This last Saturday I attended the Mindless Self Indulgence concert at the Roseland Theater in Portland Oregon. It was an amazing performance, and I would recommend to anyone to see them live if you have the chance. Two opening bands went on before the main act, The Iris and Death Valley High. As the night progressed I couldn’t help but notice and wonder at the transformation of the crowd throughout the night.

During the opening act, The Iris, the main floor was was thinly populated and the energy was still pretty low key. The instrumentals of the opening band where good enough to elicit a collective head bob from the audience. I couldn’t understand any of the lyrics, however, and they just didn’t have the stage presence to inspire the emotional energy yet needed for a proper mosh pit.

The second band, Death Valley High, had more success in establishing the Pit. Aided by the steadily growing crowd, DVH had a more upbeat tempo and the crowd began to sway in earnest, playfully bumping into their neighbors. It didn’t take long for two enterprising young men to find their way to the center of the floor, near where I stood, and begin to throw their bodies around with true abandon. After the initial surprise, those immediately surrounding the baby mosh pit either retreated to a safe distance, stood their ground and aided in the revelries by pushing any moshers that collided with them back into the fray, or happily joined in by jumping right into the chaos.

I was one of the later and thus the mosh pit was established. An ameba that changed in shape, size and location, the mosh pit generally lingered stage center about twenty feet back from the stage. The intensity of the pit would rise and fall with the rhythm of the music and never got larger than a handful of people during DVH’s performance, but it was never the less an adrenaline fueled experience and didn’t fail to wake me up.

After Death Valley High there was a long break before Mindless Self Indulgence. This was a bit boring, but I had an interesting conversation with a guy on the proper standing technique if you lingered on the fringes of the pit (wide stance is key apparently), talked tattoos with a lady that had a similar tat as one of mine, and got several compliments on my Suicide Girl Black Hearted Burlesque T-shirt from my fellow mosh pitters. During the lull the energy on the crowd died down to pretty much nil, and as the minutes dragged on a restless expectation grew.

The change in the crowd was instantaneous when Mindless Self Indulgence took the stage. A drummer, who looked like the lost female member of Kiss, took her seat. The bassist, who resembled a catholic school girl on a rebellious streak, took stage left. The lead guitarist, an old biker looking dude, took stage right, wearing an eye patch he obviously didn’t need since he often removed it to look at the crowd. Lastly the lead singer, Jimmy, decked out in all pink, rushed out onto the stage and jumped off the drum set, accompanied by the deafening screams of the crowd. Those closest to the stage were sandwiched together as people pressed towards the stage, fighting for closer position. When the music started the crowd went insane and the mosh pit reignited on a whole different level.

Growing from a handful of people to twenty or thirty at any given time, to an outside observer the pit looked like the makings of a dangerous brawl, but though the pit is not for the faint of heart you have little to fear besides a few bumps and bruises. I find it astounding that when in the pit all these strangers are doing everything they can to push and slam into each other, but the moment someone goes down everyone’s hands are reaching to help them up. One of the times while I was being flung through the chaos I tripped over a few people that had fallen and took a head dive, I didn’t even hit the floor before arms were righting me back on my feet. Long live mosh pitting!!!!

Some notes on the pit, I’m not the most experienced mosh pitter, but I have come up with a few tips for those attending a concert that may have a pit.

• Tuck elbows and guard the face: If you are going to join in the fray of the mosh pit try to keep your elbows tucked, this keeps you from accidently elbowing someone in the face. At the same time I advise you to keep your hands up to protect your face in case you catch such an elbow.

• If you get pushed, don’t get mad, push back: If you are at a concert heavy enough for a mosh pit, getting pushed and shoved just comes with the territory. There is no point in getting mad since the person who pushed you is most often the victim of the collective push of the crowd. Just go with the flow and forget about personal space for the duration of the show. That said, if you want to avoid the more violent pushing of the pit give it plenty of space, because those nearby will get bombarded nearly as much as the mosh participants.

• Feeling sleepy? Don’t go get a red bull, Get The Fuck In The Pit!!!!!!! I understand mosh pitting isn’t for everyone, but if you are at a concert and feel yourself drooping off, take a couple rounds in the pit and you will be absolutely wired. It is an adrenaline fueled experience that leaves you feeling like you just had a shot of espresso. As one guy said to his friend standing next to me on the fringes of the pit, “I don’t even need drugs with this shit.”