Nitro Circus Live is back – and this time it’s taking North America by storm. With 13 shows in 13 cities during the month of January, the Travis Pastrana led stunt crew certainly has its hands full.
You’ve seen it on the big screen, you’ve seen it on the small screen, but seeing it in person is a whole other experience, with stunts that will leaving you either cringing or discussing their lack of brain cells. We recently got to witness first hand their Philadelphia stop on the tour – which just so happens to be the closest to Pastrana’s hometown in Maryland – and it was clear he wanted to go even bigger.
Before the fans even began to pile into the Wells Fargo Center, hundreds of lucky fans were treated to a special behind-the-scenes practice. There, the whole gamut of inline skating, scooters, BMX, motocross and more got together to test out their equipment and the ramps, making sure not to give too much away before the show. It lasted about 45 minutes before introducing several big names of the event.
The arena had a distinct hint of gasoline as the near sold out crowd entered, and as the fans headed to their seats the crew got the crowd ready to go with a few interactive contests. Within no time, the lights dimmed and the show was off, causing almost immediate sensory overload – in a good way!
Introductions took place with several athletes doing big tricks within mere seconds of each other. Some went down the huge 50-foot tall megaramp, others jumped off the 20-foot ramps. Then it was time to watch these stuntmen at work, providing a great deal of excitement and disbelief.
Almost immediately, one member jumped off the megaramp on nothing but a carpet. The next went off on a tricycle, the next a beer cooler. As each member went down, the contraption on their butt or in between their legs got more asinine as it continued. And even Pastrana, who had not performed much with his crew in the past due to prior responsibilities, got into the action. The motocross star decided to go down on a BMX bike, pulling off a huge trick, much to the surprise of his cohorts.
At one point, the guys were going off two separate ramps at the same time so fast, that the announcers could barely keep up with shouting out the variety or tricks they were pulling off. And then came the intermission, a chance to take a breath and process what was just seen.
When the lights once again dimmed back down, the athletes got back to work. They pulled fans out of volunteers early on and now it was their time to shine. Two kids were placed on a moto bike and sent hurling off the ramp with one of the stars, who landed a perfect backflip. It hadn’t gone quite as well during some of last year’s stops, and they showed several crashes with previous volunteers.
It was followed up by a number of different stunts and contraptions but if you want to know all about that, you’re just going to have to check out the show for yourself. The finale sent roughly 28 of the athletes off two separate ramps at the same time. On one was the BMX/skate crew and on the other was the motocross crew. The tricks performed at that point and throughout the night made Evel Keneval look like the minor leagues. Nitro Circus Live combines big stunts with a splash of daredevil antics and leaves you not only in awe, but questioning this group’s smartness.
Ed Miller is a contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
