Survival of a Punk Rock Festival

6. Meet the Band

     Meeting the bands after they have played their set is always an experience. One band can be your idol.  Another band may be the reason you started a band of your own.   The ladies may think band members are the hottest guys on the planet, same for guys I guess, but you get the point. Last summer, I remember the meet and greet for the punk band, Blessthefall, after they performed their set at the All Stars Tour Festival in Dallas.  As soon as the lead singer, Beau Bokan, walked out to his band’s merchandise table, all the girls started screaming. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster at Six Flags.  He was just that cool.

     When it comes to meeting your favorite band, it helps to know where the merchandise table is. This is where a roadie (a guy who travels with the band) sells shirts, CDs, and other merchandise with the band logo on it. This is the table where the band members will come to sign autographs, take pictures, and just hang out with the fans. To avoid a big line, it always helps when you know that the last song of the band’s set is almost over. Trust me, you will know this because it is always announced it to make the crowd go crazy. Once you know the end of the song is coming, go to that band’s merchandise table to get a good spot at the front of the line.

      One crucial thing to never do while meeting a band is offer them drugs. Sometimes you’ll see a member of a band walking around the venue, and there is always that one stupid guy that will offer him a blunt to come smoke with him. Please don’t do this because they will either be nice about it, or get in your face and be very angry. The next thing you know is that you’re either about to get killed by a band member or escorted out by security. Now granted some bands do smoke weed, but never with fans.

     While meeting a band, it’s always helpful to have a spare permanent marker in your bag or back pocket.  After getting so many autographs, you don’t want to miss out on more autographs because a marker ran out. Also, be sure to have what you want autographed ready to go when you meet the band member.   It may be a shirt, album, or hey, even your forehead (seen it) ready for autographs.  Be sure to have your camera or Iphone on the camera app and ready to go as well.

     After reading this blog, feel free to leave a comment sharing a crazy band meet and greet story or experience. From getting your shoes signed; some crazy fan girl crying because she got to meet the lead singer of the band or anything that you thought was crazy that happened. I would like to hear about it.   A band meet and greet after their set makes a festival even more of an awesome experience, and you shouldn’t miss out on this at your next festival.

Survival of a Punk Rock Festival

5. Crowd Surfing

            Crowd surfing is one of the most fun and crazy thing you can do at a festival.  Crowd surfing is when you have a group of people hoist you up, or you jump up on top a crowd of people then they lift you up and move across the crowd with the help of the crowd towards the stage. Then, once you get there, a big sweaty usually bald security guy grabs you and then sets you down and tells you to leave what is called the security pit area. It’s a railed fence area where security guards stand so nobody jumps on stage.

            There are a lot of different reasons why people do this at festivals.  Such as being drunk, going crazy because their favorite song is being played, and many other reasons as well. What is cool about crowd surfing is when someone falls from crowd surfing people are like “oh crowd surfing dude or girl” and they lift that person back up on and off they go. Ninety percent of the time this doesn’t cause of fight.

            Crowd surfing can be also bad. From getting injured or someone grabbing you inappropriately (and I don’t mean butt grabbing, and that happens to everybody crowd surfing). From the festivals that I have been to, personally, I have a girl drop on her head because that security guard didn’t get to her in time to catch her because he was in the process of catching someone else. Also seen a couple guys carried out in wheel chairs by EMS because security wasn’t there and they probably got a concussion when their head hit the floor. So if you do crowd surf, try to go feet first so you can land on your feet when you get to the front of the stage.  Sometimes when you don’t realize it you have the perverted guy at a concert that likes to touch people weird. So ladies try not to wear skirts if your crowd surfing.

            If you have never tried crowd surfing I would suggest it. It’s kind of a rush, especially when you favorite band is playing your favorite song. As long as you’re paying attention to what you’re doing you’ll probably won have to be carried out in a wheel chair. The only bad thing that’s happen to me was I dropped on my arm, but I just shook it off and went crowd surfing again. That’s how fun crowd surfing is. 
          Check out my awesome hilarious videos I made with stick figures and one with fellow festival goer Callie Carrell as well. 

Survival of a Punk Rock Festival

4. Be careful in Mosh Pits

            A mosh is a giant circle of people bumping into each other with crazy dancing in the middle of the crowd. This is one of the most fun and a little bit dangerous things to be a part of. Some people will try to fight you if you bump into them the wrong way, for example, below the belt. A lot of this can be avoided, and you can still jam out during your festival with these tips.

            During a Punk Rock Festival, the music is loud and the fans of the bands that are playing are going crazy. Next, you know you feel you’re getting pushed back a little bit but this means a mosh pit is being formed. How to mosh is pretty easy to do. All you do is jump in and run into another person with the side of your body with your arm and bounce of them and go to the next person and do the same thing. It’s like a chest bump but you don’t use your chest. During a mosh pit, you can get hurt if you’re not being careful.  If you bump into a person the wrong way you could come out with a bloody nose. Personally, I have come out with bruises and even one time I got slapped in the face because somebody was doing what looked like a windmill dance (I know weird right.) Just pay attention to what you’re doing and your surroundings and you’ll be good.

            Mosh Pits are usually the number one place at a festival for a fight to break out. Festival goers sometimes are drunk and don’t know what they are doing.  Some people are their just looking for a fight to get a so called badass festival experience. This is never the right thing to do at a festival because once you throw down with somebody beware ton of security personnel will throw you out of the venue. You do not want to this to happen because you’re missing out on your festival and you’re wasting your money by not staying the whole time. If you see a fight break, just move back and security will take care of it. They always come out of nowhere during a show. Once I saw a guy who swung at a security guard who was twice his size. Let’s just say that was a huge mistake on his part.

            Now if you don’t want to mosh, that’s ok too, it’s not for everybody. If you are close to a mosh pit and don’t want to jump in pay attention to what is going on. Usually a guy or girl will fly at you without you knowing. If this happens, all you doing have your hands up for example like someone is holding a gun on you and brace yourself then push them back in the pit.
          Check out my podcast interview with fellow festival goer Callie Carrell.