There have been many opinions inflicted upon us this past ten days about what to do with these pesky rioters after the intifada of the teenagers last week, but here’s an idea for you.
They should not be thrown to the panopticons or even thrown to the wolves, they should be thrown into the moshpit of a Pogues gig. There they will have nobody to help them, they will have to fight to survive and they might learn a thing or two about proper fighting, not cowardly fighting.
I love moshpits; I was raised on them. I used to pogo to the Clash at the Roxy, have a tear-up with skinheads at the Lyceum* (*sit upstairs watching it) and only four years ago I jumped in at a Kings of Leon gig four years ago where I also had to have my glasses handed to me by a teenager after they were knocked off; not my coolest hour.
But the Pogues were the maddest. Kicked, thrown, punched, fallen, up, grabbed, still-holding-your-beer, ‘at the sick bed of Cuchulainn we’ll kneel and say a prayer, and the ghosts are rattling at the door and the devil’s in the CHAIR!
Bloody great fun, bruised all over, covered in beer… and you could smoke fags. A great British tradition, rather like rioting. Going to a gig was a laugh, the best fun to be had and it even used to be cheap.
No longer…. I went to see the Fleet Foxes in Brighton on Tuesday night and spent nearly thirty quid on a ticket. I saw them three months previously at Hammersmith Odeon. They were OK, they went through their two albums, the audience were reverential; no cover versions, no special guests; we all went home.
So this week, I wanted a bit more as Brighton’s Dome is a great place to watch a gig… Sufjans Stevens earlier this year was extraordinary. Alas, no. Same set and those Fleet Foxes were a little bit like Angry Foxes when some (polite, Brightonesque) hecklers told them to rock on a bit.
Enough was enough, it was like being in a morgue. My mate and I (we’d have a few, it should be said) walked out of the circle and decided to start our own mosh-pit. We knew the encore would be their two best songs, as they were before, so we pogoed like mental to Helplessness Blues and had a good time.
So, it came to me that not only rioters, but the Fleet Foxes could do with a spell in a mosh-pit, just to put some life into them. If I wanted to listen to the songs on their album, I can literally do it for free, but for thirty quid I want a bit more.
Put them together and let them pogo all night long. The Fleet Foxes can take their beardy anger out on the rioters who in turn can learn what it’s like to be bullied. Maybe it’ll make men out of them.
Monty Munford has more than 15 years' experience in mobile, digital media, web and journalism. He is the founder of Mob76, a company that helps tech companies raise money and exit. He speaks regularly at global media events with a focus on Africa, writes a weekly column for The Telegraph, is a regular contributor to The Economist, Wired, Mashable and speaks regularly on the BBC World Service.
