This is one of my most satisfying moments when I was studying abroad in Luxembourg.

I went to a rock concert for the European metal band “Epica”, and the venue was pretty small. The opening acts were great, and there was some downtime between sets while they set up the stage for Epica. Like most concerts, it was free-standing, and since a lot of people were heading back to check out merchandise or grab a beer, I took to the chance to move up a bit in the crowd to get closer to the stage- after all, Epica was one of my favorite bands and with the venue being small, I wanted to be as close as possible to get good pictures on my phone. I’d been slowly moving up all night without a problem, much like I would at an American concert.

When one woman didn’t like me moving in front of her. Now in Luxembourg, you come across 3 languages: French, German, and Luxembourgish. I had studied French but I don’t speak German very well or Luxembourgish at all. This woman was speaking one of the latter two languages. All I could translate was “before me” said in a very nasty tone.

So I ignored her, and got out my phone for pictures when the band came out.

That’s when she started elbowing me and jabbing her knee into back of mine, knocking me off balance. Every time I pressed my finger for a picture, she would bump into me so it blurred.

At first I thought maybe it was an accident. It was pretty crowded, and she was standing close behind me. So I looked over my shoulder to indicate she was hitting me, hoping she would readjust and stop.

Instead she said something in either German or Luxembourgish and just knocked me harder. She started yelling at me but 1) I didn’t speak her language and 2) we were right underneath the speakers so even if I did, I couldn’t hear her with the music playing.

For a moment, I thought about pushing her back, but I didn’t want to start a fight and risk getting kicked out of the venue (or worse since I was only there on a student visa). Instead I noticed the guy standing next to me appeared to be by himself. So when the next song ended I tapped him on the shoulder and asked (praying he spoke English) if he wouldn’t mind trading places with me. He more than happily obliged, and after we switched he made sure that I could see the stage all right from my new spot.

The woman went from having a slender, 5′4″ girl in front of her, to having a 6′2+, broad, stocky man with a long, voluminous, curly hair blocking her view. She couldn’t see anything around him. She gave me the dirtiest look, but with this tough, beefy metal guy between us, she couldn’t do anything. And because of how tightly packed the crowd had become, she had no way to move to see around this guy.

In other words, she screwed up my photos, and I screwed over her entire concert viewing-experience. And I got an even better spot in the crowd to see the band.

Edit:

Thanks for all the upvotes!

I wanted to clarify a few things:

• When I moved, the band was not playing, the lights were on and crew was on the stage taking down the equipment from Dragonforce to set up for Epica
• I moved because other people were leaving to go back towards the drinks and merchandise stands so spots were opening closer to the front.
• At every concert I’ve been to in America, it’s common to move between bands. Its when the lights are down and the band is playing that movement is frowned upon. I saw other people moving between the opening band Dagoba and Dragonforce, so I assumed it was the same in America and waiting until Dragonforce was over to find a better spot.
• The woman did not start pushing me and being aggressive until the band started playing and I tried to get a picture. We were also not anywhere near a mosh pit.