Like it does with everything else, Nitro Circus crashed into the Los Angeles Staples Center on Nov. 6 to give sports fans a terrific live action show.  Led by X Games gold medalist Travis Pastrana, this 2015-2016 tour of North America is no typical circus. Featuring various riders from all over the world who attempted multiple precarious and exhilarating stunts and performing some of the World’s Firsts, Nitro Circus kept its audiences thrilled and captivated.

Nitro Circus Live is a reality television show that premiered in 2012, and dates back to 2003. Led by X Games gold medalist Travis Pastrana, Nitro Circus has been amassing people together and traveling around the world since then. The show features champions, guest stars, audience members and athletes from around the world, such as Billy Cyrus from Ireland, Jolene Van Vugt from Canada, and many more. There is a variety of both familiar vehicles and bizarre contraptions that the athletes attempt that makes it distinctive from other shows. Since then, there have been two television series (Nitro Circus and Nitro Circus Live) on MTV, a 3D movie, and numerous tours around the world. The LA show was dedicated to one of the members, Erik Roner, who died in a skydiving accident in September. The dedication was to commemorate his time with the circus and the good memories that were made there with him.

Our Review

Upon the start of the show, the music began to blare loudly, the strobe lights and spot lights turned on, and everything immediately got very loud and very bright. The show opened with a throwback to a typical “1920’s three ring circus”. The show was divided into different segments. In one, the athletes rode a bathtub, a rocking horse, a barrel, and many more down an astonishing 50-foot high ramp. In another segment, a game was played where athletes rode down the ramp on their chosen devices in an attempt to launch themselves into an inflatable ball with a human-sized hole in it. Throughout the show, special guests performed a variety of tricks that have ‘never been done before’ or, ‘were near to impossible’ to complete, including a double backflip on a bike and a triple backflip on a dirt bike. Even more exciting was the fact that it and many other tricks in the show were performed for the first time ever, that night.

Altogether, the show was filled with disarming tension and anticipation. The announcers managed to both keep the audience entertained and informed while building up suspense before a particularly dangerous move or trick that seemed outrageous and or perilous. However, some of these methods for doing so were unnecessary. Before demonstrating a particularly dangerous move, clips of previous attempts to do this trick were played for the audience to see on the massive Jumbotron. Some videos would make the audience cringe, as many of these attempts led to serious injuries. It proved an effective method for building up suspense, but nobody wanted to watch videos of people getting hurt. In reflection, simply telling the audience what occurred during this previous attempt might be a milder, less explicit means to build up the tension.

However, it was, overall, a good show and an enjoyable experience. The family dynamic between the cast members was great. It was particularly interesting to see the athletes from around the world, and fans of the ‘X-Games’ might have recognized their favorite competitors on stage. A personal highlight was a rider named Bruce Cook, who is paralyzed from the waist down but still managed to backflip a dirt bike that was outfitted especially for him. And then, of course, was the triple-backflip on the dirt bike and the double backflip on the BMX bike. After that, the show slightly dragged a little until the end, repeating a few moves it had performed earlier, because really, how can you possibly get better than a triple-backflip? Nitro Circus didn’t seem to know either, but that was okay, since the audience seemed satisfied. What’s particularly cool is that the riders seem to invent their own tricks and practice them especially for the show. It is not common to see one jump a ramp on a La-Z Boy. It is the kind of creativity that makes the show unique.

In the end, Nitro Circus is an event one would not regret attending. It’s loud, fast, upbeat, and a very fun show. While younger children might not enjoy it to an extent, they would still be enthralled by the dangerous stunts that some of the riders managed to pull off. And even if the event itself might not be within the interests of some, it is still very, very entertaining and does not disappoint.

image courtesy of grandpix.com