Monster Jam

The Monster Jam tour made its last stop in New Orleans at the Superdome on Saturday, March 30. Santa brought tickets for all four of us, so we headed downtown early that evening. We had planned to meet up with Dave, Colin, David, and Brennan at Walk Ons for dinner before the show, but every place anywhere near the Dome was completely slammed with people. So instead we went straight to the Dome.....the boys' first time inside!

We found our awesome seats (thanks Santa Mrs. Dana!) and settled down to take it all in. Kenny offered to walk all the way to the top with the boys, but only Riley wanted to go. Rory and I stayed in our seats, snacked on soft pretzels, and watched all of the pre-show entertainment. Kenny grabbed Riley a huge bowl of jambalaya on their way back, and the rest of the crew finally showed up just before the show began. 

Lots of people had warned us how loud it could get, and I was concerned that we had only brought foam earplugs with us instead of the fancy headphone-style ones, but it really didn't end up being too bad. It was loud, but it was bearable. However, it was freezing inside the Dome; I was very glad that I had made the boys wear jeans and that I had brought jackets for them. I don't know how Colin and Brennan made it through the night in just shorts and t-shirts!

There were 13 trucks competing. And I say competing because it really was more of a competition than pure entertainment. It's apparently become much more of a sport than a show, which was slightly disappointing. The trucks competed in three events, a head-to-head bracketed race, two-wheel skills challenge, and freestyle. Some of the things they did were very impressive, but I wanted to be entertained more than I was. 

However, it was pretty cool that two of the trucks, Whiplash and El Toro Loco, were driven by females. They came in second and third for the freestyle round. But Monster Energy was the big winner overall. Rory's favorite, Dragon Ice, came in fourth. Riley's favorite, Kraken, came in somewhere near the middle of the pack.

It was also neat to watch the huge machines come out to put the trucks back on their tires when they crashed, which they inevitably did. A lot. Our favorite part was when Monster Mutt's whole skin came off in one big piece!

I'm glad we finally got the chance to go, but I certainly don't need to go again. The boys enjoyed it enough to ask to go again next year, so we'll see what happens. It was an awfully late night though!