Check out another text written by one of our WikiBrothers:

My girlfriend already knows that headbangers are cool people. But seeing that people help each other even in the middle of a mosh pit showed her that I'm not an exception to the rule.”

By Mauricio Oliveira

“Is this normal?” my girlfriend asks when she sees the first mosh pit at the show. “Yes, it is, and this one’s pretty calm.” After a few seconds, someone falls to the ground in the middle of the mosh pit, and the crowd immediately mobilizes, and almost instantly our friend is on his feet again, returning to the mosh pit. Another surprise at the act: “Do people always help like this? That’s great!”

It might seem like a small thing to those already used to these things, but for those outside our world, this positive surprise is a huge breaking of prejudices. Of course, in this case, my girlfriend has known me long enough to know that headbangers are cool people, but seeing with her own eyes that even in a mosh pit people help each other showed that I'm not an exception to the rule.

We all have a strong connection to Metal and we are a family.”

It was an Iron Maiden cover show (one of the bands she'd already learned to like; evangelizing her followers through metal is a long and continuous process), and a good one at that: Live After Death performed in its entirety by an excellent band. It was the perfect combination of sound quality with a setlist of classics she knew, ideal for a good first impression at a metal concert.

And it worked, she enjoyed the show and thought the atmosphere was great. She didn't even find it strange that people were headbanging, singing along, and chanting to every classic song played. She was even disappointed that they didn't play "Fear of the Dark," which people had requested at the end of the show; it's perhaps the Iron Maiden song that allows for the most audience participation with its more than celebrated "ôôôô" chorus.

But what I enjoyed most about showing her at that first show was what we've known for a long time: we all have a strong connection to Metal and we're a family, we're there enjoying the music for real and we still care about safety in the mosh pit. It's fun with respect, as Giba already said in his text "Good Friendly, Violent Fun" .

It's just not so simple to maintain total safety when things get heated in a Slayer mosh pit or Exodus'
  Wall of Death

*This text was written by a Wikimate and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the site's authors.

Click here to see other texts by WikiBrother Mauricio Oliveira.