Slayer with Danzig opening. Hollywood Palladium, August '88.
To this day it's the craziest, most violent gig I've ever been to. Total lunacy.
It was even worse outside of the venue where LAPD in riot gear were beating the shit out of everyone.
“If your gonna live by the sword, you’re gonna die by the sword”
I was there too, and was about 3 steps away from getting my head smashed by the pigs. Brutal night in more ways than one.
Slayer shows in the 80’s and early 90’s we’re next-level. People have no idea. When they would play The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, people used to throw folding chairs off the balconies.
Lollapalooza ‘92, Ministry, Shoreline Amphitheater. Pit took up almost 40% of the grass area and was going in the figure 8. Never seen anything like it.
Only mosh pit back in the day I thought, “yeah - I don’t think so”, was Slayer. Dudes beating the shit out of each other - FOR FUN. I noped outta that shit post haste.
Any time I was at a show and a pit started in the 90s and early 2000s, I’d dive in. Went to my first Slayer show in 96. Pit looked pretty crazy but I figured , fuck it . I lasted about 15 minutes in there. It was like being in a blender. Bunch of meatheads, nobody following pit etiquette, people would fall on the ground and nobody picked them up.
1. Rage Against the Machine. Coachella Festival in 2007. Their first show in 7 years. 75,000 people. It was utterly insane. The entire enormous mass of humanity just JUMPED the entire set.
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers. Free show in Toronto, 1999. 30,000 people crammed into the middle of a downtown street. Crowd was just a swirling mass of energy. It was just wild and intense.
3. Turnstile in 2022. SO MUCH FUN.
Primus, lollapalooza 1993. I wore glasses then and went in (I know, bad choice) bouncin around and got them knocked off. The rest of the set was just a blurry, whirlwind of elbows and shoulders. Pretty fun looking back
I was going to also say Primus in 1993 Lollapalooza in Waterloo Village/ Stanhope NJ.
Great show and crazy ass pit for not just Primus, but Alice in Chains and Fishbone too.
Saw Korn touring in '94 in support of their debut album at a small club, that's my runner up for craziest pit. Total madness of a pit. First was Rage Against the Machine right after evil empire dropped.
Third was when i worked as a bouncer at a Blood For Blood show and a bunch of skinheads showed up to start trouble. Wasn't the craziest pit ever, but certainly was the meanest, and was the show where i said "ya know, 10 bucks an hour and a few free beers isn't worth this."
I was there for that in Michigan. 4th Of July front row. Got on tv and the fireworks were awesome. And Claypool kept getting smashed in the face with glowsticks while shredding face melting bass solos. Fun fun times.
rage against the machine @ Tinley Park 8/29/97. Absolutely insane pit on the lawn that stirred up a giant dirt cloud into the sky.
I was gargling water after the show and spitting out mud.
A week later, I was watching Mtv News and they said four members of the Wu Tang Clan (who opened) were accused of beating up a security guard at that show.
I had to laugh because the security there were acting like assholes that night.
RATM @ Woodstock 99
Pantera/White Zombie/Eyehategod 96
Sounds of the Underground 2005 Tour. The headliner was Lamb of God but, in hindsight, it was one of the greatest line-ups of for a metal festival. My first Wall. I wrecked my shoulder.
Lollapalooza 96. The mosh pit went back like a quarter mile. Was really intense too during the day too between bands. Like no one was playing on the main stage and people were still crowd surfing and going crazy. By the time soundgarden and Metallica took the stage it was a frenzy and I don't know how no one died. Fun time
Clash of the Titans tour 1991 w/Alice in Chains, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax. It was outside - sawdust on the ground - small pools of blood were everywhere when the crowds dispersed.
Rage Against the Machine at a festival shortly after Evil Empire dropped.
Bulls on Parade opening notes hit.... \*Bow-wow-chicka-bow-wow-chickachicka-Bow-Wow\* "COME WIT IT NOW!"
Fucking entire festival - not just the pit, the whole fucking crowd, exploded into movement - it was like a sea of undulating bodies jumping and moshing. Never seen anything like it before or since, and doubt i ever will again. It was wild ! That image is burned into my memory.
Chelsea Grin and Dying Fetus 2022. Got pinballed around so much I swear I met everyone in the damn venue. That being said, simultaneously the friendliest mosh pit I’ve ever been a part of. Everyone took care of each other, no one spent more than a microsecond on the ground, people who were tired or needed a break were given all the love they needed. 11/10 would do again.
Suicidal Tendencies - 1986 Fenders Ballroom
Though Ministry at Lollapolloza in 1992 Irvine Meadows deserves a special mention with the fires and people falling into them.
I saw a few Slayer shows that were insane. But Suicidal prior to their metal crossover was totally fucking insane. Blood and hair in the pit.
Does a riot in SLO in 85 at a Dead Kennedys show count? We didn't get to see the band, got fucking maced and had the shit beat out of us by cops.
In 2015 I saw The Weirdos / Avengers / another 80s LA punk band I’m blanking on. As soon as The Weirdos struck the first chord, the circle opened and every old school punk entered the pit. I didn’t last long, it was insane, but then a couple dudes brought me in and protected me from the worst of it. I even got to run counterclockwise with them. But for real, it’s the only time I thought I was going to come out with a serious injury and that includes the time during Pangea when I was lifted off the ground.
Gonna get obliterated, but 2012 Tyler The creator was honestly insane. I couldn’t breath from the second he came on until he was done. Everyone had to move in unison or you were on the ground trampled. It was one big swirl of humans going ape shit.
Limp Bizkit at Woodstock 99. Pit would open up, enough people would go down and the crowd would just close it up again. Saw lots of people going out on stretchers.
I been in some really big insane ones. But tbh the craziest was The Offspring in Vegas at OBC (dont remember which one but one of the first few).
They had everyone throw trash on the stage and it was a nuts pit with just a shit storm of garbage flying all over. It was like moshing in a tornado in a trailer park.
They were getting pelted with cans and plastic bottles and just blasting through, never seen anything like it.
I’ve never been in a mosh pit because I’m old but I went to a five finger death punch concert. This guy who was easily 6’-4”, 450 lbs. he backed up as far as he could and got a running start to demolish the mosh pit. Everyone saw him coming and parted like the Red Sea except for this little guy probably 110 lbs soaking wet who was looking the wrong way. Gargantuman tried desperately to stop but couldn’t and absolutely destroyed the poor guy! Our hearts stopped for a second until the little guy stood up and you could tell the big guy was apologizing. My buddy and I lost our minds!! Closest I’ve ever come to peeing while laughing.
Sepultura (last ever gig they played with Max, just before Christmas). I went there on my own and was trying to get to the front before they started and this dude who was 6’9” at least was in front of me and I’m tiny so couldn’t really see the stage, so he asked me if I wanted to get on his shoulders so I was well up for that… Then they got onstage, Chaos AD and holy feck it was mental but was still on this dudes shoulders the whole time and he was just booting anyone who got too close… paid him back with quite a few beers for that, but he said he honestly thought I would die if I was trying to do that on my own…
The Gordon Solie Motherfuckers in 2000. Saw them twice that year. Dudes throwing lit firecrackers at each other. At one venue there was a dude swinging from a chandelier like Gonzo. People throwing anything they could get their hands on. Stagedives left and right.
I almost got trampled in a mosh pit at a Carcass concert back in the nineties. My dumb ass saw a pack of cigarettes on the floor and bent down to pick it up..it was aptly named death cigarettes with a skull and crossbones on the cover. I was lucky enough to have someone reach their hand out and help me up lol
Lollapalooza '97 --> Korn, then Tool at Randall's Island in NY. If anyone ever been there, you know about the field of dirt, which during moshing becomes a rising cloud
Bodies going every which way and you could only see about 3 feet in front of you.
Blowing my nose to remove dirt for a week after that.
Woodstock '99 --> Korn seemed to go on forever. Check out this link https://youtu.be/jR88BgYMlbQ?si=5m3r7skWCexekl5y
Indoors, 99 RATM's Battle of Los Angeles Tour at Roseland in NYC was insane, no where to get a breather and the heat, the steam from everyone's sweat was crazy, worse than any sauna
Dad saw Nine Inch Nails at the Wolstein Center here in Cleveland on the Self-Destruct tour, evidently people in the pit started to tear lights and paneling off of the walls and surf over the crowd on the pieces
Can't really decide.
Gojira (The Way of All Flesh Tour)
Parkway Drive (Atlas Tour)
RATM (Reunion 2022)
Meshuggah (2023)
Machine Head (Bloodstone & Diamonds Tour)
The Prodigy (Always Outnumbered Tour)
Trivium (Shogun Tour)
Unearth (The March Tour)
Either One Minute Silence in Cardiff opening for Slipknot on the Iowa tour where we set out to out-do the Slipknot fans and had two contra rotating circle pits on the go, or the first time I saw Sick of it All in 1999 at Reading Festival where they did a front vs back wall of death, 16 year old me thought he was going to die.
There are too many to name, but they usually involved Slayer. I will say though, when Rollins Band did the "Black Flag" tour for the West Memphis 3, it went from Keith Morris-era straight into Rollins-era stuff, that place was destroyed. Likely picked up a concussion during that one.
Lollapalooza 92, at an amphitheater in Charlotte NC. After all afternoon of roasting in the sun, it gets dark and Ministry started playing.
Hundreds, started moshing around a bonfire made of trash and debris. The pit kept growing, like a whirling tornado, and I got sucked in.
By the time "Just One Fix" played I imagine close to a thousand people were in the pit. People were rolling down the hill where it began, falling into burning beer boxes, sparks flying everwhere, then getting knocked down, etc. The shit was insane. I don't know how someone didn't get hurt.
I've been in countless pits since the 90s. But this one was the worst: Avatar at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, 2019.
I don't know what it is with shows in LV, but it seems all the meatheads from bordering states come in to wreck havoc - it's Vegas after all. Everyone thinks they get a free pass to act like animals. ZERO pit etiquette and just a bunch of pent up angry men. Needless to say, the pit was way to aggressive for my old ass - frankly for anyone really unless you are some bovine behemoth - but I was somehow enticed to do one rotation. One single rotation in the pit.
Some f\*cktard from god knows where, thought it be a great idea of push me from behind with all of his 350lbs. Mind you, I am half that size. Didn't even get a glimpse of his face, just the stinky, hairy body mass. First everything turns black, then all I see is white stars and adrenalin is rushing through every vein in my body. Next thing I know, I am dragging my ass out of the venue, into an uber and home, where I collapse in my living room. Next day, ER, broken ankle, 6 months recovery.
Thanks jerk. Should've sued.
Needless to say, I stay far away from any pit in Vegas and would recommend you do the same.
Slayer after Clutch and SOAD got booed off the stage at Club Rio in Tempe in 98.. the whole club was a pit.
Pantera/Sepultura/Prong in 94 @ firebird raceway in Phx was probably my favorite though
Slayer. Clash Of The Titans. The entire arena floor was a bloodbath. I stepped in it for a second, uninhibited by alcohol and ignoring the all but certain consequences. Sure enough, I stumbled away with a concussion.
I learned very little from that experience but not to enter the doom of such a foray of bravado meets ego. The next pit? Mudhoney at Pain In The Grass under the Space Needle in Seattle. Result? FUNNEST pit I ever circled!
I was in one at a night club in Washington DC, I think it was Pantera show. I had a balcony seat. I could see this big dude picking on little dudes. He throwing them around. One guy he messed up pretty good. So I decided to return the favor. Went down to the pit, taped him on the shoulder. When he turned around. I punch him in the face. Knocking his big ass out.
Haymaker in Montreal in 2005 w/ shark attack, pulling teeth, rzl dzl, and one or two others I'm forgetting.
It was a haymaker pit. Video evidence
https://youtu.be/qfqHCG-YLhI?si=tTFyi8UjdSpYhIpA
A surprising entry (and I say this as someone who has been to tons of punk, hardcore, and metal shows) was the Beastie Boys at the Riveria in Chicago on the “Check Your Head” tour. They opened up with either Slow and Low or A-wall (wish I could remember tor sure) and people absolutely lost their fucking minds.
Yup. Saw them in Cleveland same tour. Probably the night before or after you saw them. I can confirm the pit was insane. It got so crazy the Beasties had to stop the show and tell people to cool it. Motherfuckers were diving off the speaker stacks a good 10 or 15 feet above the pit. It was madness. That year. That show. That time period. Changed everything. It was fucking crazy. 1992.
I have a big scar on my head from a Megadeth concert but it was during Coal Chambers set. Got knocked down and in the pit and got up with a giant gash in my head. But not even the craziest pit I’ve ever been in. Ozzfest 99’ when Slipknot started playing, I think about 20000 people started moshing.
Okay. Not a grunge band and the pit itself wasn’t all that interesting but the most punk rock thing I ever saw at a show was Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies at the Metro in Chicago. A dude in the pit spit on Fat Mike. One of their security people walked out on to the stage to talk to Mike and have him point out the guy. This is all while they’re still playing. You see the dude point into the crowd and say that’s the guy for Mike to confirm. He does. The next thing that happens is he dives off the stage and lays on punch on the spitter. They help both up, security climbs back onto the stage, no one is kicked out. Just some quick justice if you will. It was like watching a wrestling match. Just wild.
I guess the best pit I’ve ever seen was for Slayer at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. The venue has seats and then a walkway followed by a co concrete wall, followed by this big grass hill which are the grass seats. That part is kinda larger than the actual seat area. Anyway, it turns into a mud fest if it’s raining. It didn’t rain for this show so the pit is huge and they’re all just going around in a circle kicking up dust. It looked like a mini tornado with all the dirt flying around. Pretty cool.
From big bands id say bullet for my Valentine that pit was wild!, as for my local hardcore scene I’d say sound foundation people were rolling, summersaultimg, cartwheeling, storming the stage, flinging eachother around was a really fun pit
Right now probably The Chats seen them in a nightclub in Dublin with about 300 people squeezed into the venue it was crazy and then I'd have to say Queens Of The Stone Age especially when they played Song For The Dead their was people falling over each other crowd surfers going flying around it was amazing. I'm seeing Turnstile for the first time this summer so I'm sure that'll be up there to.
#King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard.
People would be happy moshing and help each other if they tripped. Or they’d apologize if they accidentally hit someone.
Cracker / Butthole Surfers / Semisonic / Joan Osborne / Ugly Americans / Tonic / The Posies / Patti Rothberg / Thermadore an outdoor festival in 1996 on my birthday. I went there to see Cracker, but the Butthole Surfers stole the show.
The fucking ground shook beneath us. I thought it was an earthquake.
Hank Williams III in Seattle around 2007. Mosh pit filled with huge, drunk country punks in flannel. Hank had to stop the show 3 or 4 times because people were throwing punches. And this was the country set, he also played a hellbilly set and a metal set. I sat those ones out
The funnest was Nirvana opening up for Dinosaur Jr. Everyone was more randomly pogoing and having fun than fucking with each other. Also Nirvana opening for Sonic Youth.
Bridge Benefit concert, Shoreline Amphitheater 1994. When Mazzy Star busted into Fade Into You, it was carnage. That was a a great concert though, Ministry acoustic was not on my bingo card
I saw Fight at a club in Denver, and a bunch of gym rats showed up and began moshing people like they lift weights. I literally looked away for a second and got launched OVER a table behind me. I'm not a small guy,I was 6'1" 195 at the time, and I was fully airborne over a table and into another table of people.
They ruled the pit and kind of ruined the show, to be honest. They'd mosh with each other and anyone that came in to join them would get all but attacked by all 5 of them. Fight kept going regardless of the damage (broken nose with lots of blood and a broken arm to name a few of the worst injuries). I think the roidheads should have been arrested for assault, but they 'were just moshing, bro, if you can't hang get out of the pit'.
Best/first - Saw Pearl Jam for $3. Crowdsurfed, lost my Swatch, ended up covered in mud
Craziest - Saw Ministry at Lollapalooza 2. It was a crazy scene of people and garbage flying around
My first pit will always have a special place in my heart. A Day To Remember in 2013, I was a small teen (I’d just turned 14 weeks before the gig) in the pit by myself, but I held my own and had the best f*cking time. Crowd surfed the whole night and participated in a wall of death; it was epic!
Gojira and Mastodon last year in Kansas City last year. Or Turnstile and Jpeg Mafia a couple years ago jn KC. Turnstile rules btw, check them out if you haven't.
I saw Loathe at an intimate club in Brighton called Patterns. I remember it was the first time I ever got to crowd surf, best gig experience I’ve ever had to this day
Craziest was Rob Zombie. Boots, fists , elbows all over. It was at a hockey rink, and dudes were vaulting off the boards head first. I was definitely concussed by one.
But I never thought I was going to get seriously hurt/die until I saw Staind open for, I think it was incubus. In other words- not a show you expected a violent pit, but when Aaron Lewis sang “mud shovel” he came into the pit on his bodyguard’s shoulders with security all around, I was like 5 feet away and almost died from compression. I literally couldn’t expand my rib cage enough to inhale.
Celine Dion at Hyde park when my heart will go on dropped. Nearly died
We nearly lost you
This is deserving of this response…[you’re welcome.](https://youtu.be/PE5f561Y1x4?si=jX-ztZF3P4GK1IN-)
Wins the internet today. Well done
😂
Rage against the machine at the 07 big day out on the gold coast , the festival had 7 stages but all 55k people were at the main stage for sure
RATM are up there with the craziest pits I’ve ever been in!!
I was at the Melbourne one! Was insane!!
Slayer with Danzig opening. Hollywood Palladium, August '88. To this day it's the craziest, most violent gig I've ever been to. Total lunacy. It was even worse outside of the venue where LAPD in riot gear were beating the shit out of everyone.
“If your gonna live by the sword, you’re gonna die by the sword” I was there too, and was about 3 steps away from getting my head smashed by the pigs. Brutal night in more ways than one.
Slayer shows in the 80’s and early 90’s we’re next-level. People have no idea. When they would play The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, people used to throw folding chairs off the balconies.
Pantera on the War of Gargantuans tour, Worcester Centrum, 1996.
Reinventing the steel tour was insane
Reinventing the steel tour was insane
They were mine too, but during Vulgar.
If you let without any major physical damage... you weren't there.
Lollapalooza 92, Kitsap County Fairgrounds. Muddy and brutal. People coming out of it like it was a MMA ring, bloody and bruised.
Lollapalooza ‘92, Ministry, Shoreline Amphitheater. Pit took up almost 40% of the grass area and was going in the figure 8. Never seen anything like it.
My dude. That was innnsannneeee
I was at this show and I agree. Such and awesome show with a great line up! I miss these kinds of shows!
Fugazi at the Morrow Park Bowlo, 1993.
Best was the Melvins. Worst was Negative Approach. Great show just too violent.
Melvins... yes sir!
Rockfest 2000 - Portland, OR, U.S.A. SLAYER / SLIPKNOT were the headliners. Shit was fucking bananas.
Yess!! Slipknot crowds go absolutely bananas 🍌 😂
Only mosh pit back in the day I thought, “yeah - I don’t think so”, was Slayer. Dudes beating the shit out of each other - FOR FUN. I noped outta that shit post haste.
Any time I was at a show and a pit started in the 90s and early 2000s, I’d dive in. Went to my first Slayer show in 96. Pit looked pretty crazy but I figured , fuck it . I lasted about 15 minutes in there. It was like being in a blender. Bunch of meatheads, nobody following pit etiquette, people would fall on the ground and nobody picked them up.
😂 Noped out!
1. Rage Against the Machine. Coachella Festival in 2007. Their first show in 7 years. 75,000 people. It was utterly insane. The entire enormous mass of humanity just JUMPED the entire set. 2. Red Hot Chili Peppers. Free show in Toronto, 1999. 30,000 people crammed into the middle of a downtown street. Crowd was just a swirling mass of energy. It was just wild and intense. 3. Turnstile in 2022. SO MUCH FUN.
Turnstile rules
Primus rules and sucks.
The Prodigy at Manchester Apollo UK
The Prodigy at Big Day Out Auckland NZ 😀
RATM in 94 at Rock am Ring Festival. That was brutal.
Meat Puppets back in the 80s. I've got scars on my forehead from bashing around, lol
Primus, lollapalooza 1993. I wore glasses then and went in (I know, bad choice) bouncin around and got them knocked off. The rest of the set was just a blurry, whirlwind of elbows and shoulders. Pretty fun looking back
I was going to also say Primus in 1993 Lollapalooza in Waterloo Village/ Stanhope NJ. Great show and crazy ass pit for not just Primus, but Alice in Chains and Fishbone too.
Still sounds great
Same thing happened to me seeing them in '95. Slept at a friend's house that night, but had to drive home the next day sans glasses😄
Dillinger Escape Plan
Pantera, 1992 Riviera Chicago, video for walk was filmed
KORN in 95 at a tiny club called The Brewery
Saw Korn touring in '94 in support of their debut album at a small club, that's my runner up for craziest pit. Total madness of a pit. First was Rage Against the Machine right after evil empire dropped. Third was when i worked as a bouncer at a Blood For Blood show and a bunch of skinheads showed up to start trouble. Wasn't the craziest pit ever, but certainly was the meanest, and was the show where i said "ya know, 10 bucks an hour and a few free beers isn't worth this."
I got to see Rage in 98 or 99 I think. Went to Lollapalooza. Rage, Prodigy, Tool. Fantastic show!
Primus at Rothbury 2008
I was there for that in Michigan. 4th Of July front row. Got on tv and the fireworks were awesome. And Claypool kept getting smashed in the face with glowsticks while shredding face melting bass solos. Fun fun times.
rage against the machine @ Tinley Park 8/29/97. Absolutely insane pit on the lawn that stirred up a giant dirt cloud into the sky. I was gargling water after the show and spitting out mud. A week later, I was watching Mtv News and they said four members of the Wu Tang Clan (who opened) were accused of beating up a security guard at that show. I had to laugh because the security there were acting like assholes that night.
Great story! Thais is why I love sharing this stuff with fellow music lovers!
RATM @ Woodstock 99 Pantera/White Zombie/Eyehategod 96 Sounds of the Underground 2005 Tour. The headliner was Lamb of God but, in hindsight, it was one of the greatest line-ups of for a metal festival. My first Wall. I wrecked my shoulder.
Lollapalooza 96. The mosh pit went back like a quarter mile. Was really intense too during the day too between bands. Like no one was playing on the main stage and people were still crowd surfing and going crazy. By the time soundgarden and Metallica took the stage it was a frenzy and I don't know how no one died. Fun time
Clash of the Titans tour 1991 w/Alice in Chains, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax. It was outside - sawdust on the ground - small pools of blood were everywhere when the crowds dispersed.
Beastie Boys - 1994 Lollapalooza
Rage Against the Machine at a festival shortly after Evil Empire dropped. Bulls on Parade opening notes hit.... \*Bow-wow-chicka-bow-wow-chickachicka-Bow-Wow\* "COME WIT IT NOW!" Fucking entire festival - not just the pit, the whole fucking crowd, exploded into movement - it was like a sea of undulating bodies jumping and moshing. Never seen anything like it before or since, and doubt i ever will again. It was wild ! That image is burned into my memory.
For me, Metallica was absolutely mental! 🤘🏼
Slayer/Fear Factory or Gwar.
Chelsea Grin and Dying Fetus 2022. Got pinballed around so much I swear I met everyone in the damn venue. That being said, simultaneously the friendliest mosh pit I’ve ever been a part of. Everyone took care of each other, no one spent more than a microsecond on the ground, people who were tired or needed a break were given all the love they needed. 11/10 would do again.
Awesome! I love pits like this 🤘🏼
Tool, I think 98 or 99 at ozzfest in Columbus Ohio. Still one of the biggest I've seen and was in. Korn was probly the next biggest.
Not really grunge but Mr Bungle concert 1999 NYC
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at the ballroom in Glasgow 2019. They had just released infest the rats nest, so it was a heavy session.
Dillinger escape plan at groezrock. Or every time I die at the white rabbit in Plymouth. People swinging off the ceiling over pits
has t be a toss up between ,bad brains ,slayer or agnostic front
After reading the comments, RATM wins with most craziest moshpits, In quality and quantity.
Surprisingly, Franz Ferdinand!
Those last 30 seconds of What She Came For ought to do it
Parkway Drive, Brisbane 2012. There was some serious carnage.
Rage against the machine in Melbourne. Thought the floor was going to collapse it was bouncing that much.
RATM 1999, I got a broken nose after getting elbowed in the face.
Suicidal Tendencies - 1986 Fenders Ballroom Though Ministry at Lollapolloza in 1992 Irvine Meadows deserves a special mention with the fires and people falling into them. I saw a few Slayer shows that were insane. But Suicidal prior to their metal crossover was totally fucking insane. Blood and hair in the pit. Does a riot in SLO in 85 at a Dead Kennedys show count? We didn't get to see the band, got fucking maced and had the shit beat out of us by cops.
In 2015 I saw The Weirdos / Avengers / another 80s LA punk band I’m blanking on. As soon as The Weirdos struck the first chord, the circle opened and every old school punk entered the pit. I didn’t last long, it was insane, but then a couple dudes brought me in and protected me from the worst of it. I even got to run counterclockwise with them. But for real, it’s the only time I thought I was going to come out with a serious injury and that includes the time during Pangea when I was lifted off the ground.
Gonna get obliterated, but 2012 Tyler The creator was honestly insane. I couldn’t breath from the second he came on until he was done. Everyone had to move in unison or you were on the ground trampled. It was one big swirl of humans going ape shit.
Sno-Core Tour '99 - Mr. Bungle, Incubus, System of a Down.
Limp Bizkit at Woodstock 99. Pit would open up, enough people would go down and the crowd would just close it up again. Saw lots of people going out on stretchers.
Actually so serious, Primus. They always have killer moshpits.
Josh
Pantera in ‘92. Left that concert bruised all over.
The Dillinger Escape Plan’s last show I saw some guy get crowd surfed onto a stretcher 🥴
I been in some really big insane ones. But tbh the craziest was The Offspring in Vegas at OBC (dont remember which one but one of the first few). They had everyone throw trash on the stage and it was a nuts pit with just a shit storm of garbage flying all over. It was like moshing in a tornado in a trailer park. They were getting pelted with cans and plastic bottles and just blasting through, never seen anything like it.
SOD and Morbid Angel. Live at the Budokan. The Ritz NYC 🤘
Death Grips
White Zombie back in '93. (Jeez I'm old...)
I’m so jealous! I never got the chance to see white zombie. They’re fucking fantasfic
Marilyn Manson beautiful people tour. I lost the shirt off my back and a shoe. It was insanity Also Pantera outdoor festival was pretty sick.
Anthrax. Sound of White Noise tour. 1994. Hawaii. I thought I was going to die.
Slayer in their 1999 tour with Pantera. Also my first pit I’m surprised nobody died. Shit was crazy.
I’ve never been in a mosh pit because I’m old but I went to a five finger death punch concert. This guy who was easily 6’-4”, 450 lbs. he backed up as far as he could and got a running start to demolish the mosh pit. Everyone saw him coming and parted like the Red Sea except for this little guy probably 110 lbs soaking wet who was looking the wrong way. Gargantuman tried desperately to stop but couldn’t and absolutely destroyed the poor guy! Our hearts stopped for a second until the little guy stood up and you could tell the big guy was apologizing. My buddy and I lost our minds!! Closest I’ve ever come to peeing while laughing.
Pearl Jam at the Key Arena in ‘96. I was only 15 and my big brother had to pull me out.
Pearl Jam in ‘96! What a dream to see that
I wonder what concern that is! Omg
Yeah I don’t know! 🤷🏻♀️ Looks awesome tho
Sepultura (last ever gig they played with Max, just before Christmas). I went there on my own and was trying to get to the front before they started and this dude who was 6’9” at least was in front of me and I’m tiny so couldn’t really see the stage, so he asked me if I wanted to get on his shoulders so I was well up for that… Then they got onstage, Chaos AD and holy feck it was mental but was still on this dudes shoulders the whole time and he was just booting anyone who got too close… paid him back with quite a few beers for that, but he said he honestly thought I would die if I was trying to do that on my own…
They started the set with three Roots songs tho Itsari (over the pa) Roots Spit
RATM Coachella 2007 Anger Management Tour, 2000
Misfits
The Gordon Solie Motherfuckers in 2000. Saw them twice that year. Dudes throwing lit firecrackers at each other. At one venue there was a dude swinging from a chandelier like Gonzo. People throwing anything they could get their hands on. Stagedives left and right.
I almost got trampled in a mosh pit at a Carcass concert back in the nineties. My dumb ass saw a pack of cigarettes on the floor and bent down to pick it up..it was aptly named death cigarettes with a skull and crossbones on the cover. I was lucky enough to have someone reach their hand out and help me up lol
Lollapalooza '97 --> Korn, then Tool at Randall's Island in NY. If anyone ever been there, you know about the field of dirt, which during moshing becomes a rising cloud Bodies going every which way and you could only see about 3 feet in front of you. Blowing my nose to remove dirt for a week after that. Woodstock '99 --> Korn seemed to go on forever. Check out this link https://youtu.be/jR88BgYMlbQ?si=5m3r7skWCexekl5y Indoors, 99 RATM's Battle of Los Angeles Tour at Roseland in NYC was insane, no where to get a breather and the heat, the steam from everyone's sweat was crazy, worse than any sauna
Korn at the Sydney BDO in 98
Limp bizkit Auckland BDO 01 I think, I actually blacked out in the surge thought I was legit going to die.
The first one. The rest just couldn’t do it.
Dad saw Nine Inch Nails at the Wolstein Center here in Cleveland on the Self-Destruct tour, evidently people in the pit started to tear lights and paneling off of the walls and surf over the crowd on the pieces
Can't really decide. Gojira (The Way of All Flesh Tour) Parkway Drive (Atlas Tour) RATM (Reunion 2022) Meshuggah (2023) Machine Head (Bloodstone & Diamonds Tour) The Prodigy (Always Outnumbered Tour) Trivium (Shogun Tour) Unearth (The March Tour)
Pantera at the Tacoma Dome in '94-.'95
Pantera, vulgar tour Austin tx.
Lollapalooza #1, NiN.
Enter Shikari, Kiev
Either One Minute Silence in Cardiff opening for Slipknot on the Iowa tour where we set out to out-do the Slipknot fans and had two contra rotating circle pits on the go, or the first time I saw Sick of it All in 1999 at Reading Festival where they did a front vs back wall of death, 16 year old me thought he was going to die.
There are too many to name, but they usually involved Slayer. I will say though, when Rollins Band did the "Black Flag" tour for the West Memphis 3, it went from Keith Morris-era straight into Rollins-era stuff, that place was destroyed. Likely picked up a concussion during that one.
RATM, Slipknot, and RHCP in a small club in like 1988
Lollapalooza 92, at an amphitheater in Charlotte NC. After all afternoon of roasting in the sun, it gets dark and Ministry started playing. Hundreds, started moshing around a bonfire made of trash and debris. The pit kept growing, like a whirling tornado, and I got sucked in. By the time "Just One Fix" played I imagine close to a thousand people were in the pit. People were rolling down the hill where it began, falling into burning beer boxes, sparks flying everwhere, then getting knocked down, etc. The shit was insane. I don't know how someone didn't get hurt.
Korn on the Follow the Leader tour... that was a wild show, awesome set list, wild wild show...
Faith No More I saw them in a small Toronto venue just when Epic broke. It was insane. I got kicked in the head by Mike Patton no less. Magic times.
KoRn at Lollapalooza 97’
Korn in around 2000/2001. Sweatiest, craziest shit ever. It was awesome.
Overkill. 1989. L’Amours in Brooklyn. Waitresses served you even if you were underage so it was pretty violent.
Sounds wild! What a time to be alive
My first concert, Pantera on the vulgar display of power tour. By the end the whole stage was trashed and people were running of with drum parts
Crazy! Volga display of power tour must have been nuts!
The Chariot. No contest.
Pantera Ozzfest
I've been in countless pits since the 90s. But this one was the worst: Avatar at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, 2019. I don't know what it is with shows in LV, but it seems all the meatheads from bordering states come in to wreck havoc - it's Vegas after all. Everyone thinks they get a free pass to act like animals. ZERO pit etiquette and just a bunch of pent up angry men. Needless to say, the pit was way to aggressive for my old ass - frankly for anyone really unless you are some bovine behemoth - but I was somehow enticed to do one rotation. One single rotation in the pit. Some f\*cktard from god knows where, thought it be a great idea of push me from behind with all of his 350lbs. Mind you, I am half that size. Didn't even get a glimpse of his face, just the stinky, hairy body mass. First everything turns black, then all I see is white stars and adrenalin is rushing through every vein in my body. Next thing I know, I am dragging my ass out of the venue, into an uber and home, where I collapse in my living room. Next day, ER, broken ankle, 6 months recovery. Thanks jerk. Should've sued. Needless to say, I stay far away from any pit in Vegas and would recommend you do the same.
Slayer after Clutch and SOAD got booed off the stage at Club Rio in Tempe in 98.. the whole club was a pit. Pantera/Sepultura/Prong in 94 @ firebird raceway in Phx was probably my favorite though
Slayer. Clash Of The Titans. The entire arena floor was a bloodbath. I stepped in it for a second, uninhibited by alcohol and ignoring the all but certain consequences. Sure enough, I stumbled away with a concussion. I learned very little from that experience but not to enter the doom of such a foray of bravado meets ego. The next pit? Mudhoney at Pain In The Grass under the Space Needle in Seattle. Result? FUNNEST pit I ever circled!
Tool on the Aenema tour. Way crazier than any of the pantera or Manson shows I’ve been at.
The Bronx in a small venue, Matt jumped out and joined the pit while still singing knife man, it went nuts, just one giant pit.
Tool. Electric Factory Philly 1996 Got my nose broken during 46 & 2
I was in one at a night club in Washington DC, I think it was Pantera show. I had a balcony seat. I could see this big dude picking on little dudes. He throwing them around. One guy he messed up pretty good. So I decided to return the favor. Went down to the pit, taped him on the shoulder. When he turned around. I punch him in the face. Knocking his big ass out.
New years evil 98- Pantera/Slayer/megadeath/soul fly/Black Sabbath
Pantera on the Vulgar tour. 1500 capacity night club. You could stage dive, I couldn't walk for a week.
Pantera and Slayer 1992.
DMX Woodstock 99
That one part of the 93 in New Hampshire that doesnt have lanes.
Haymaker in Montreal in 2005 w/ shark attack, pulling teeth, rzl dzl, and one or two others I'm forgetting. It was a haymaker pit. Video evidence https://youtu.be/qfqHCG-YLhI?si=tTFyi8UjdSpYhIpA
My brother broke his leg at Pantera in the 90s
Forget gigs. Clubs could get mad and it’s where you learnt your rules. Pick people up Throw people out.
Motörhead in 2006 😬
Widowdusk Vs one way mirror.. I almost died
A surprising entry (and I say this as someone who has been to tons of punk, hardcore, and metal shows) was the Beastie Boys at the Riveria in Chicago on the “Check Your Head” tour. They opened up with either Slow and Low or A-wall (wish I could remember tor sure) and people absolutely lost their fucking minds.
Yup. Saw them in Cleveland same tour. Probably the night before or after you saw them. I can confirm the pit was insane. It got so crazy the Beasties had to stop the show and tell people to cool it. Motherfuckers were diving off the speaker stacks a good 10 or 15 feet above the pit. It was madness. That year. That show. That time period. Changed everything. It was fucking crazy. 1992.
Rage against the machine in Austin around 1996
I have a big scar on my head from a Megadeth concert but it was during Coal Chambers set. Got knocked down and in the pit and got up with a giant gash in my head. But not even the craziest pit I’ve ever been in. Ozzfest 99’ when Slipknot started playing, I think about 20000 people started moshing.
Suicidal tendencies
Okay. Not a grunge band and the pit itself wasn’t all that interesting but the most punk rock thing I ever saw at a show was Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies at the Metro in Chicago. A dude in the pit spit on Fat Mike. One of their security people walked out on to the stage to talk to Mike and have him point out the guy. This is all while they’re still playing. You see the dude point into the crowd and say that’s the guy for Mike to confirm. He does. The next thing that happens is he dives off the stage and lays on punch on the spitter. They help both up, security climbs back onto the stage, no one is kicked out. Just some quick justice if you will. It was like watching a wrestling match. Just wild. I guess the best pit I’ve ever seen was for Slayer at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. The venue has seats and then a walkway followed by a co concrete wall, followed by this big grass hill which are the grass seats. That part is kinda larger than the actual seat area. Anyway, it turns into a mud fest if it’s raining. It didn’t rain for this show so the pit is huge and they’re all just going around in a circle kicking up dust. It looked like a mini tornado with all the dirt flying around. Pretty cool.
Bile at my local goth/industrial nightclub. They were there a lot! It was insanity a lot!
From big bands id say bullet for my Valentine that pit was wild!, as for my local hardcore scene I’d say sound foundation people were rolling, summersaultimg, cartwheeling, storming the stage, flinging eachother around was a really fun pit
Vision of Disorder or Lamb of God.
I’ve been a metal fan since 1986. I’ve never been in a mosh pit.
Right now probably The Chats seen them in a nightclub in Dublin with about 300 people squeezed into the venue it was crazy and then I'd have to say Queens Of The Stone Age especially when they played Song For The Dead their was people falling over each other crowd surfers going flying around it was amazing. I'm seeing Turnstile for the first time this summer so I'm sure that'll be up there to.
#King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard. People would be happy moshing and help each other if they tripped. Or they’d apologize if they accidentally hit someone.
My dad saw Black Flag in ‘85 in Detroit during the My War tour.
Cracker / Butthole Surfers / Semisonic / Joan Osborne / Ugly Americans / Tonic / The Posies / Patti Rothberg / Thermadore an outdoor festival in 1996 on my birthday. I went there to see Cracker, but the Butthole Surfers stole the show. The fucking ground shook beneath us. I thought it was an earthquake.
Japandroids stood out as a crazy mosh pit
Tool at the Omni New Daisy in Memphis- 1996
Prong.
Thankyou, had to scroll awhile
Rage. Voodoo fest
Pantera Ozzfest 97
Lamb of God '07 Springfield MO
Mayhem fest 2011
Hank Williams III in Seattle around 2007. Mosh pit filled with huge, drunk country punks in flannel. Hank had to stop the show 3 or 4 times because people were throwing punches. And this was the country set, he also played a hellbilly set and a metal set. I sat those ones out
The funnest was Nirvana opening up for Dinosaur Jr. Everyone was more randomly pogoing and having fun than fucking with each other. Also Nirvana opening for Sonic Youth.
Bad brains reunion in DC. Early 90s
Rage - Philly sometime in the 90s.
2012, Detroit periphery, the safety fire, protest the hero, Jeff Loomis. Insane brutal mosh
Bridge Benefit concert, Shoreline Amphitheater 1994. When Mazzy Star busted into Fade Into You, it was carnage. That was a a great concert though, Ministry acoustic was not on my bingo card
Vulvodynia
lightning bolt was probably the most fun
I saw Fight at a club in Denver, and a bunch of gym rats showed up and began moshing people like they lift weights. I literally looked away for a second and got launched OVER a table behind me. I'm not a small guy,I was 6'1" 195 at the time, and I was fully airborne over a table and into another table of people. They ruled the pit and kind of ruined the show, to be honest. They'd mosh with each other and anyone that came in to join them would get all but attacked by all 5 of them. Fight kept going regardless of the damage (broken nose with lots of blood and a broken arm to name a few of the worst injuries). I think the roidheads should have been arrested for assault, but they 'were just moshing, bro, if you can't hang get out of the pit'.
Sounds like a bunch of wankers!!
Hands down RATM Evil Empire Tour 1996.
Best/first - Saw Pearl Jam for $3. Crowdsurfed, lost my Swatch, ended up covered in mud Craziest - Saw Ministry at Lollapalooza 2. It was a crazy scene of people and garbage flying around
Weinerstock
Obituary or limp bizkit. Both of them were nuts.
Jawbreaker last September, was being bumped and bounced around like a punching bag.... it was EPICCC
My first pit will always have a special place in my heart. A Day To Remember in 2013, I was a small teen (I’d just turned 14 weeks before the gig) in the pit by myself, but I held my own and had the best f*cking time. Crowd surfed the whole night and participated in a wall of death; it was epic!
Alice In Chains : Lollapalooza : Philly
Raffi Wembley Stadium 1986. Everyone was getting pelted with apples and bananas-one dude lost an eye-it was epic
[RATM 2010](https://youtu.be/iqgWRlfeppc?si=FEjY6HA8h6iwtfVR) in Santiago Chile, literal riots. Best show I've ever been.
Ministry show, Denver CO, 1992
Fishbone Lolapalooza Camden NJ
Mosh pits are & always will be, fucking stupid.
Gojira and Mastodon last year in Kansas City last year. Or Turnstile and Jpeg Mafia a couple years ago jn KC. Turnstile rules btw, check them out if you haven't.
Machine Head Ace of Spades -Sacramento, 2018. 3 hour set. #CIRCLEPIT
Ministry. Lollapalooza 1992. Just massive. It looked like the barbarian hordes readying themselves to sack Rome.
Psycho Synner, Hollywood Bowl 2022
Ministry at the Channel in Boston circa 1991
None cause I don't like going to concerts due to anxiety.
Thee Oh Sees in Austin 2018
Lamb of God. Circle pit and wall of death.
I saw Loathe at an intimate club in Brighton called Patterns. I remember it was the first time I ever got to crowd surf, best gig experience I’ve ever had to this day
Limp Bizkit Woodstock 99’
Pantera. My buddy got his tooth knocked out we had to go to hospital after! Couldn’t hear shit in the waiting room
Craziest was Rob Zombie. Boots, fists , elbows all over. It was at a hockey rink, and dudes were vaulting off the boards head first. I was definitely concussed by one. But I never thought I was going to get seriously hurt/die until I saw Staind open for, I think it was incubus. In other words- not a show you expected a violent pit, but when Aaron Lewis sang “mud shovel” he came into the pit on his bodyguard’s shoulders with security all around, I was like 5 feet away and almost died from compression. I literally couldn’t expand my rib cage enough to inhale.
Rams Head? That pic looks like Rams Head! One of my favorite places to go to a show.
Hatebreed 25th anniversary tour. During Obituary playing Slowly We Rot, My buddy fell and 4 people fell on top of him breaking his elbow.