Stage diving
From Free net encyclopedia
Stage diving is the act of getting onto the stage at a concert while a band is playing—usually heavy metal or punk rock—and then "diving" into the crowd below, hoping they will catch you. If they catch you, you can then attempt to crowd surf: you remain supine while being passed from person to person over the audience's heads.
Iggy Pop and Peter Gabriel are among the first musicians to have stage dived. Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at rock music performances. Many musicians have made stage diving a part of their stage act. It represents an exciting act of audience participation and musicians have found that it can make an ideal climax to a show.
Stage diving has caused some serious injuries when the stage diver has not been caught by the audience below and have hit the floor with some force, sometimes head first. Stage divers can also injure the people they land on top of, or knock them over to be tramped by the dancing crowd. As a result of this most larger venues and festivals will now have a barrier between the crowd and the stage patrolled by an army of security stewards. This means that stage diving is nearly impossible, although people wanting to do it for the purpose of surfing can still succeed as they are often given a boost by people in the crowd. They are subsequently lifted up or thrown forward into the crowd. This method is particularly dangerous to those who do not know there is a crowd surfer coming from behind.