A great day out for the family!
by P3EPS on 23/09/2024OVO Hydro - GlasgowRating: 4 out of 5My 5 year old son is a monster truck fanatic and has a whole collection of Monster Jam (and Hot Wheels) trucks in various shapes and sizes. I'm in Aberdeen, but when I saw Monster Jam was coming to Glasgow, I thought I must get tickets. I got the best seats I could through the FELD pre-sale, and also the pit lane party. 2 adults, 2 kids - £330. We booked a hotel near the OVO, and drove down the day before.
The Pit Party was brilliant. We managed to get photos / signatures with 5 out of the 6 drivers, but would have needed another 45 mins to get to Matt Cody / Gravedigger as his line was huge. We did get a pic of Gravedigger with my son next to it though!
Merch prices were pretty steep - £15 for a programme, £35 for a 1:24 toy truck that I could buy on Amazon for £10, and £30 for a baseball cap. £15 to get a Monster Jam driving licence made up. They know they've got you... and there's not a lot you can do about it!
Clearly, the 'Ramped Up' format is a way to get the trucks in an arena that's not their 'natural environment'. These things are meant to be jumping in dirt in huge stadiums, not a slidey concrete floor inside a relatively small concert hall. It actually worked though!
The show was divided into sections where we could score the trucks / drivers. A race (1 lap round the arena floor), 2 wheel challenge, donut challenge and freestyle.
The race lasted about 30 seconds per heat and the 2 wheel challenge lasted anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes depending on the drivers skill. After this, it was half time and they took out a large kicker and had MX bikes jumping to pad the show out a bit.
The second half started with the donut challenge. I don't know if the drivers were warned about the length of their donuts due to it being indoors as they were all about 10-15 seconds each max. I've seen them going on dirt for way longer... but with the smell and smoke indoors, I guess they had to tone it down.
The freestyle was the bit everyone was waiting for where we expect to see big jumps and stunts... but each driver only got 1 minute to showcase their truck.
Out of the 6 trucks, 3 of them 'died' half way through the freestyle and never completed their full minute.
Gravedigger saved the show by landing an amazing backflip at the end. Gravedigger and Black Panther were the only 2 trucks that weren't towed away by a huge JCB at some point to be repaired. Maybe that was the downside to going to the last show - tired trucks - but I thought they'd have been resilient enough to handle what was thrown at them.
Each truck was probably driven for less than 10 minutes during the show, and out of the 2 and a half hour show, there was probably about 40 mins of trucks, and the rest was padding.
We had great seats, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. A long day being there for the Pit Party at 10.30 - 12.00, then the show from 13.00 - 15.30... then the 2 1/2 hour drive back to Aberdeen... but it was worth it for the smiles on my sons face. Even my 9 year old daughter enjoyed it - especially when she realised Thor was driven by a young blonde lady! Myranda Cozad made her day by signing her programme and Monster Jam driving licence - and writing 'girl power' on it!
I'll be looking out for the next Monster Jam event in Scotland... but would love to see it outdoors where they're not so restricted.