Circle Pits and Wall of Death

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Quark

Der Beste
19 Juli 2004
105.791
6.619
170
Best, Nederland. Jetzt Belgien
I do not think that circle pits should be banned under any circumstance and I can go either way with walls of death.

I have been to many, many metal shows and have participated in both. I feel that under no circumstance pits should be banned because they are far too easy to avoid for people who do not wish to participate. I have participated in hundreds of pits but there have been times where I have wished to not participate and standing off to the side of the pit was easy. They take up only a small portion of the entire floor.

While I do enjoy walls of death, I can understand the arguments banning them; they are harder to avoid. While I would be sad to see them banned as they are a typical part of metal shows, I wouldn't be outraged. I would be outraged to see the pits banned, however, because there is absolutely no solid reason to ban them.

Wacken 2011 will be my first ever Wacken (and I am flying all the way out from the USA!) and so I hope that this will be my most metal experience ever.

-----

Somebody also mentioned crowd surfing. I do not think that crowd surfing should be banned. Crowd surfing is an important part of metal shows and is also a lot of fun. However, I can understand that it can be annoying when somebody wearing combat boots or chains rolls over you and kicks you in the head (that has happened to me). Maybe something should be done to encourage crowd surfers to be more considerate. I never wear my chains if I'm going to be crowd surfing; I always wear soft shoes (converses work well); furthermore, I take caution in crowd surfing where there aren't too many other people doing it so that the same people aren't being bombarded all day/night.

Be warned though!!
Metal in teh US and in Europe are 2 different things!
You'll see once you enter a festival. (regardless which festival) :) And you'll never want to go back to the US afterwards! :D

And some festivals have banned CS for a while. Graspop Metal Meeting e.g. does no longer allow CS.
 

ryanjvh

Member
21 Aug. 2010
59
0
51
Be warned though!!
Metal in teh US and in Europe are 2 different things!
You'll see once you enter a festival. (regardless which festival) :) And you'll never want to go back to the US afterwards! :D

And some festivals have banned CS for a while. Graspop Metal Meeting e.g. does no longer allow CS.

This is true. Waaaay too true. It sucks to be back in the USA. I miss it all
 

AciD_BurN

Newbie
23 Jan. 2009
1
0
46
I think we all can see the idea behind the banning of the CP and WoD on this year's WOA. Still, I felt robbed - as a metalhead. I know this may be too emotional to be a reason, and I know that I myself have a hard time on the concerts 'cause I am a girl, not very tall and not very muscular.. so it is always hard for me to find my place during the concerts. Yet, as someone mentioned before, this kind of physical expression is a part of the heavy metal culture, even if it would sound absurd to somebody. It is a part of our identity as metalheads and the way many of us express their emotions provoked by the music. I think it is just.. ridiculous to ban circle pits on a heavy metal festival.. it's like banning the mosh pit!?? Which is really absurd.. and, frankly, it's not like a mosh pit is less dangerous than a circle pit so.. I think you should let go of the ban!
 
28 Aug. 2010
23
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Be warned though!!
Metal in teh US and in Europe are 2 different things!
You'll see once you enter a festival. (regardless which festival) :) And you'll never want to go back to the US afterwards! :D

And some festivals have banned CS for a while. Graspop Metal Meeting e.g. does no longer allow CS.

From talking to many Europeans, I can see that many Europeans are very arrogant about their pits and insist that they're more brutal than pits in the U.S. I, however, do not buy that for a second.

In the U.S., I have been in pits where people have had their face covered in blood; I have been in pits where people have been carried out unconscious; I have been in pits that have caused people to require medical attention.

So are you seriously going to tell me that in Europe people routinely get hurt more than having a face covered with blood or having to be dragged out unconscious? That's not what I have concluded by watching videos... They do not seem too different than some of the U.S. pits...
 

Quark

Der Beste
19 Juli 2004
105.791
6.619
170
Best, Nederland. Jetzt Belgien
From talking to many Europeans, I can see that many Europeans are very arrogant about their pits and insist that they're more brutal than pits in the U.S. I, however, do not buy that for a second.

In the U.S., I have been in pits where people have had their face covered in blood; I have been in pits where people have been carried out unconscious; I have been in pits that have caused people to require medical attention.

So are you seriously going to tell me that in Europe people routinely get hurt more than having a face covered with blood or having to be dragged out unconscious? That's not what I have concluded by watching videos... They do not seem too different than some of the U.S. pits...

I'm not talking about pits, I'm never in them.
I'm talking atmosphere. That's a difference.
 
1 Juni 2010
3
0
46
21 fucking years in that way, it's not the time to ban anything. We are Metalheads, somebody can like this and some others no but we love Wacken and I will feel so bad if the festival try to kill our essence after so much time.
I cannot enjoy at all a concert of Cannibal Corpse or Testament without mosh and I think that it' s not good to restrict the bands their own shows.
Everybody can decide to join the Wall of Death, Circle Pit... or not.

Regards from Spain!
 

Gaëlle

Newbie
4 Sep. 2010
1
0
46
I'm from Venezuela and i really don't think circle pits should be banned! I went to wacken last year with a friend and if there was a circle pit next to us we just pushed them back and that's all, not like here, in my country, that you get envolved even if you don't want to!
Usually when i go to a concert i have to fight to keep my spot and to breathe XD In wacken we were quite relaxed. So it was nice that in one side you had people enjoying their circle pits, and on the other, people enjoying in a more relaxed way :) It's all part of going to a concert!
 

metal_martin

W:O:A Metalhead
16 Nov. 2008
142
0
61
Peterborough, England
I don't spend a great deal of my time in Circle pits and the like - but I do like an occasional mosh when the moment suits me and have done a couple of awesome wall of deaths, I do it knowing the risks, and I also know the risks if I am ever near a circle pit or close to the front at a gig. Anyone that goes to a festival and doesn't accept those risks shouldn't be there.

That said, the risks are small and actually most people work around them. A Couple of years ago I fell over in the middle of a mega mosh during Alestorm's set. All that happened was that a couple of people dived straight in, picked me up, I said thanks and we got on with it. That tends to be what happens.

Putting this sort of restriction on threatens the amazing feel of Wacken as a festival.
 

Deathbringer

W:O:A Metalmaster
13 März 2009
5.281
0
81
34
Massachusetts
I don't spend a great deal of my time in Circle pits and the like - but I do like an occasional mosh when the moment suits me and have done a couple of awesome wall of deaths, I do it knowing the risks, and I also know the risks if I am ever near a circle pit or close to the front at a gig. Anyone that goes to a festival and doesn't accept those risks shouldn't be there.

That said, the risks are small and actually most people work around them. A Couple of years ago I fell over in the middle of a mega mosh during Alestorm's set. All that happened was that a couple of people dived straight in, picked me up, I said thanks and we got on with it. That tends to be what happens.

Putting this sort of restriction on threatens the amazing feel of Wacken as a festival.

Exactly my thoughts.

The only times it's *not* a choice is when it forms without any warning and the people in the area might not want to be there. That's a very rare situation however, but it does happen every once in awhile.
 
28 Aug. 2010
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I'm not talking about pits, I'm never in them.
I'm talking atmosphere. That's a difference.

Ah... I am sure that there is a difference there.

But you cannot blame me for making the mistake in thinking that you were talking about pits - considering that this is a thread about pits.

And I think I am right in that many people are arrogant about their pits and every country wants to claim to have the most "brutal" pits when they're probably the same everywhere...
 

Jotne

Newbie
20 Aug. 2010
3
0
46
Oslo, Norway
Always fun to hear a yank talk about arrogance. I've never heard it claimed that pits are more brutal over here, nor have I heard anyone bragging about shit like that. Quite the contrary, the general impression seems to be that it's the other way around, that pits are less dangerous here and people like it that way. Camped with a dude from New Haven, CT at WOA '08, and he said it was nice to have pits where you didn't have to look out for assholes who only wanted to fight.

I go in pits to have fun and enjoy myself, not to fight. Someone starts throwing punches and ruining my fun, I either leave the pit or send them out of it. What the fuck is so fun about a broken nose? Brutal pits are nothing to brag about, just means there are too many assholes with shitty lives around, looking for a chance to include others in their misery.

That's some of the point that a lot of us here are trying to make; the pits at Wacken AREN'T brutal and dangerous, therefore there is no valid reason for banning them. And yes Quark, we've all heard you. Please don't react to this post with another rambling rant about politics, it gets old.
 
28 Aug. 2010
23
0
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Always fun to hear a yank talk about arrogance. I've never heard it claimed that pits are more brutal over here, nor have I heard anyone bragging about shit like that. Quite the contrary, the general impression seems to be that it's the other way around, that pits are less dangerous here and people like it that way. Camped with a dude from New Haven, CT at WOA '08, and he said it was nice to have pits where you didn't have to look out for assholes who only wanted to fight.

I go in pits to have fun and enjoy myself, not to fight. Someone starts throwing punches and ruining my fun, I either leave the pit or send them out of it. What the fuck is so fun about a broken nose? Brutal pits are nothing to brag about, just means there are too many assholes with shitty lives around, looking for a chance to include others in their misery.

That's some of the point that a lot of us here are trying to make; the pits at Wacken AREN'T brutal and dangerous, therefore there is no valid reason for banning them. And yes Quark, we've all heard you. Please don't react to this post with another rambling rant about politics, it gets old.

You know, it would be nice if you didn’t call people yanks – especially when they have a point. I have talked to many people who have insured me that Europe has far better pits than the U.S. However, I am not bigoted towards Europeans. I said that it is also like that with every country – including the U.S. Everyone from the U.S. insists that their area has the best pits (when they’re all about the same). I have experienced this from all sorts of people.

Therefore, when I see someone telling me that it won’t be the same at Wacken in a thread that is about mosh pits, and I have extensively heard many people tell me that their pits are far greater, then what am I supposed to assume that they’re talking about? I assume that they’re being arrogant about their pits. This poster happened to be a European so I said that he was arrogant about European pits. If he was an American (or of any other nationality), I would have said he was arrogant about those pits.

And to prove that this happens, I did a ten second google search titled “mosh pits are better in Europe” and on the ONLY page that I checked out, I found this:

“Americans cant mosh.” And,
“Americans need to go to Europe to learn how to mosh, this is embarrassing! LOL”

And I could probably find the same about any place… Anyways, see in the Wacken 2011 pits – assuming that they’re not banned…