The pit. No, I'm not talking about an avocado pit, or the pit you get in your stomach right before you strap into a seat to ride the tallest roller coaster in the park. I'm talking about the pit at a concert.
In one of my sociology classes we learned about this phenomenon known as "collective effervescence." It's a term coined by famed sociologist Émile Durkheim and also serves as the name for my blog. Collective effervescence is a phenomenon seen when communities and societies gather in the same place. These people collectively bounce energy off each other. They exhibit the same thoughts and emotions while participating in the same action, and this serves to excite and unify the group. While Durkheim's studies focused on how this pertains to topics like politics and religion, I see it as the perfect description for what it's like to be in the pit.
When I'm in the pit, I feel as if I am a part of a living, breathing organism. I move and sway with everyone around me as we all scream the lyrics to the songs we've listened to a thousand times on car rides with friends or in private jam sessions. I feed off everyone else's energy too. The more the crowd gets amped and starts jumping around and singing, the less I care about my God-awful dance moves. In that moment, I am connected to everyone around me through our love of the artist performing on stage. At concerts I have experienced moments where I find myself laughing and singing lyrics with complete strangers next to me. It was the music and the moment that united us.
In the pit, I live in the moment. Sure, I take the obligatory Snapchats and pictures, but besides that the rest of the world melts away for a brief period of time. In that moment, I am in a bubble with the stage and crowd around me. I can't help but get caught up in the raw beauty of it all. Here, in the flesh, in front of my eyes and not pictured on the glow of my phone screen, is an artist that I have stalked on Spotify and probably Instagram. Around me are thousands of people who, just like me, are here to forget the world for a few hours to join together in our love of the artist that's performing. It's crazy.
I've never understood why people don't love the pit. Maybe it's because I'm tall, so I can actually see over crowds, or because I get so caught up in the music that I don't care about being shoved around and soaking up the sweat of everyone around me. However, there is no place I would rather be at a concert.
Everyone else can enjoy paying $60 to be perched all the way up in their cozy balcony seats. Sure, they don't have to deal with being pushed around and smushed up close to everyone else, but to me, that's half the fun. I'll take the potential bruises and puddles of sweat if it means I'm potentially five feet from an artist I love (or honestly, even an artist I barely know) having the night of a lifetime.