Review: Monster Jam

I cannot, unfortunately, be everywhere at once, so I sometimes ask my sweet friends to go cover events for me.  There has to be some upside to being friends with me.  Free tickets are it. Thank you, Heidi, for covering Monster Jam for me! 

 Until I walked into the arena, I didn’t realize how old my preconceived notions of a Monster Truck Jam were! This was nothing like the “Sunday Sunday Sunday” old school (vintage?) commercials from my childhood showing demolition-style events for drag-racing fans who own hotrods. 

My skepticism vanished within minutes of the start of the show! Current pop music was playing, the crowd (filled with young families) was cheering, and two announcers were building the anticipation about who would be the night’s champion. We attended a Friday evening event and tickets were still available.

Monster Jam is a very family-friendly event that combines exciting competition and fun entertainment. There is something for everyone:

• ·       Tournament brackets and physics-defying tricks for the STEM student
• ·       Constant action and anticipation for the thrill-seeker
• ·       Big trucks, speedsters, and ATV quad racers for the gear-head
• ·       Cheering & rallying for the competitor
• ·       Laughter and fun for the entire family

I also appreciated the diversity of the drivers, including women and various ethnicities to inspire children of all backgrounds. Again, my preconceived notions, to my delight, were quite wrong!

The show includes various competitions allowing each driver to accrue points. Competitions include driving donuts and an obstacle course. The favorite event in our family was the monster truck free style final competition which included ridiculously high jumps that do not seem possible with vehicles of such size. The evening went by quickly, about 2 hours long with a 15 minute intermission. There were no long pauses between events, keeping even the youngest guest entertained.

We each found ourselves quickly finding a favorite driver to cheer for throughout the evening. For us girls, we chose the driver of Monster Mutt: Dalmatian. But all of us could not resist extending our arms and cocking our head to the side in true “dead-man-walking” fashion whenever Zombie competed, accompanied by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

This mom of a 12-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl would absolutely recommend Monster Jam as a wonderful evening out for the whole family. Wear protective earphones or ear plugs (it is incredibly loud) and a jacket in cooler weather (the arena doors remain open for ventilation.) The only challenge to the event was the vendors selling very cool (but expensive, $15) cotton candy with a foam Grave Digger truck hat on the top, as well as other memorabilia, that the children will insist they cannot live without. Bring your credit card or set firm boundaries in advance.

You will have a blast!

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Disclosure: Heidi is much nicer than me, but would never ever lie, even if she was given tickets to be able to review an event.  All opinions are our own.