Yesterday, I wrote a piece about etiquette which, after a general introduction, I quickly moved in the direction of the unwritten rules that apply in a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert. One of the rules was to keep away from an idiot until a bigger guy comes to take him down. Remember this is against a cooperative backdrop, even if it does look particularly violent at times. On this occasion I was the bigger guy.

In May 2000, I was really excited about the concert I was about to go to. For a long time, since childhood, I had admired Ronnie James Dio from afar, but never actually got to see him live. He was my all time favourite singer. Sadly he passed away in 2010, but back to 2000, this was my first opportunity to see him. I did get chance to see him again in 2007, under the moniker of Heaven and Hell (the second incarnation of Black Sabbath when he replaced Ozzy Osbourne)

So, being the fan I am, I was keen to get as close to the front as possible. I found myself more or less in front of the centre of the stage and was probably about 2ft / approx, half a metre from the barrier with a tall guy, my height against the barrier. Not perfect, but not too bad either because I still had a pretty good view over his shoulder.

The concert started.

Then a girl who was about a foot shorter than me (and him too), appeared after weaving her way through the collective audience. I remember that she didn't even reach my chin, and I am not calling her short as I am quite tall at 180cm (6ft). 

She tapped him gently on the shoulder and it was obvious what she wanted - personally I would have accommodated her as she wasn't exactly going to block my view. He shrugged as though to cast off an irritating fly and so she tapped his shoulder again and elicited the same response, without him even looking back.

On her third attempt he pulled his arm up before thrusting his elbow back full force at her and had he made contact he would have splatted her face. This was too much for me and I had to intervene. 

So I tapped her on the shoulder and said to her "Just give me a minute".

I then, in tune with the music, started "throwing horns" in the direction of the stage. What I was actually doing was completely calculated because every time I thrust my hand forwards I slammed my forearm into the back of his head. He couldn't do anything because I just looked Iike I was expressing my exuborance and it was a part of the concert experience. 

But I knew exactly what I was doing!

I must have clattered his head seven or eight times and then he gave it up as a bad job and move elsewhere in the venue. I then simply invited the girl to set in front of me and she got a perfect view and, with her not being so tall, so did I.

And that is how you deal with an idiot at a concert. Yes, he was there first and he even had the right to refuse to move, but that didn't give him the right to put his elbow through her face - that was what I objected to

- and I am a gentleman of course, lol.

And by the way, if he wanted to attract Ronnie's attention and that was why he was at the front, I managed to and even made hand contact with him as he offered his hand to the assembled crowd and I had stepped no closer than I had always been. I'd just changed the person in front of me. If he had taken a step back and let her through he too would have been able to do this and I would have been next to him and so it wouldn't have been detrimental to either of our experiences.

As always, stay safe and well my friends