Moshing: You Take It Vertical, Horizontal or Suicidal

It’s frenzied. It’s intense. It’s an exercise in trust. It’s moshing--a slightly less violent form of slam dancing that’s growing more and more popular in clubs frequented by teen-agers and college-age women and men.

Moshing involves scores of dancers in what is called a “pit,” an area near the stage. Moshers jump straight up and down and slam into one another, and one person gets picked up and passed around.

“It looks and sometimes feels like it’s out of control, but it’s not,” said Stephen Simons, a 22-year-old Philadelphia bartender and mosher.

“You always feel safe and under control, although judging from the outside, it looks really scary,” he said. “A lot of people slam into each other, but no one really gets hurt.”

At least not seriously hurt. Occasionally someone being hoisted falls, but moshing etiquette calls for those nearby to help that person up.

“They are very cool people,” said John Giannott, assistant manager and head of security at a club on New York’s Long Island called Industry. “They are not troublemakers.”

But just in case, he has six security guards surrounding the pit to keep the moshing from getting out of hand.

Club-goers typically mosh to alternative, guitar-oriented, hard-core industrial music, and almost always to live performances.

But Simons said moshing also is becoming popular with some acts that border on mainstream, such as Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Moshing can happen just about anywhere, though the larger the space, the more participants needed for a proper mosh.

In recent years, moshing has sprung up at the Spectrum, Philadelphia’s largest concert and sports arena, and at the Tower Theatre, a concert hall right outside the city limits.

Moshing often includes stage diving, when someone dives into the crowded mosh pit head first, trusting others to catch him. The practice is not condoned by many establishments.

Jimmy Arceneaux, a San Francisco-area booking agent, recalled one show in Oakland where moshers walked on the heads of the people in the audience to get to the stage and jump off.

“It’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Charlie Abdo, co-owner of North Star Bar in Philadelphia, said moshing poses liability concerns.

“I think it’s quite dangerous,” he said. “How could a club allow that?”

But Sheila Lee, a bartender at J.C. Dobbs on Philadelphia’s trendy South Street, said she was not aware of any serious injuries from moshing or any problems with insurance coverage.

“Most people that are into it stay up front, and the rest stay in the back where it’s safe,” she said.