The Shunned House

ginger-king replied to your post: A point of etiquette.If you don’t like the moshing and stage diving, then don’t go to the show. & if you do go, then do the smart thing and just move out of the way of those people. Just because you don’t express yourself the way they do doesn’t mean that its wrong.

ShunnedHouse: I’m not against it. I’ve been there and done it. I’m against people suing artists for their self-inflicted injuries that’s all. It’s not the artist’s fault you got a boo-boo. 

When someone invades a stage then, to my mind at least, they are saying that they’re willing to break a boundary and is asking to be shoved back into the throng by security (if they are able to). They do this so the artist can continue doing whatever it was they are there to do in the first place and that which the rest of the audience came and paid to see. Nobody paid to watch a stagediver fuck themselves up or some goon who wants to hug their hero. Hang around and buy the band a beer afterwards, wait by the tour bus in the cold till 4am like we all did, don’t spoil a show. 

When someone dives headlong into the crowd they are flinging themselves physically at the maelstrom and to hell with the consequences. It’s was once a statement, something that said “I just don’t care, damn it all.” An act of almost suicidal lunacy as there was no guarantee of a safe landing. That WAS the point. Safety is unsure. It said something. It as almost an artistic statement in itself. Once. 

Now I read that artists are being charged with injuries to stagedivers, moshers and invaders. If you sue an artist because you invaded the stage or that you hurt in the mosh, or got wailed on by the bouncers because you ran across the heads of the crowd then you are missing the point. Not to mention killing a scene that doesn’t need any more attacks from within. 

If stagediving, moshing and interfering with an artist at work has become the norm then I say we cage up the audience in fencing. Like Chickens. For the safety of all. If an audience member can’t take personal responsibility for the dangers that they themselves put themselves in then we must act to save those idiots from themselves. It’s a music show, not a crèche.  

This kind of kills the fun doesn’t it? Yeah well I’d advise you tell your friends not to act like fools while we still can have a scene that can express itself (relatively) unconstrained. Don’t try to sue an artist when you haven’t taken care of your own personal safety. This isn’t like visiting Disneyland, your safety is your own concern.

You’re an adult. Act like one. Let an artist do their thing. That’s good manners. Etiquette counts.