I do what I can to see to it that they're not hurt, but if they ball-up or crawl, I'm yanking. Usually I'll do do what I can to protect just about anybody's spine. I'm sure as shit not holding up anybody's legs though.

The only people I enjoy watching hit the ground are the ones that weigh a lot and KEEP trying to get on top of people. They're usually the same ones that like to shove the shit out of people that aren't trying to be in the pit.

I wonder, do people realize there's a huge difference between crowd surfing a stage diving?

a buddy of mine who weighs just under 300 pounds tried to crowd surf at a pennywise show and ended up being passed along by his ankles with his head and arms geting dragged in the mud and kicked by countless numbers of vans and docs, by the time someone grabbed his arm and got him right side up again he had lost everything in his pockets and couldnt see out of his left eye. i couldnt bring myself to feel sorry for the big moron, that shit was funny. especially since he was the one throwing crowd surfers into the pit.

hahaha. that's awesome. you'll get along with me and my friends.

Great point.
I've had a number of shoes wail me in the head or give me rubber burns on the face but I also realize I've probably hurt alot of people at shows without realizing it so I do my best to take one for the team.

And I love crawling over hordes of people.

ill be honest if you stage dive onto my head more then once you run the risk of me losing it and tossing up a kidney shot. people dont need to do this 19 times a show it gets annoying and as a tall person getting kicked in the head constantly it sucks. the worst in bouncing souls shows in or near nj they have a ton of frat big giant asshole fans that way 270 pounds and think i should catch them. there is a huge difference between stage diving and crowd surfing the worst is when its your turn to pass someone so your worrying about that and someone else picks that time to jump on your head.

On entering each venue, you should be allocated two crowd surfing tickets for the night. Each time you go up, you pass one of your tickets to the Crowd Surfing Officiator at the side of the stage. If you go up without a ticket, you're out.

Sorted.


EDIT: In fact, you should queue for your crowd surfing tickets once in the venue, and each person is weighed before being allocated tickets. Too heavy? No tickets.

How heavy is too heavy?

If you have to ask, you weight to much.

Yes!

I think a decent guide would be whether you could hold yourself up.

I'm 6'2" and I'm cool with them until i get kicked in the head by someone. Then the rest of the show im very anti crowd surfer.

pretty much big diifference between stage dives/sing-a-longs and crowdsurfers

I love when people think jumping off the PA stack at the Venue is a good idea, but the crowd decides to let them go splat. I just feel sorry for anyone that couldn't get out of the way.

Haha, this. Yeah, I've seen a few retards jump from the stacks (with one stagehand just missing grabbing this one guys leg by inches) and that's not fun. The other thing that sucks it the guys that will kick off the sides or front of the PA stacks to jump on the crowd from behind (so they never see what hit them.)

Anyway, I think we can agree that people trying to crowd-surf in inappropriate locations should be set down but man, don't drop someone on purpose when you could have caught them. Did anyone hear the speech this year Dan Yemin (the Paint it Black frontman) gave when he saw people dropping crowd-surfers?

The thing I love about Fest is that normally I go out and people stare at me because I'm not what you'd usually see on the streets of Gainesville, but come Fest time the tables are turned. I've never met most of you personally but for one weekend a year I am surrounded by my brothers and sisters and I know that I don't have to be judged for being myself. We are a family and when we stand together nobody can stop us.

Basically I see crowd-surfing as a kind of bonding ritual. The awesome thing about music is it puts people into a non-verbal almost anamalistic mind set. We communicate mostly through body language (who can hear anyone over the music?) and the environment lets people who are normally quite inhibited to really let go and become one with the crowd while remaining true to themselves. The stage-dive is an act of faith in the community, trusting your brothers and sisters to catch you. Violating that person's trust in the punk community is messed up.

Then again some people doing the diving definitely seem to be trying to hurt people, and I am definitely not saying you are a bad person if you don't catch those guys, but...try to keep em safe, you know?

The Fest already has enough PR problems with Gainesville residents (like those cops getting beat up at that house party last year.) Please let's not let them think we'd stand there and let members of our own community die just because we're offended. If that is the case please, grow up!

diving from the stacks is stupid because no matter what, those people dive feet first and either way it sucks for everyone. i understand not appreciating getting kicked in the head, etc. i crowd surf and stage dive. i'm also small, but regardless, i don't think people ever think about these kinds of things when they're getting super into bands. if i kicked anyone in the head, sorry, i was not doing it on purpose. i'm sure none of the people who did it were.
i'd also like to say, if you stand in the front and there is no barricade, you should know you are going to get jumped on. honestly during the kid dynamite set i would crowd surf sometimes just to get air