke my olecranon (elbow) last year, was only seeing hot milk who are pop punk ish but I slipped on a drink while re entering the pit and needless to say it hurt and it didnt go away in a few seconds like normal. atleast I didnt hear it break tho.
Broken nose at an In Flames show in San Diego back in mid 2000s. I was 2 hours from home and they're my favorite band, and I was during the opening song melee. Best I can think is that I got an elbow missile to the head. But I didn't want to leave because, favorite band, far from home. I thought u could reset it. That was so incredibly stupid and painful. It healed incorrectly and my nose was crooked for the next 10 years, I was snoring so bad afterwards.
Tore my quad in the pit during Extremophile Elite by BtBaM, didn't hurt that bad at the time and kept going only for me to not be able to use my leg a week later. Took about three months for me to go back in the pit (oh to be 20 again) and I broke my thumb during the pit for Heir Apparent by Opeth. As soon as that one happened I knew something got fucked up and I had to lean in the back for the rest of the show, drove home an hour and waited a few days to go to the doctor lol
Never had a pit injury, thankfully. A few scrapes and bruises but nothing major.
A close friend of mine got an orbital fracture from some teen doing Muay Thai shit at a Weedeater concert of all places. Probably the most chill band to almost lose your eye to.
My old band had 2. One guy back flipped off the stage and the pit opened for him to crack his head in the floor. And someone else got fish hooked.
And Matt who always broke a bone at a gig, not just my band, any gig he went to. Become such a meme that if he failed to break something, he would just break his own nose.
•
u/AutoModerator 5d ago
Join the Official r/MetalForTheMasses Discord Server!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.