The Proper Etiquette of a Mosh Pit for Punks and Emos
Sorry hardcore & metal fans, but this talk on proper etiquette in the pit will not dive into y'all's type of brawl sessions, as that’s not where I cut my teeth and bled on Friday nights. Instead, this discussion will explore the current culture of the mosh pit that presides in punk, emo, and skramz scenes. Check out Party Hats to understand the type of music I’m focusing on in this article. I’m talking about mosh pits, where if you are more than 160 pounds, then you will be considered one of the movers and shakers of the pit around all the high school and college twinks. But with such a young audience, I see so many issues come into play at shows nowadays, as proper etiquette in the pit doesn’t always get respected. Maybe that might be purposeful, but I rather hope it’s due to ignorance, so I’m going to put down some dos and don’ts to live by when moshing at these shows.
Do - Get out of the way if you don’t want the smoke
For your safety, it's best to start moving away from the front to the sides of the venue when a song is starting to get heavy and amp up those in the audience that want to let their emotions out by banging off each other like pinballs. This will usually starts with just a few of the curliest-haired head bangers rocking back and forth and push against each other. Each time they lose balance and sway back into the other, it just steadily initiates the start of a mosh pit. If there are enough other people around them feeling it too, or if they are just determined enough, this process will turn more and more aggressive as they build more momentum. Building the stereotypical pit form as those who don’t want to be directly involved move out to create a fortified barrier of arms ready to contain the erratic moshers. So get out of the way once you start to feel this process take hold, but if you are brave and decide to stay in the mix then...
Don’t - Crowd Kill
This is much more common in the metal scenes than emo, but don’t crowd-kill when you are moshing. Keep the aggression within the pit because if you are swinging and kicking in the pit then you are consenting to some sort of action, but don’t go for people that are away from the mosh pit since they made it clear they want no part in it. So going after them goes against a lot of the beliefs of music culture and not only threatens to hurt others but also could result in injury for yourself. I have seen a few times where people were a bit too aggressive to people just watching the performance and then get whatever they did to others, tenfold back as crowds like these tend to take matters into their own hands if you try to deliberately hurt others.
Do - Make sure the pit is contained
This is pretty self-explanatory, but once the pit forms, make sure you keep the action within its boundaries. If you want to say near the mosh pit but don’t want to be completely in it, you can always stand on the boundary with your arms slightly bent near your chest and just push people back in when they get knocked over near you. You don’t want to push anyone too hard to cause them to lose their balance but enough to give them momentum to move back toward the center of the pit. Think of yourself as the ropes around a boxing ring. Also, if you are a bigger person, maybe think about protecting those who are smaller or lighter than you that are with you because people underestimate how hard it is to push someone back when they are moving erratically, like what is common in a mosh pit.
Don’t - Have lose items or phones in your hands.
People don’t think about this until it's too late, but if you plan on moshing, then you need to make sure you have some way to pocket or pass off your items to another person before joining the pit. This not only protects your stuff from being broken, as I’ve seen so many glasses get trampled on but yourself as well. So it’s usually best to give your glasses and any other items you can’t easily place in your pockets to the person you came with that doesn’t want to mosh. If you are by yourself and don’t have anywhere to put your items, then I think that’s a good sign that today isn’t the day to join in on the mosh because going into the pit with an item in hand is a huge no as you can severely hurt someone without even trying. The pit is only for flesh and bone, not silicon and glass.
Do - Help if someone drops something or falls down
While this won’t happen to you if you follow my advice, others aren’t as wise and will eventually drop their glasses or phone in the middle of a mosh pit. When this happens, you and everyone else in the pit should quickly stop before anyone tramples their item, allowing the nearest person to pick up the item and hold it up so the right person can identify that it's theirs and retrieve it. Allowing everyone to be able to get right back into the action as soon as possible. People who aren’t that experienced with these chaotic music messes might think this hard to believe, but usually people in mosh pits are a lot more conscious about their surroundings and can shift gears quickly to help others in need, so make sure you are one of those people as well. The moshpit isn’t supposed to be only a place to take out aggression but rather a place to emotionally connect with others around the music y’all are experiencing in that moment. So watch out for one another and pick each other up when someone is knocked down because you would want the same help if it happened to you.
Don’t- Start them at smooth jazz nights
When trying to start up a mosh pit, it's all about time and place. Just like you wouldn’t sit down with a glass of wine at a dingy house show venue, you wouldn’t start rocking around at a Phoebe Bridgers concert. But then again go for you; if enough people are feeling it, then let it rip!
Do - Have Fun
Mosh pits at concerts are just supposed to be a semi-controlled environment where you can release some of your pent-up energy and emotions while knowing that no one around is really trying to hurt you. If you decide to take part in one at your local music venue, make sure you are safe, and you might just experience a radical form of community and culture you can’t feel anywhere else.
Now that you know have completed this crash course on moshing, you are ready to head out to your local music venue and get your nose knocked in by a 250-pound ginger built like a sweaty tank.