So, I’m not a petrol head, I know nothing about horsepower and to be honest I have no real interest in cars. But I have to admit that Monster Jam at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale is quite simply awesome! It’s noisy, it’s brash and it is one seriously good evening for all the family.
I was invited to the Friday night show with my 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. We went to the hour-long Pit Party before the evening’s show. It was a chance to get up close and personal with the trucks, the tires of which were all distinctly higher than my kids! There were long lines to meet the drivers who were ready to sign autograph books. There was also a collection of cars, all stacked up, waiting to be crushed in the show.
Then the main event, and with a roar of noise the trucks revved their engines and got ready to show the crowd what they could do. First up each of the eight drivers took their vehicles for a ‘spin’, which in Monster Jam terms means seeing how high they can jump while crushing a pile of cars. A panel of judges gave marks out of ten to decide who took first place.
Next the trucks went into a knock-out, head-to-head competition, which involved them racing around the circuit as fast as they could, while jumping and (yes, you guessed it) crushing cars! There’s something quite amazing about seeing these powerful machines soaring up into the air. The higher they went the higher my kids seemed to jump out of their seats. It was an amazing atmosphere inside the stadium – lots of cheering, lots of shouting, all trying to compete with the roar of the cars.
After the intermission it was the turn of the two-wheels. First up, the BMX bikes showing off some seriously impressive stunts. Then the motorbikes speeding up a 20-foot jump and hurtling through the air, with the riders spinning their handlebars, standing up on their seats and generally re-defining the term ‘daredevil’.
Then the culmination of the event: each truck given 60 seconds of freestyle time to race, spin, jump, and crush. They pulled out all the stops, pushing the cars to their limits. And that meant a few unscheduled mishaps. One of the trucks burst a tire, another got stuck on top of a pile of a cars, and another tottered on two wheels before tipping over onto its roof. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of these got the biggest cheers. The whole show was more than two hours long, but the time flew by.
As you’d expect there’s plenty of Monster Truck and Hot Wheels merchandise to buy and lots of food stands for snacks and drinks. One thing worth noting: the event is very very loud! It’s definitely worth taking some ear defenders for younger kids. But they do have them for sale should you turn up without any.
A fast-paced, high-octane evening, which I would recommend in a heartbeat. The only problem though is that my son has decided he now wants to be a Monster Truck driver and my daughter wants to be a biker.
Ticket prices for adults are $43-$82. Children's tickets are around $20.
