Stage diving is the act of leaping from a

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

stage onto the crowd below, which occasionally causes serious injuries. It is often the precursor to

crowd surfing Crowd surfing is the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person (often 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 ...

. Long before the word was invented, public stagediving took place during the first Dutch concert by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

at the

Kurhaus of Scheveningen The Kurhaus of Scheveningen, The Hague in the Netherlands is a hotel which has been called the Grand Hotel Amrâth Kurhaus The Hague since October 2014. It is located in the main seaside resort area, near the beach. History The Kurhaus was bui ...

on August 8, 1964. Many musicians have made stage diving a part of their stage act.

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and err ...

was an early performer known for having jumped into the crowd at several concerts. Iggy Pop is often credited with popularising stage diving in popular

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

. Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

performances.

Risks and incidents

Stage diving has occasionally caused serious injuries. One example is when Peter Gabriel of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

at the Friars club in Aylesbury on June 19, 1971 stage dove during the end of their song " The Knife", landing on his foot, thus breaking his ankle. On 20 August 2010, Charles Haddon, the lead singer of English synthpop band Où Est Le Swimming Pool, died after a performance at Pukkelpop, Belgium. He committed suicide by jumping from a telecommunications mast in the backstage artists' parking area. Haddon was reported to have been distressed after he feared he had seriously injured a young girl earlier after a stagedive. In 2012, singer

Randy Blythe Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them ...

of American heavy metal band Lamb of God was indicted on (and later acquitted of) charges of manslaughter relating to the death of a fan in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

after the fan was injured after being pushed off the stage. In February 2014, federal judge Jan E. DuBois ruled that

Fishbone Fishbone is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1979, that plays a fusion of ska, punk, funk, metal, reggae, and soul. AllMusic has described the group as "one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the lat ...

had to pay $1.4 million to a woman who broke her skull and

collarbone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

during a 2010 concert in Philadelphia when

Angelo Moore Angelo Carmen Christopher Moore (born November 5, 1965) is an American musician, best known for his work as lead singer and saxophonist for the Los Angeles ska and funk metal band Fishbone. Moore also performs and records under the stage name Dr ...

stage-dove and landed on top of her. Another fatal stage diving incident occurred in May 2014 in New York City during a performance of the metalcore band

Miss May I Miss May I is an American metalcore band from Troy, Ohio. Formed in 2007, they signed to Rise Records in 2008 and released their debut album, ''Apologies Are for the Weak'' through the label while the members were still attending high school. ...

. Although the fan was able to walk away after falling from the stage, the concert was cut short after he fainted. He later died in hospital.

References

External links

"Is Jumping on Someone's Head OK? Musicians Weigh In on the Great Stagedive Debate"
at ''Vice'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stage Diving Punk Heavy metal subculture Rock music Syllabus-free dance de:Crowdsurfing#Stagediving

Risks and incidents

See also

References

External links