Was trying to think if there’s been a gig or a set where I’ve been like ‘bloody hell, bit much this’ and the biggest one for me was genuinely Less Than Jake at Leeds Fest 08 or 09, whichever one they played. The crowd just seemed to be going mad for it, I remember they got a circle pit which went pretty much the whole size of the tent/ There was a bloke in the middle just naked for some reason. That was the only time I remember being like, ‘going to have to take a step out here’
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Test Icicles at Southampton Joiners 2005
They started playing and immediately everyone was falling over, was nuts
Arctic Monkeys, escobar wakefield. Footprints on the ceiling
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I was in the field at Leeds festival in 2002 where they had the riots and blew up the toilet blocks
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Hmm notwithstanding being actually hit by individuals and just general rowdiness would probably go Slipknot in like 2002? And Oasis in the Millenium in 2005.
oh man Escobar, what a place. Didn’t realise Arctic Monkeys had played there
Probably something at Reading tbh. Rage Against the Machine in 2000 was pretty bad, but I was just a young un then.
Most memorable was definitely this - years back I saw this band AIDS Wolf at The Smell when I was on holiday in LA.
As it was an all-ages venue it didn’t serve alcohol at all, just incredibly strong coffee. So it it was full of teenagers completely overloaded on caffeine, throwing themselves onto each other over essentially a bare concrete floor while the band played horrible jazzy noise rock. Fun show.
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Arctic Monkeys on the smallest stage at Reading festival, 2005. Had to fight my way out after two songs, genuinely though I was going to be crushed.
Prodigy, Glasgow Carling Academy, some time in the 2000s.
Unexpectedly, The Killers at the same venue on the NME awards tour thing, might have been their first UK tour? Crowd was nuts at that.
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oh shit I completely forgot about them!
Yeah that tour has been discussed on here before for the crowd situation – for whatever reason there was no separate circle area in front of the stage, so all the stadium gigs were ridiculous. Constant stoppages and requests for the crowds to move back to alleviate crushes at the front.
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I think at the last Gilla Band gig there were a few genuine fights in the pit that looked unpleasant.
I think one guy stood at the front was starting because people were bumping into his girlfriend? But if you stand at the front, expect a little bumping I think
Slayer in the Point in 2006 I think. Topping a bill of Thine Eyes Bleed/In Flames/Children of Bodom/Lamb Of God.
Played ‘Dead Skin Mask’ towards the end and then everything went quiet before the intro to ‘Raining Blood’ kicked in. Absolute fucking pandemonium after that. Vividly remember my pal Seán punching a security guard in the midst of it all. Was absolute chaos, had to drag myself out from under fallen bodies a few times to try and get away from the stage.
Second rowdiest was The Prodigy in Millstreet around the same time. Everyone crushed against each other, whole crowd moving as one every time a big song kicked in. Terrifying as a seventeen y/o.
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Def RATM at Reading 93 - was mental and scary
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The black and white photo’s at the end of the fake tales vid are from the escobar gig was mayhem
Yeah this. Wall to wall dickheads.
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Me too, not sure if I’m misremembering but I’m sure there were police helicopters scanning the field with search lights when it kicked off.
Several early 00s Reading Festivals, main stage and tents as well as the camping area. Had a real nasty edge at times, especially around the nu-metal bands. RATM stood out for the sheer scale of the crowd, it was the middle of the day but it was right across the field, people going crazy.
I can’t remember the helicopter (2002 and 2005 get a bit mixed up in my head), but I do remember the fire engine trying (and failing, for a short while) to get through the crowd to put the fires out.
I was at that - definitely extremely intense. Fortunately everyone had Porno For Pyros afterwards to come down to 
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