Crowd surfing

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A vocalist crowdsurfing at the Alimas Carnival, Maldives.

Crowd surfing describes the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person during a concert, transferring the person from one part of the venue to another. The "crowd surfer" is passed above everyone's heads, with everyone's hands supporting the person's weight. It is believed to have been invented by Jim Morrison.

At most concerts and festivals the crowd surfer will be passed towards a barrier in front of the stage by the crowd, where they will be pulled off and put onto their feet by the security stewards. Then, they will be sent back to the side or rear of the crowd at the end of the barrier or they may be ejected from the venue (depending on the policy enforced).

Crowd surfing generally occurs only towards the front of an audience where the crowd is dense enough to support a person's body. It is most popular at metal, punk, rock and indie concerts.

In order to get above everyone's heads, a person can be given a boost, in which one person picks up another to launch them over the people's heads, or they can stage dive.

[edit] Dangers of crowd surfing

Sign at the 2004 Reading Festival

In 2000, at the Roskilde Festival festival, nine people died and several were wounded because they were trampled during a Pearl Jam concert (also see CNN). Since then, crowd surfing has been made illegal at most festivals and concerts in Europe, and patrons can, in theory, be ejected from the venue for partaking in the act. This is usually written on the small-print of festival tickets.

Critics of crowd surfing argue that injuries can frequently occur when a surfer is accidentally dropped by the crowd onto the floor (sometimes head first, to be trampled below). Also, innocent concert goers below can sometimes be injured when a surfer lands on top of them, occasionally with some force. Sometimes audience members are accidentally kicked in the face and the upper body by crowd surfers. Scratches are sometimes caused by zippers or studs on clothing. Some audience members can be knocked over by crowd surfers causing them to be trampled by the dancing crowd.

Crowd surfing at Parkpop, 2006-06-25.

Supporters of crowd surfing say that by standing in the mosh pit patrons should expect such behavior as part of a rock show and by standing more towards the side or rear of the venue they can easily avoid such behavior. Such people also state that serious injuries caused by crowd surfing are extremely rare. It is true that the majority of injuries caused by crowd surfing are only mild bruising, which occurs in any mosh pit without crowd surfing. Supporters will also argue that most crowd surfers are considerate and will wear soft shoes such as trainers, and refrain from wearing jackets in order to minimize injuries, and that it is common mosh pit etiquette to pick up anyone who has fallen over. Also at larger events, such as festivals, crowd surfing can be used as a means of transporting individuals out of the crowd. On occasion, individuals may wish to leave the event because of any given reason, but there can be too many people bringing other people in. Therefore, some people use crowd surfing as a means to get out.

Crowd surfers also risk having personal items such as wallets or mobile phones stolen, or their shoes or clothes removed and thrown into inconvenient locations. This is known as "mosh-lobbing," usually done by audience members or even performers who see crowd surfing as a pointless and MTV-saturated activity. Female crowd surfers may be groped by male audience members, although this is often frowned upon by other members of the crowd.

Within the rock concert community some individuals consider crowd surfing and stage diving to be a fine art and will often boast about any injuries they have sustained in the act.

In December 2004 when the Beastie Boys performed at the MEN arena in Manchester, England, Ad Rock stopped partway through a song to warn the crowds to stop surfing as somebody had been injured, following up the discouragement with 'that shit is so old' and telling them to 'save that shit for the MTV music awards'.