A Tribute to the Crowd-Surfers and Moshers – Sonic Temple

Three days of glorious rock and roll, crowd-surfing, and mosh pits have come and gone; Sonic Temple has come to an end. The weekend was filled with a ton of memorable performances from some of the greatest names in heavy metal and rock n roll, but what really made Sonic Temple so special were the fans. You are what makes a festival beautiful and free. Without amazing fans, a festival is nothing. Thanks to you guys, Sonic Temple was a glorious celebration of music only made possible due to your unrelenting energy and positivity even after the weekend had a few minor setbacks. This isn’t the greatest article in the world; this is just a tribute.

The Crowd-Surfers

You marvelous psychos could not stop crowd-surfing. At any show, at any given time, I could see at least two or three people effortlessly floating across a sea of metal fans. All it took to get you up there was a definitive pointer finger aimed at the sky, and the people around you would lift you up to the gods as a sacrifice to the gods of metal. I’m not going to lie, some of you were a little heavier than the average crowd-surfer, but we worked together to get you to the front of that crowd. I saw a few concrete nosedive close calls, but no one that I witnessed hit the ground in a way that could cause serious damage.

I heard a few people through the weekend complaining about the number of crowd-surfers. The thing is, when you come to a festival like Sonic Temple you have to expect this. When you get this many people together to experience the music that happened over the weekend, there will be people crowd-surfing. The closer you get to the stage, the higher your chance of having someone block out the sun as he rides through the crowd. Don’t go to a metal show if you don’t want to be a part of the show.

The Moshers

The pits, oh, the beautiful pits. A storm of energy, emotional release, and overwhelming love and respect. Sonic Temple was loaded with wonderful mosh pits. I technically went to Sonic Temple to work and cover the festival on behalf of this site, but I also came to have a good time. If I saw a pit open up, I was right in there with you, camera in hand ready to rage. I had a lot of people tell me, “Oh, be careful in there with that” or something along those lines. Of course, this was appreciated, but unnecessary. I’ve been in my share of pits, and these were some of my favorites.

The overall pit etiquette at Sonic Temple was top notch. Someone falls; people gather around them to shield them off, help them up, make sure they’re good to go, and then send them on their way. Anyone who was ready to get out was able to easily get through the back and take a breather. There weren’t wild elbows or punches being thrown. I did see one dude just doing the robot at a few different sets. I didn’t catch his name, but he may be my new favorite person in the world.

As much as I would love to be in another pit today, I don’t know if my 30-year-old body has any gas left in it for a few days.

Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival

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