The one where we go to Monster Jam… again!

My two boys have both enjoyed watching Monster Jam on the television for quite some time. It’s gone off the radar a little at times as it’s no longer shown on a UK channel, however when we watch it on YouTube or the like they totally rekindle their love.

Imagine our excitement to get tickets to go see Monster Jam in Manchester – we bought them for NJ’s birthday and went at the beginning of May to watch the show. In all honesty, with our grown up heads on, we were disappointed – there was no mud and the jumps looked like the crates that you see bread and sandwiches delivered on. We contacted the team at Monster Jam and Feld Entertainment who, in fairness, were brilliant. All of which ultimately led to us visiting Monster jam in their last stop in the UK, Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. They were so good that they even threw in Pit Party passes which was a really nice gesture.

So, this past weekend, we headed down the M1 in the driving rain, having kept the second visit a secret from the boys. As we pulled up to the stadium they thought we were heading to do some shopping so were quite surprised at seeing some of the Monster Jam signs. As we made our way through the site to the Pit Party it became harder to keep the secret so, whilst at the bag check we asked if the boys wanted to go and see the trucks? Of course they said yes, which is lucky. The rain was calming down and we really enjoyed getting up close all 8 trucks but especially our favourite, El Toro Loco and Max-D, who is rapidly creeping up our leaderboard of favourites!

 

Due to the wet weather the drivers were indoors so we had a bit of a queue to get autographs and photos but after that we made our way into the arena – although not before adding to our 1:64 collection – we bought a Megalodon and a Pirate’s Curse. The trucks on the merchandise is probably my only negative in terms of the huge price hike compared to standard retail. The 1:64 trucks were £15 EACH! The following day in Smyth’s Toy Stores NJ used a birthday gift card and bought two for £10! They also said the bigger 1:24 for £30, which retail at £10 in Smyth’s! Typical I guess of these kind of events but we probably won’t buy trucks here next year!

In the stands we watched the dirt crew prepping the arena, getting rid of as much water as they could – the rain had finally stopped but had been torrential for many hours prior but we enjoyed watching the bulldozers and diggers shifting dirt around and the painting of the ramps!
Monster Jam dirt crew at Ricoh Arena

Eventually we hit 3pm and heard those words…. “THIS…IS… MONSTERJAM!” And out came the trucks. On the bill today we saw El Toro Loco, Max-D, Grave Digger, Monster Energy, Megalodon, Zombie, Wonder Woman and Earth Shaker.

It was great to watch our boy Mark List making it to the racing final in El Toro Loco, only to be narrowly beaten by Max-D. He did then go on to win the Donut challenge though, much to NJ’s delight!

The two wheel challenge was tough with the wet, slippery and muddy conditions, but Freestyle was great and the drivers left nothing in the garage. El Toro Loco landed a great high jump but blew out as he landed. Max-D emerged from the parking lot without his spiky body armour, which he’d badly damaged in the 2 wheel challenge and, much to NJs delight, Monster Energy carried out the day’s only backflip attempt, not quite nailing the landing and remaining stranded in the corner for the remainder of the event!

Broken El Toro Loco at Monster Jam Coventry, UK Max-D with no body kit at Monster Jam Coventry, UK

All in all we had a really great day – thanks to Monster Jam and Feld Entertainment for handling our concerns about the Manchester event and providing us with tickets for Coventry’s show – they handled this really well and we are totally on the lookout for announcements about 2020!

Notes From A Dad at Monster Jam in Coventry, UK

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