That Time I Was in a Mosh Pit

 

I avoided the mosh pit for thirty years. I am a GenX-er, and I never moshed. 

 

I attended many concerts during my college years that had circle pits, mosh pits, pogoing, slam dancing, etc., but I always watched this phenomena from a distance. 

There was a reason Kathleeen Hanna popularized the phrase, "Girls to the front!" Women were sick of getting assaulted by dudes at rock shows.

 

My moshing window closed years ago. 

 

However, over Labor Day weekend, I found myself in a pit at a Pixies concert. Weird, because most people who are old enough to remember the band's heyday probably don't mosh anymore. 

 

Case in point—this t-shirt coming to a middle-aged GenXer near you:

 

In a twist of dramatic irony, the Millennial friend who attended with us was asking about circle pits and mosh pits just before the concert started. He had seen a pit at a Metallica concert the week before and wanted to know what the hell it was.

 

"People just started running around in a circle and slamming into each other."

 

Little did we all know, he would experience his first mosh pit that night. And so would I (insert eye roll here).

 

We found a spot in front, and I figured I would be safe since most of the concert goers looked way past their moshing days.

 

Toward the end of Modest Mouse's set, a group of young teenagers rushed the stage and started a mosh pit to the left of us. Modest Mouse didn't strike me as a very mosh-able band.

 

Modest Mouse

 

But, remarkably, GenZ was really there for Pixies. Had they heard about them from their grandparents? 

 

Not that I'm complaining. I'm kind of impressed with these young people's taste in music.

 

When Pixies took the stage, the real moshing began, mostly to my left. The right side stayed tamer, although someone made a feeble attempt at a pit once or twice.

 

I kept my elbows up and my hands out, ready to push people away. I had to survive the night. I was supposed to teach children the next day. 

 

(By the way, children, I do not condone violence at concerts or any other venue.)

I sandwiched myself between my Millennial friend and my husband, Dan, to avoid a bloody nose or getting hit by the big guys falling into me. Yeah, I used my friend and husband as a human shield. I'm not sorry.

 

“Sorry,” I muttered to younger guy I fell into, who wasn't participating in the pit but seemed to be amused by it. 

“It’s fine. It’s a pit!” 

 

"Yeah, I know. My generation invented pits. I've avoided them for thirty years.” 

 

Only one guy tried to crowd surf.

“I’m not catching him,” I told Dan.

 

An older guy behind us (who was not moshing) kept leaning forward and saying, “I got you. I got your back." 

 

Then he added, "This is wilder than I expected."

 

Most of the GenX-ers just stood there, smirking at the youngsters (a totally GenX thing to do). Some of the bigger, middle-aged guys elbowed the young kids away, protecting us older folks. I am eternally grateful.

PIXIES

 

We were surprised to see so many young teenage girls moshing. Then they dropped their smartphones and spent half the concert crouching on the ground shining a flashlight from someone else's phone in all of our eyes. That was definitely something GenX didn’t have to worry about back in the day.

 

After the concert that night (spoiler alert: I survived), Dan said, “I don’t know why they were moshing to some of the slower Pixies songs. I was thinking, 'That's not a song you would normally mosh to . . .' ”

 

Kids these days. They're not doing the concert mosh pit thing right.

 

 

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