Rage Against The Machine - Finsbury Park

drowner · June 2010

This is a minor revelation to me.
Any more relevant 'rules' i should know about...
Or is talking about the rules a rule-break in itself.
It all comes back to Fight Club in the end.

[Deleted User] · June 2010

The user and all related content has been deleted.

miss annie · June 2010

I expect that it was mainly teenagers wearing them anyway as adults tend not to express themselves by wearing band tshirts. If you are over 21 you just look a bit sad trying to advertise your musical tastes. It's a bit like playing your music out loud on your mobile phone. Besides which, said tshirts are rarely a flattering fit.

badkitteh · June 2010

"RATM were ok, too, I guess. We left halfway through their set. It was just too depressing to watch middle-aged, middle-class men trying to relive their awkward teenage years by chanting idiotic slogans while shoving anyone within arm's reach. It's fine when you're a spotty 14-year-old, but when you're 40, it's just sad." Really rainbow_carnage? Were we seriously at the same gig? [RATM gig intro + Testify...go directly to 4:00 and apologies but I couldn't find a version without the intro](

) I'm not much of a fan but I thought that was a pretty good performance. I am also under the impression that you were well aware of their "idiotic slogans" and age bracket before the gig so I'm kind of wondering why you bothered going in the first place? Just a little perplexed, that's all.

ADGS · June 2010

The problem with the music played out loud on mobiles is that the Yoof always seem to be playing hip hop or R&B which only really works if you have big speakers and lots of bass. Stuff with a more middle-aged fanbase, like the Mountain Goats or early Depeche Mode, sounds absolutely fine because it had no low end in the first place.

miss annie · June 2010

Apparently a lot of the yoof music - NDubz and suchlike, is now specifically engineered in the studio to make it sound hissy and tinny like it's being played out on a mobile. I would say what is the world coming to, but as one who dressed up in full Blitz kid stylee I imagine that I'm too old to understand.

ADGS · June 2010

Thinking about it, the Blackout Crew's follow up to 'Put A Donk On It' was about, and sounded like, mobiles going off in the studio. But so far as I can tell, they're more of a regional youth phenomenon, and in London are only liked by astounded late 20somethings and 30somethings.

marko · June 2010

@Ali I'd suggest one reason that so much rubbish was left behind is that there were precious few receptacles into which to put it.

Having a deposit on paper cups helped a great deal though.

Having just walked through the park on my way home, all the litter is gone and they're now just removing the last bits fencing from the site.

Emma · June 2010

I think that r_c is too old to understand what the mosh is like nowadays - running in a circle before jumping into one another now constitutes acceptable mosh behaviour. It's called a Circle Pit. So that's where all the youngsters were, probably, whilst you stood at the back and complained.

It's actually pretty normal to go to a festival and put on the festival souvenir tshirt on the same day. Well it was when I used to go to the Reading Fest but admittedly that was coming on for 10 years ago now.

Anyway I had an excellent time, as did my 18 year old brother! It's easy to be sniffy about this kind of event, but really, it was just a really good time.

rainbow_carnage · June 2010

Whew. Glad some people are familiar with the t-shirt rule. Thought maybe I had tumbled into some kind of parallel universe where being a dick is considered acceptable behaviour.

Emma, sorry to break the news to you, but while you were putting on your brand new Reading Fest souvenir t-shirt, other people were silently mocking you behind your back.

I'm not so old that I don't know what a circle pit is. Alas, it was not as you've described. We were in the middle of a several spontaneous circle pits. In addition to the people running into each other, there was a not-insignificant number who took the opportunity to punch their fellow moshers.

Running into each other = good
Hitting people = bad
Hoisting up those who've lost their footing = good
Trampling those who've fallen = bad

If you can't follow these very basic guidelines, maybe you should step back and let the grownups play.

Though, I'm sad to say, many of these 'youngsters' were my age and older.

rainbow_carnage · June 2010

<a href="http://my-rockworld.blogspot.com/2007/10/proper-mosh-etiquette-mind-your-manners.html">Lookie</a>. Someone's taken the time to write out the rules.

georgiegirl · June 2010

Funny, from your comments it sounds like being a dick IS acceptable behaviour to you, rainbow_carnage.

All this talk of rules, christ, are you a nazi?!

ADGS · June 2010

Mosh punching acceptability seems to vary from band to band, but yeah, trampling is pretty much universally frowned upon.

Emma · June 2010

Oh well, just looks like everyone else on this board who went to the concert had a completely different experience to R_C, I guess!

Tallboy · June 2010

Make love not mosh.

missisclack · June 2010

A young George Michael appears to be moshing in r_c's blog link (second photo down)

Philistine'sMonster · June 2010

Deleted cos it's unfair, unkind, childish... and I'm too old for this nonsense.

leiba1 · June 2010

And whose brilliant idea was it to stage this concert at the end of the half term holiday? All that setting up of the stage, fences and other restrictions meant that yet another large chunk of the park was not available for familes or other park users from the previous (Bank holiday) Monday, throughout the h/t holiday, until well after the kids had gone back to school.

Ian · June 2010

Lordy lord there is no such thing as a free gig is there?

ADGS · June 2010

It did amuse me that Rage, one of the first bands who'd be whining if public space were being fenced off ahead of a G8 summit or similar, were responsible for taking a large chunk of park out of the public sphere for much of a week while they prepared their self-congratulation fest.

Emma · June 2010

I wrote to Islington Parks dept and asked whether the park would still be open on that weekend, and they said that the concert was using 10 acres out of 115, so probably still enough space for non-concert activities.

leiba1 · June 2010

Islington? Finsbury Park is in Haringey. The park may be quite big but take away spaces already used like the running track, the pond, the flower gardens, the cafe, the cricket ground, the road, baseball pitch and various football areas etc and it doesn't leave much space for Mum, Dad and the kids to sit and play.

Emma · June 2010

You're quite right, I wrote to Haringey.

Ali · June 2010

I thought the baseball and cricket are the same place or is there something new for Cricket ? There is the whole of the American Garden which is pretty big

tosscat · June 2010

And all that sloping space up north - it's always quiet. How much space do you need? Are you a rural fox?

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