Circle pits

[headiscrowded]

Any opinions on circle pits?

I am reading about that guy who sings for the Pistols and how he tells the crowd to make a circle pit. But that is not really for punk crowds, no? Maybe things changed, but 20ish years ago, circle pits were for HC and sXe bands. You know Sworn Enemy, Dillinger Escape Plan, Walls of Jericho, Vicious Circle, you get the drift, I guess. So why should people be circle pitting at a Pistols show? Not to pigeon-hole, or anything, but they are not HC. There is no need to have the crowd start up with circle pitting, is there?

Added to this, I saw a vid of Steve Diggle and his Merry Men playing at Hellfest, which was once called Furyfest. Now that is a HC festival, but Buzzcocks are not really a HC band, right? Like, these days whoever does not have issues with their knee replacements and does not have too many hernias or the like just plays at any festival. The numbers of bands who can still crank them out is kind of dwindling, so they all just play where they can, whether they are Punk, HC, pop, etc. So anyway, in the vids of the Buzzers performing at the HC festival, there are punters circle pitting. But why? The Buzzers are not really a circle pit band, no?

Can anyone explain what is going on here? It is just so confusing. Can't the punk audience just pogo or mush each other against the barrier or something? Or is circle putting the way of the future?

TLDR: Circle pits: keep them at HC shows for HC bands, or they are acceptable anywhere?

Edited to add that HC doesn't mean our pal Hughie in this situation.

[theraven1979]

Even the youngest of us in here are probably way too old for that nonsense


Jim

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[markorbit]

I had to look up 'circle pits'.

[headiscrowded]

pppfffffffffffffffffffffffft

[evonx]

Excuse my ignorance but this Frank Carter, was he in HC bands before he joined the Pistols?

I liked (still do) many of the first wave of HC bands (Black Flag, Suicidal tendencies, Husker Du, TSOL, Vandals, Gang Green, SSD, Fugazi etc etc) but lost interest ca. 1990. Here in NL the straight edge nazis took over the scene and made all the fun go away.
Have to admit I was never in a circle pit. Never will haha.

[headiscrowded]

Excuse my ignorance but this Frank Carter, was he in HC bands before he joined the Pistols?

I liked (still do) many of the first wave of HC bands (Black Flag, Suicidal tendencies, Husker Du, TSOL, Vandals, Gang Green, SSD, Fugazi etc etc) but lost interest ca. 1990. Here in NL the straight edge nazis took over the scene and made all the fun go away.
Have to admit I was never in a circle pit. Never will haha.

Yes he was one of those miserable HC loons.

According to wiki.
Carter formed Gallows in 2005, influenced by the music of hardcore punk bands Black Flag, Minor Threat, Swing Kids and JR Ewing.

JR Ewing ... remember them? Scandi band, I think.

Anyway, further down the wiki page:

In an interview with Kerrang!, Carter stated that much of the album had been based around the alcoholism that he had experienced after breaking his straight edge lifestyle of twelve years on Christmas 2015.[26]

Like seriously, not only was he HC but he was also sXe ... read again: WAS sXe, like, he sold out, like seriously, like what?!?!?!?!!?!?!??!?!!? It's a wonder he's still alive. Those sXe loons don't take kindly to the sell outs.

Miserable old tatted gits. Try to pose pirouette or maybe grand jete through a circle pit, actually even try skipping through a pit ... they look at you murderously like it's the worst act of humankind.

You gotta try circle pitting at some stage. Just not at a punk concert. It's kinda socially inept to do that IMHO.

[droopsnoot]

I had to look up 'circle pits'.

I don't know what those are, or what HC means if it doesn't refer to Hughie. Probably like Jim said.

[headiscrowded]

Sheeeeshkenbobbles!
HC = hardcore
OK so was any of you ever in a swimming pool with a bunch of mates and then you decide to make a whirlpool? You all walk round the pool really fast until there is a whole lot of water going really fast and you can actually lift your feet off the floor of the pool and get carried along by the current? So a circle pit is kind of like that but without the water. The HC punters just run round and round, flailing fists and making karate style kicks as they go, and, well, I'm not sure if you could lift your feet off the floor and actually survive, but it is that kind of feeling. Just everyone is wearing bandanas and sleeveless tshirts with HC band names on them and socks that do not cover their ankles, rather than bathing dress. And they paint "x"s on their hands but when they find out that the markers they painted them with contain alcohol, then they have a big tantrum.
So anyway, this kind of behaviour is now crossing over into punk from the HC scene, because of that squat gingy dude who sings for the Pistols and because punk bands play at HC festivals.
And I'd like to know people's opinions of this behaviour. Should it be abolished? Keep it only in the HC scene/dojo?

[droopsnoot]

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't do that in a swimming pool, I can't swim so I tended to spend the minimum amount of time possible, and I suspect that sort of behaviour would have resulted in a sharp whistle from the lifeguard. The gig version sounds awful, I've learned to stay away from the centre front of a Stranglers gig audience, this is another thing to stay out of the way of.

[jason]

Didn't the Stranglers write a song about these? Viscous Circles!

[headiscrowded]

So there is actually a HC band called Vicious Circle and when I looked up which album the Strangles song of the same name was on I realised that was one of those albums I never listened to. Is it good?

[headiscrowded]

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't do that in a swimming pool, I can't swim so I tended to spend the minimum amount of time possible, and I suspect that sort of behaviour would have resulted in a sharp whistle from the lifeguard. The gig version sounds awful, I've learned to stay away from the centre front of a Stranglers gig audience, this is another thing to stay out of the way of.

So, with the pool, I can't remember ever having lifeguards back in the days in which we made whirlpools. Re: the gig version, the circle pit is better than the rest of the audience. basically, those not circle pitting do these goshdarn awful moves, called "pick up the coins", "change the lightbulb", "start the lawnmower" and also do this kind of Ninja kicking that makes them look dumb but is kind of more dangerous than an SLF audience ... it's something you only believe once you see it.

ETA: since the 90s, swimming and water safety education has been mandatory in UK state schools for KS1 and 2. By the end of grade 6 a student is expected to be able to swim half the length of an Olympic sized pool.