In both settings, theyāre scenes familiar to Laurie Vincent - guitarist for rock-duo Slaves, lead singer-songwriter for Larry Pink the Human, and Palace fan through-and-through.
While mosh pits might seem a distant memory in a COVID world - whether in the mayhem of a celebrating Holmesdale or the ecstasy of a Slaves show - their therapeutic value is not lost on Vincent, who, like every Palace fan, is missing the electricity of a sold-out Selhurst.
āIāve got this quite spiritual view of football,ā he admits. āItās the one place where men can really express all their emotions - Selhurst Park especially. You go to a game and it feels like church. It feels like people are allowed to completely lose themselves and itās safe to do so.ā
Coming from a profession where venues themselves can make or break a show, the magic of SE25 is especially important in that sense: āMost of the great stadiums have been lost and theyāre being replaced by stadiums that are almost too big.
āSelhurst Park is one of the last of the āold guardā and itās such a special place to be. Last season I saw Palace v Brighton there, the 1-1 draw, and the atmosphere in that crowd was just unbelievable.ā
Given that the guitarist is well-practised in crafting atmospheres - Slaves boast sell-out shows at Alexandra Palace and prime slots at Glastonbury, Reading and gigs all over the world - thereās no question Vincent knows what heās talking about.
āWhen youāre watching [football] youāve got to be completely present; you canāt be checking your phone because you might miss something. Itās quite rare that anything requires us to be fully present. I think football is something really real.
āIt means so much to so many people.ā He repeats: āItās almost become spiritual to me.āĀ
Vicent's Palace connection is an emotional one that, in his case, is only strengthened by family ties: āMy cousin-in-law is Palaceās kit managerā¦ my father-in-law was a Season Ticket holder, my grandad is a fan, [Slaves bandmate] Isaac [Holman]ās family are Palace fans; so all my connections are Palace.ā
And now a father of two, he finds himself passing Palace down the generations: āWhen I first really started getting into Palace I was actually living in Brighton. I used to take my son to Little Kickers dressed in a full Palace kit. It turned out that the coach was a Palace fan and one of the other dads was, too. It was like this secret Palace club in Brighton.
āI always like doing something to wind people up like that.ā
Vincentās latest opportunity to proudly show his Palace colours came at FIFA 21ās World Premiere. Featured on the gameās soundtrack, he was invited to perform Larry Pink the Humanās Might Delete Later at a live session. Naturally, he took the opportunity to rock up in a vintage TDK home shirt.
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āThey said we were going to do a live session [for the FIFA 21 soundtrack] and I asked if theyād care if I wore a Palace shirt. They actually encouraged it! I started this project in January, so itās nearly a year old nowā¦ it just felt like it was time to step outside my comfort zone.
āIāve wanted to be on FIFA forever. I always thought Slaves would do it but I think over the years FIFA got less and less heavy and a bit more urban. There was guitar music but it was softer. We started putting Larry Pink the Human stuff out and got interest from them. They picked Might Delete Later and it all just started rolling from thereā¦
āI wanted to challenge myself to see if I could make music that could really soundtrack peopleās lives.ā
Youāll struggle to find soundtracks more formative than FIFA's; and like all of us, Vincent still has classic tracks etched into his memory from hours on the game.
āFIFA 06 is the one thatās seared into my brain. The one with Nine Black Alps, Bloc Party and Doves on it. You spend hours in those menus between the games, picking your teams or looking at your stats. Itās crazy to think that it will be my music playing for someone else.ā
Itās a prospect that would excite any football-loving musician, and, turning back to Palace, itās clear Vincent is similarly excited about the clubās future: āWhen you look at the team - the steps itās taking with the Academy and the young players, and even players like Vicente Guaita - we seem to sign these amazing players.
āWhen we signed Gary Cahill last season, that was unbelievable. Iām a bit obsessed with him strangely,ā he jokes. āI just see the players we have, theyāre so good, and now weāve switched back to 4-4-2, it feels properly exciting to watch.ā
And for now, while mosh pits are strictly off the cards - and neither the music nor football industry can rely on the irreplaceable frenzy that a live crowd brings - finding new ways to bring excitement into peopleās lives is more important than ever.
āYou have to keep adapting. Punk music especially lives in a live space. You want to go and see it live; so the challenge was creating music where you donāt have to tour as muchā¦ Thereās definitely a parallel [with football]. You have to keep thinking of ways to make it exciting for people.ā
At the core though, the important - even "spiritual" - principles remain the same.
āThat sense of unity with the people around you and coming together for a joint purpose: itās something thatās not common in our culture and I think football gets a bad rap when people donāt understand that. If you havenāt been to a game and havenāt experienced it - that communal sense of happiness or sadness or excitement.
āItās important for our connection as human beings, in this day and age, where we are quite isolated and donāt interact as much.ā
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