So I'm traditionally a mainstream rock/pop guy. Stones, Beatles, Aerosmith Hall&Oates etc. All good stuff, mind you, but fairly recently a friend of mine introduced me to the metal side of things. Now he listens to the deepest depths of Death Metal, which when he first showed me that stuff really didnt work well for my ears (the screaming) and well, it was just plain frightening. But I got into the more well known heavy metal bands. Disturbed and Metallica were the main ones. Then while sifting through the Hot Topic listening kiosques I find "Scream Aim Fire" by Bullet For My Valentine and flip it on. From the thump of the drum I was taken. For some reason those songs just did it for me. Now if you listen to BFMV then you'd realize that there is a good bit of screaming, but the cool thing was, I liked it, I like how it was incorporated and it just made the songs more full with that metal, agressive vibe. Anyway, so that was my bridge band. Now I'm diving headfirst into the metal genre. In Flames, Soilwork, Children of Bodom, Sonic Syndicate...the list goes on and on. SO! Awesomely enough BFMV is around here locally at this neat little place called the Hampton Ballroom and Casino on Hampton Beach, New Hampshire (Thats that tiny state in the north east for those who don't know). Its like a really large club, pretty intimate setting. I'd been there before for a more tame concert (a band called Guster) and on the list for the night is Cancer Bats, Bleeding Through, and of course BFMV. So, I'm with my bud (he goes to these things all the time) and am very frightened. Everyone looks so hardcore. The piercings, the crazy hair. It was a little excessive, but thats what I signed up for, right? Cancer Bats opened up (horrriiiiibbblle. A crappy chorus sung 12 times in every song and they managed to play every solo with a million artificial harmonics, which became very annoying) and because the crowd included a bunch of girls (BFMV attracts a lot of them apparently from there emo side) the crowd didnt really get going, but it was just as frightening to me. Crazy people moshing. Loud screaming music. Overwhelming I say! So I sit in the back and observe how it all goes down. Cancer Bats leave (Finally!) and I talked metal with my bud while waiting for Bleeding Through set up. Bleeding Through Gets on and they're first few songs were a little trying too hard to be hardcore death metal, but once I could hear their keyboardist, it good better. But thats when it changed! I was like "Yeah, this is catchy" and made a sudden, rash decision. Am I going to just sit around in the back and watch all these people have fun? HELL NO! So I hand my valuables to my friend and run into the mosh. First time moshing. Most retarded, and somehow one of the most fun things to do. So now I'm broken in. The crowd is a little more into it and so am I. I mosh a little bit more and go retrieve my friend. I'm prepared to battle my way into the front as soon as Bleeding Through gets off. So I do just that and get about 5 people back from the stage. Everything's air tight back there. People are pushing and their is no personal space at all, and its REALLY F****** HOT. So the nice security guards spray the crowd with their infinite supply of water bottles and it feels nice. Also, I'm very happily behind a very cute girl, which makes the whole "no personal space" work in my favor. SO! To the main event. BFMV has an overdramtic entrance. The crowd gets rocking and we're all jumping up and down cheering "Bullet...Bullet...Bullet" it takes about 10 minutes of hype and they come on. Scream Aim Fire opens up as their first song. Perfect. Page shreds exactly like I imagined, its all perfect. So the show progresses and I learn two things. Always watch out for crowd surfers or else you will get a face full of ass of a person who may 1) Be of the same gender and 2) Be very unnatractive. Also, contrary to my understanding, there is no designated mosh area. Mosh pits just appear and disspear. Which made for one particular circumstance that scared the crap out of me. I was watching Bullet play Eye of the Storm when my friend goes "Look around you!" And two mosh pits are right next to me. Me and these two girls are the only thing stopping them from becoming one mosh pit. So, we're in the center Now these mosh pits arn't tiny, p**** mosh pits. These are like 20 year old guys running around like idiots swinging their arms and pushing. The kind of mosh pit only 'people under the influence' run into. Anyway, so we're about to become the center of this whole situation and I look at both sides of me. Everyone is packed tight and I cant slip in. And for the next minute I'm throwing off drunken college kids so I dont come the center of a crazy mofo mosh pit. Luckily I made it out unscathed. So the night progresses wonderfully. The last song they played was "Waking the Demon", one of my favorites and certainly their heaviest song. The crowd rocks the f*** out and it was all in all a great night. After BFMV stepped off the crowd dispersed and they started playing Comfortably Numb, one of my favorite Pink Floyd tunes, and the night ended perfectly. I'm officially a metal fan.
Now thats my story, and it happened recently, but I'd like to hear how my now fellow metal fans got into their brand of metal, and maybe share some interesting concert stories. Thanks ;3
-SecurityPanda
-PS. Sorry for the 'wall of text' I was sort of excited to share and forgot to space it >.<
Edit for language - Smells
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This post has been edited by Smells: Aug 12 2008, 10:17 AM
My first metal experience i don't even remember that well, i think it was either a Final Plague Concert or seeing Symphony X. My first real taste of moshpits was at shadows fall and they frightened me 
