Back in July we had the opportunity to interview Adam Anderson, the Crown Prince of Monster Jam and were invited to head to the ANZ Stadium in Sydney when the Monster Jam crew arrived here in Australia so we could see the show. I accepted the invitation, knowing that the kids would love it, although I was apprehensive about the level of fun I would have myself.
T and I are always saying that it’s our attitude that will define the success of an experience, so when the day finally arrived to head off to Monster Jam I sucked in my trepidation, pushed my shoulders back and told the kids that we were going to have the best day. And you know what? It was a whole lot of fun.
Our tickets gave us access to the pits before the show. With Striker’s surgeon giving him clearance to attend on the condition that we did not put him on a Monster Truck, we stayed away from the Grave Digger and the opportunity to have a drive and instead walked around and had a look at each truck. We also needed lots of rest stops, so we agreed not to line up for signatures from the stars on this occasion (but you could if you go next time!). We found it amusing to watch little kids climb under the fence into the pits with encouragement from their parents so they could touch the trucks.
When we arrived in the arena, the kids and I left T to source food while we found our seats. Already the noise level was fairly high so we put on our ear protection ready in preparation. Shortly after, our hotdogs arrived! A full tummy is always going to make sure the kids are settled at an event.
So Monster Jam, what is it? Well, I’m no real expert, but it seems to me that it is basically a whole bunch of really big trucks with enormous suspensions doing crazy manoeuvres that one would think isn’t humanely possible. They are scored in a very similar way to the gymnastics – six judges provide a score out of ten, the middle four are then added together for the final score. The kids delighted in trying to work out the score before the commentator.
The highlight for the crowd seemed divided between amazing feats of skill, such as full truck somersaults, and crashes which often left the Monster Truck unable to do much more. I think every kid in the stadium was sitting on the edge of their seat each time a Monster Truck would hit the field.
So what was my overall thoughts? I did find there was a lot of waiting around for the Monster Trucks to get ready which bored me to bits. Perhaps some entertainment between races would alleviate this. However, both my kids absolutely loved the experience and have asked if we can go again next year. I guess they have 12 months to convince me, right?
Monster Jam visits Australia yearly with all the details released on the website well in advance. You can find all the details here: www.monsterjamonline.com.au. We were guests of Feld Entertainment. All opinions are my own.