At every single gig I have attended, there has always been at least one band claiming we in Montréal (and in the canadian province of Québec in general) have the most insane crowds, along with Brazil, Russia, etc. Of course, that's a very old "rock n' roll" way to stimulate your crowd, but I must admit most of the time, when I watch metal shows on YouTube, the crowds of England or Sweden, for example, suck big time (no offense, eh ).

So, do you think some parts of the world spawn wilder, more intense metalheads?

Please share your own experiences and feelings, before claiming your region is the world's #1 Metal-Land, as I am sure you will...

Romania is definitely near the bottom. not metal-related though, but on Michael Jackson's 1992 Dangerous Tour show they were absolutely wild at least.

but on the metal side, check these two videos out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFUolNo_T6c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uubOLkNKTiU

big 4 shows are great if you want to see Metallica with tons of other fanboys and maybe drink some beer for the rest of the bands. if you want to seriously enjoy ALL 4 of the bands, no chance. as you can see NO-one shouted anything or moshed during Anthrax's biggest hit(which was also the first song they played) and the crowd is quite weak during Slayer's Reign in Blood.

also, i hate to say but during Wacken Open Air i found it awkward numerous times when i was the only one in a 50-meter radius who knew any of the lyrics being sung or enjoying the show in any visible way, like when Running Wild was playing. it was like Rolf was the Gorgon, everyone turned into stone instantly. almost the same thing happened when Heaven and Hell played later that same night. But then again it might also be because i stepped quite a bit back in order to get the best sound and not get hit in the face by crowdsurfers(and at least with H&H, both of these things worked out superbly, the sound was absolutely orgasmic at least).

as for the best crowd, the Spanierds are quite crazy most of the time, and the 2 medium-sized concerts i attended there (Blind Guardian and WASP) all genuinely felt like huge parties. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETWPbZtWMF8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPrq1KkEVkE - this one was a request!

@vali why do you think you were the only one that knew the lyrics being sung?
Not singing along doesn't mean you don't know the lyrics. i for one refuse to sing along cause I hate it when others in my vicinity do cause it then I can't hear the music and vocals of the band properly.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.03.2011 at 00:35

@vali why do you think you were the only one that knew the lyrics being sung?
Not singing along doesn't mean you don't know the lyrics. i for one refuse to sing along cause I hate it when others in my vicinity do cause it then I can't hear the music and vocals of the band properly.

Totaly agee , I kow a lot of lyrics, but even what I know Im tired singing al the time , its like go to hockey why boys in curva have fun, sing , I sit and watch, game sometimes sing, I cant do it its fisicaly hard see many bands and sing and besides those screams yeahhh, c mon, wooow, maiden, priest , ruins sounds and I cant hear how muisc sounds and vocals to, I can sing silantly those lyrics what I know, and many times I do, but not loud

I usually agree about not singing, most of the time it just ruins the whole thing.
But sometimes, it's just awesome to sing along. Of course it all depends on the type of band. Taking the examples Valentine put up of Blind Guardian and WASP... having hundreds of people singing along "the bard's song" or "I want to be somebody" is just epic, spine chilling, it gives a great party atmosphere (limiting this to the chorus, most of the time).
Of course this couldn't be posible with stuff like black or death metal, would be pathetic hearing some people trying to imitate them

On topic, it might be a wrong feeling but I think that "warm climate" countries tend to have more enthousiastic fans (maybe coz we don't get alot of gigs and when we do, we go "OMG OMG OMG" *headexplodes* )

@vombatus I really do think it has to do with the amount of gigs one gets.
Imo that's the readon the Dutch are the most reserved people in the world at metal gigs. Because every single band plays our country wekre the most spoiled around I would say. In the late seventies and early eighties when we weren't spoiled we used to go apeshit. Even worse than what happens in South America nowaays.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.03.2011 at 02:35

@vombatus I really do think it has to do with the amount of gigs one gets.
Imo that's the readon the Dutch are the most reserved people in the world at metal gigs. Because every single band plays our country wekre the most spoiled around I would say. In the late seventies and early eighties when we weren't spoiled we used to go apeshit. Even worse than what happens in South America nowaays.

Well, in Montreal there are at least two metal gigs a week and we're still a crazy crowd... Maybe it has something to do with culture. We in Quebec are a very party-like people, in general. We make festivals for everything including "giblotte"(an obscure Quebec's meal), paper and fish...

@ Valentin B: lolll your video for "Caught in a Mosh" indeed shows one of the most boring crowd I've ever seen. Like four horns and one headbang.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.03.2011 at 00:35

@vali why do you think you were the only one that knew the lyrics being sung?
Not singing along doesn't mean you don't know the lyrics. i for one refuse to sing along cause I hate it when others in my vicinity do cause it then I can't hear the music and vocals of the band properly.

well i like to usually go along with the vocals, as i'm an amateur guitaro-vocalist myself, but for the general public there are certain moments it's really fun to sing along. like for example the chorus of "Caught in a Mosh" on that video. those guys were in the front row, if anyone knows those lyrics, it should be them. instead they opted to act like typical Metallica fanbitches and stand around and be immovable obstacles during the supporting bands.

@Metalomorphis, that's not all of it. i left home in order to get to the show 30 minutes earlier than Anthrax, but i was greeted with an enormous line of Metallica fanboys/girls which took ages to get through. Anthrax also started 5 minutes earlier than scheduled and i missed their first 2 songs (Caught in a Mosh and Time).

Written by Vombatus on 11.03.2011 at 02:30

I usually agree about not singing, most of the time it just ruins the whole thing.
But sometimes, it's just awesome to sing along. Of course it all depends on the type of band. Taking the examples Valentine put up of Blind Guardian and WASP... having hundreds of people singing along "the bard's song" or "I want to be somebody" is just epic, spine chilling, it gives a great party atmosphere (limiting this to the chorus, most of the time).
Of course this couldn't be posible with stuff like black or death metal, would be pathetic hearing some people trying to imitate them

Heh, first time Blind Guardian was in Belgrade, Hansi tried singing The Bard Song, but the crowd (800-1000 people) was louder than him and the band (and yes, there was nothing wrong with the sound setup) so he could only chime in on certain parts

Written by Vombatus on 11.03.2011 at 02:30
On topic, it might be a wrong feeling but I think that "warm climate" countries tend to have more enthousiastic fans (maybe coz we don't get alot of gigs and when we do, we go "OMG OMG OMG" *headexplodes* )

This might be true. Plus southern Europeans (Mediterraneans) are often considered more temperamental than the "inlanders"

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.03.2011 at 02:35

Even worse than what happens in South America nowaays.

Hhahahah hard to imagine. I was in one concert in Chile though, catching Theatre Of Tragedy's first (and last) tour in south america.
ApesHit crazy wouldn't be a way I'd describe that crowd. But we all were extremely happy about seeing them. I think we were very respectful, only sang and scream when they asked us to. It really showed in their faces that they were ahppy to see such a response, I'll bet they weren't expecting that at all ahahahahah.

Another friend of mine saw anathema (where Mar De Grises was the opening act back when they weren't as well known) and they were going to sing "One Last Goodbye" but Vincent let the crowd sing all the lyrics, my friend who was in the front line told me that Vincent's face was full of tears of emotion while seeing everybody sing as if their life depended on it . Yeah... I would say that Chile is a really good crowd for metal, hopefully Chile will get to see more bands but at the same time don't get spoiled.

Written by Valentin B on 11.03.2011 at 00:24

Romania is definitely near the bottom. not metal-related though, but on Michael Jackson's 1992 Dangerous Tour show they were absolutely wild at least.

but on the metal side, check these two videos out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFUolNo_T6c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uubOLkNKTiU

big 4 shows are great if you want to see Metallica with tons of other fanboys and maybe drink some beer for the rest of the bands. if you want to seriously enjoy ALL 4 of the bands, no chance. as you can see NO-one shouted anything or moshed during Anthrax's biggest hit(which was also the first song they played) and the crowd is quite weak during Slayer's Reign in Blood.

also, i hate to say but during Wacken Open Air i found it awkward numerous times when i was the only one in a 50-meter radius who knew any of the lyrics being sung or enjoying the show in any visible way, like when Running Wild was playing. it was like Rolf was the Gorgon, everyone turned into stone instantly. almost the same thing happened when Heaven and Hell played later that same night. But then again it might also be because i stepped quite a bit back in order to get the best sound and not get hit in the face by crowdsurfers(and at least with H&H, both of these things worked out superbly, the sound was absolutely orgasmic at least).

as for the best crowd, the Spanierds are quite crazy most of the time, and the 2 medium-sized concerts i attended there (Blind Guardian and WASP) all genuinely felt like huge parties. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETWPbZtWMF8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPrq1KkEVkE - this one was a request!

Totally agreed.

Hi, I'm from Santiago, Chile, and first I apologize for my bad English ... I want to show 3 videos I uploaded to youtube of the metal audience in Chile, the best of world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN0H8-oV5H4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nKSWCEDM_4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt4CCH1OlKo

Boston Metal Scean!!!