MOSH Pits Explained by Scott

Some people don't realize what a MOSH pit is. Basically 1500-2000 kids (and adults) cram themselves into an enclosed area and go crazy. Inside the "pit" you will see slam dancing, usually a small circle opens up and a group of people will basically bash into each other. Sometimes one person will dominate the circle and try to stay in it while other people are trying to push him out. Kind of like "King of the Hill" in elementary school. The most popular activity in the "pit" is crowd surfing. One person crawls on top of the crowd and the crowd lifts them up and floats them around the pit. You can see some people surfing in the picture below (taken at our Ottawa show). The security guys down front catch them and put them back into the pit via a side entrance. On this tour there has been very few injuries; some broken noses, smashed lips and heat exhaustion is about it. The rule in the "pit" is if someone falls down you pick them up. The guys from Anti-Flag actually manage to organize the crowd into a "circlepit". Basically what happens is they get the people on the floor to open up a hung circle and everyone runs in the same direction. This video shows an Anti-Flag circlepit at the Warped tour (sorry for the swearing), this is about the same size we have been getting on this tour. I hope that explains a MOSH pit. It looks dangerous but it really isn't that bad.