my name's not ction but here goes

[myboyblue]

I attended a Sonic Youth/Public Enemy shared bill many, many years ago. The concert itself was mostly without incident but there was a good deal of violence outside of the show.

[Mrs. Peel]

I attended my share of hardcore shows back in the day, at The Channel, Boston – back when skinheads, the racist sort, usually arrived in a fairly sizable contingent – I held my own.

 

However, I, along with thousands upon thousands of others, was nearly crushed at a free Green Day concert at the Hatch Shell. This occurred as the entire audience decided, en masse, to push forward – violently.

 

The plug was pulled shortly thereafter.

 

Free Show Ends In Riot September 9, 1994 - The Hatch Shell, Boston Less than a month after their infamous appearance at Woodstock, Green Day performed a free show arranged by local Boston radio station, WFNX. A modest crowd was predicted by organizers but contrary to expectations, and estimated 100,000 people descended on the site. The police and state troopers were out in force aided by a 15-man security team of inmates from the local prison. The crowd control was woefully inadequate and a few minutes after the band had taken the stage, the crash barriers came down. All hell broke loose. "The police were getting beat up and stuff" said Tre. The lighting rig began to wobble and the promoter, concerned the whole stage might fall, pulled the plug. The crowd went mad, causing havoc that quickly spread through the streets of downtown Boston. The local news reported more than 60 arrests and dozens of minor injuries. "They were tear gassing the crowd and all these things", Tre remembers, "next thing their announcing 'Green Day has left the building! Green Day has left the building', it was fucking funny". The band were ushered under the building for their safety and watched the whole fiasco, while the prisons begged for autographs. "The thing is", noted Tre, "not one of them fucked off, they all went back to jail the next day!"

 

I remember that! They expected a couple thousand people and ended up with 100,000. That's the day I knew I wouldn't be seeing them in tiny shithole clubs anymore!

 

Did you ever hang out at The Rat? I used to go there quite a bit.

[ction]

I took my wife to see Brad Paisley last year and that was pretty scary.

[cryptique]

I took my wife to see Brad Paisley last year and that was pretty scary.

were tapers present?

[Atticus]

Sade

[k8tee]

I've seen a few mosh pits get out of control, but none immediately come to mind. The most I've ever felt myself to be in physical danger was, strangely enough, watching Rancid play a Warped Tour show. It was hardly a "scary" environment--bunch of suburban kids getting to act like punks for a day in a stadium parking lot. Or maybe that was the problem. I just remember the crush of the crowd when the band started playing and the panic that rippled through the crowd since most people didn't appear to have expected it, so there was a very real fear of being trampled for a while. Its funny, I've been to "scarier" shows, but that's the one that stands out to me.

 

Asbury Park parking lot? I had similar experiences there, but I was a suburban kid acting like a punk for a day, so it only seems scary to me remembering it.

[quarter23cd]

Asbury Park parking lot? I had similar experiences there, but I was a suburban kid acting like a punk for a day, so it only seems scary to me remembering it.

Nope. RFK in DC.

[Jesusetc84]

One time a 380 lb man avalanched me... just engulfed me in a body splash in a moshpit.

 

I haven't been in one since.

[terrfish]

I would really like to be able to see Nirvana again. Saw them at the State Fair Coliseum in '93.

 

The only show where I feared for my safety was also at the State Fair. Ministry a year earlier. That shit was scary.