Big Day Out 1999
I went there on my own, with the plan being that I would meet my girlfriend there. After spending all day moving from one failed arranged meet to the next, to the background of bands I didn't much care for and text messages alerts proffering the next possible meeting spot, I lost interest and decided to make my way to the front ready for Metallica.

Finally, reaching the front just in time for the start of the set, I was convinced this was going to be the epic climax I needed to a crap day.

The Ecstasy Of Gold started playing; excellent. The crowd started pulsating and going mental; excellent. Breadfan tears the stage up as Metallica open with the loudest noise I've ever heard; jackpot!

Until, in the excitement, the mosh-pit collapsed. This is ok, it's fixable. But as one part of the field stood back up, another fell down and it was cascading. A radius of about 20 people was collapsing around the front of the pit. Security couldn't pull people out fast enough, and the people at the back, naturally, didn't know to stop pushing. I was smack bang in the middle of this and felt like I actually came close to dying. There I was in the scorching sun, a little bit steaming and probably de-hydrated, trying to stay on my feet as 6 foot, brick-shithouse biker-types were collapsing around and on top of me and *bawling their eyes out*.

Metallica eventually had to stop playing to let the crowd get sorted (kudos to them for that, actually. It really was getting serious.) and stood back up.

I fell my way backwards out of the crowd, grateful to be alive, and crash landed on a grass verge just beyond the main crowd line. I watched the remainder of the set from there, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

My parents had arranged to be in the area to pick me up that evening and on the way home, basking in the glory of being alive and having seen my then heroes play live, I had the added bonus of more text messages and missed calls from my angel of a girlfriend. Apparently Pres, her supposed ex-boyfriend, had decided that, after spending the day with her and his friends, they were going to go home but had no room in the car for her. And she needed a lift. Bless.

Last I heard, her parents had to drive from Manchester to Milton Keynes at about 11pm to pick their darling daughter up.
(Her Ghost zomegle.com, Sat 6 Jun 2009, 18:55, Reply)