Your First Metal Concert: The Guide Nobody Gives You

Your first metal show is loud, sweaty and, if you prepare a little, one of the best nights you'll have all year. This guide covers what nobody tells you before you go: tickets, ear protection, what to wear, how the pit works and how to get home in one piece.

Before the night: tickets and timing

Buy from the venue, the promoter or the band's official links. Resale sites are where fake and overpriced tickets live, so if a show is sold out, check the venue's own resale or waitlist first.

Look up set times on the day. Most venues post them a few hours before doors open. Doors are not the start of the show: there is usually a gap of an hour before the first support band, and the headliner often plays two or three hours after doors. Support bands are worth catching. Plenty of fans discover their next favourite band that way.

Protect your ears

This is the one rule that matters. A metal show regularly runs above 100 decibels, and at that level hearing damage can start in under fifteen minutes. Ringing ears the next day is damage, not a badge.

• Foam earplugs are cheap and better than nothing, but they muffle everything.
• High-fidelity earplugs (musician's plugs) lower the volume evenly, so the music still sounds clear. They cost about the same as a band T-shirt and last for years.
• Don't stand right in front of the speaker stacks, even with plugs.

What to wear and bring

Black band shirts are optional. Nobody checks whether you can name three albums.

How the pit actually works

The mosh pit looks chaotic from outside, but it runs on simple, widely shared rules:

1. If someone falls, pick them up. Immediately. This is the first rule of every pit.
2. Go in willingly, or stay out. The pit is usually in the centre. If you don't want to be in it, stand towards the sides or the back, where people simply watch and headbang.
3. No fists, no elbows, no kicks. Pushing shoulder to shoulder is the game. Hurting people is not.
4. Hold on to your stuff. Phones and glasses get lost first. Put them in a zipped pocket.
5. Crowd-surfers come towards the front. Support them overhead and pass them forward; security catches them at the barrier.

A circle pit is a running circle around an open space. A wall of death is when the crowd splits into two sides that run into each other on the band's cue. If either isn't for you, step back before it starts.

Look after yourself

Drink water between songs. Venues get hot, and the front is the hottest place in the building. Eat before you go. If you feel faint, raise your hand towards the barrier and security will pull you out; that's exactly what they're there for. Agree a meeting point with friends in case you get separated, because phones barely work in a packed room.

After the show

The merch stand is busiest right after the encore. If there's a shirt you really want, buy it before the headliner or wait until the queue thins. Check the last train or bus before you leave home, not at midnight.

Then go home, take the earplugs out, and enjoy the quiet. You'll be looking up the next tour date before you fall asleep.