Ya'll, I LOVE mosh pits and crowd surfing. I love metal and punk shows. I love getting right in there, letting go and having fun. But more recently I've had terrible experiences at shows and have found myself hanging either on the outside of the put or even farther away.

I recently attended a concert with my brother and was standing by the stage when a stranger approached me. His speech was slurred and I could tell he was trying to flirt, but it fell flat. I politely turned him down and took my attention away from him. He then just stared at me, it was super uncomfortable. The band came on, everything was fine, then a couple songs in the same man grabbed my shirt then started to use me to clear the row of folks by the stage. It took me a moment to process what was happening because I hadn't been expecting that. My brother grabbed him and tossed him across the pit, he face planted and went into the crowd. I was shocked. I hadn't done anything to provoke this and I didn't owe him my attention or time. It's very hard for me to not think that a reason why he chose to grab me was because I shut him down just minutes before. The rest of the show went well and I even managed to meet the vocalist.

At another show, and this surprised me because the band is rather left-wing and progressive, a man groped me as he passed behind me. I turned, and before he could get away, kicked the back of his knee and he fell. He didn't know it was me because of the large crowd. And after I realized I should have gotten a security guard. And realized that by reacting in that manner could have escalated the situation. >>;;

Experiences like this make me feel unsafe about attending shows. They make me think twice about getting into the mosh pit or crowdsurfing. I've had tons of great experiences too; Ex: Someone once shoved me too hard and my glasses went flying, he noticed then proceeded to stop everyone and they all looked for my glasses together, and found them! I've had kind strangers help me up when I've fallen or help me crowdsurf, etc. But yikes. The bad experiences just... really weigh on my mind. And it sucks.

Sorry.. I just needed to vent a bit. ^^;;

I’m so sorry you had to experience those creeps!
I’ve had rude people who just couldn’t take no for an answer and still proceed to rip my hands off of the railing next to stage and push me into a crowd of teenagers. This one guy kept intentionally touching/bumping me.

There are a lot of good people in the pits, I’ve banded together with quite a few people to protect/baracaide younger concert goers.

I’ve also noticed different states have a different culture of mosh/pit. In NJ there’s usually never space between concert goers. In PA and some NY venues I’ve founded concert goers tend to stand with spaces between them.

@Glume: Oh no, of course. But I was four rows away. XD This guy was just spinning his arms and charged through everyone then knocked into me haha. I was with my partner at Amon Amarth, who had no problems getting out, so while he was exiting he didn't notice me being sucked back in. I always go to concepts with someone.~

@Theory: Yeeeah, I usually go with friends or my partner to shows. And they keep on eye on me usually. > w<