January 31, 2001
8:14 AM   Subscribe

this was my first post on the main page (mostly been leaving comments since i joined). i hope people dont think it's unworthy. i just thought it was sad and maybe worthy of discussion. I have been to two Big Day Outs and being in the mosh pit during a popular act is pretty bad at the best of times. i dont think it helped that the day the BDO was on was in the middle of a heat wave in Sydney.
posted by endorwitch at 8:19 AM on January 31, 2001

It's unquestionably sad. Unfortunately, deaths at rock concerts are more common than they should be. There was a concert once where the band started tuning up (at high volume) before all the people were inside, and as a result the people outside pushed forward and some were crushed.

And then there was Altamont.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 8:28 AM on January 31, 2001

Sadly this is pretty much par for the course nowadays, and you have to try and play things cool when you're at gigs/clubs nowadays.

Keep up on the right amount of fluids, and try to get out of there if you're feeling too hot. Don't push yourself, and if you don't like actually headbanging DON'T DO IT. You'll only fcuk up your brain anyway.

Of course, some of this is down to the impatient idiots who shove their way through people at gigs. Sadly these bald 30 year old rock-wannabe losers are never going to learn. So learn to identify them and drop them while they're crowdsurfing :-)
posted by wackybrit at 8:31 AM on January 31, 2001

Kudos to Limp Bizkit for keeping their word and pulling out of the tour.

Altamont, Steven? This reminds me more of the Who Concert in Cincinnati. And yes, wacky, this is common enough nowadays that it seems to be a business opportunity.
posted by dhartung at 10:01 AM on January 31, 2001

my mom was at altamont; not to downplay the tragedy of that day, but she said she had no idea anything horrible had happened until she read about it the next day.
posted by bliss322 at 1:08 PM on January 31, 2001

This is just part of why I hate crowds. Guess those of us who avoid them have a survival advantage.

How come they don't set up the venue for people to actually have *seats*. Too radical of a concept?
posted by beth at 1:10 PM on January 31, 2001

Although that article says Limp Bizkit pulled out immediately, thereby doing the responsible thing, that wasn't what I heard. It seems they played a pretty big part in the chaos that started, and most other bands have backed up BDO's side of the story. Them pulling out and doing a runner seems more like a quick getaway from fingers being pointed at them than anything.
posted by aki at 3:38 PM on January 31, 2001

Beth, seats are for spectators. If you want to stay home and watch the video more power to you. Events like these are energetic live dance festivals, can't spend your whole life sitting down. The chaos and crush of real people are, I think, what folks are looking for.

So was this girl on speed or X or what? When they say heart attack I think drug related not crowd related. Drugs, heat, no water and a big crowd don't make for a good scene.

Ambulance crews gave out 20k cups of water. I wonder if there was access to water or if it was only for sale by bottle. The last Woodstock fiasco was aggravated by the lack of water and vendors selling bottled water for $4 a shot, it cost more than beer.

It's a sad thing that happened, but we really don't know what happened.


posted by valintin23 at 12:56 AM on February 1, 2001

You know, I think it was fucking *weak* of Limp Bizkit to pull out of the tour. Yes, people were getting crushed - unfortunately, that's a function of being underage and hell-bent to get next to whatever act is pissing your parents off. Hell, I did it, even when I was older. But, Fred and co., they were there to see *you*. That crush, that energy was because people wanted to see the band perform. And they're best served - especially the ones who were hurt - by you chucking a sook and going home? Weak.

Unfortunately, the fact remains that things like this *will* happen because younger crowds often *don't* exhibit common sense. And the BDO is basically the biggest all-ages gig in Australia, wherever it goes, because lots of bands that would not normally tour - or would only play over-18 venues when they *do* tour - show up, and this draws alterna-kids like nothing else. The crowds have an amazing number of kids in it, and despite all the "we want to see the band too! waiting until 18 sucks!" arguments, this is, in terms of common-sense and general health, often a bad thing. I don't want to stop anyone seeing a band, hell no, but if common sense was a prerequisite, I guarantee you that a lot of the punters wouldn't have gotten in.

Water always costs at a festival, especially in Australia. It's hot. That happens. I'm in London at the moment, but I heard the temperature was pushing 40C. That's not unusual for this time of year, and heatstroke is always a concern. It's just unfortunate that heatstroke (presumably) and crowd stupidity worked together as it did.

I find it laughable that on their website, Limp Bizkit put a post up about the gig, and made obvious mention about how a gig at the Sydney Entertainment Centre had gone off without injuries - you'd hope it would, as it's a largely seated venue. Hello, PR team?

It was a gig in Sydney - one of Soundgarden's last - that made me give up going to all-ages shows. The support, You Am I, came on and the crowd rushed forward. I was in the front - and I'm a big guy - and the barriers shifted back about two meters. They were bracing them with road-signs. Soundgarden came on, and the crush got worse. People were being danced over, and it was the first time I'd seen that - normally, if someone falls over, you help them up. Not here. I got out of the front after three songs because I didn't want to get my legs broken just so I could say I saw Chris Cornell play badly. It was an example of young crowds getting out of control - and I suspect that coupled with the heat, it's why the BDO got in trouble this year.


posted by captainfez at 3:01 AM on February 1, 2001

[beth] How come they don't set up the venue for people to actually have *seats*.

[valintin23] seats are for spectators

There's nearly always a "mosh pit" at concerts targeted at younger, maler audiences. It's interesting, though, because U2 recently announced seating plans for their new tour and the plans include so-called festival "seating" which essentially means no seating, floor-level general admission. Bono is selling it as a great deal, because the festival "seats" are the cheapest in the house ($45 is the cheapest, blah) and the closest to the stage, but some people complain that it's just a move to pack more crowd into the arenas they're playing at this time around (rather than the stadiums they've toured for the past 15 years).

But if they were going for cash, they should've stuck to stadiums, cause they sold out their arena shows in minutes. <grumble>Stupid ticketmaster.com... friggin'... jigga... grrrrrr...</grumble>
posted by daveadams at 10:19 AM on February 1, 2001