London Stadium - Monster Jam 2023

Around 6 years ago now we took a long weekend to Cardiff in Wales staying in a caravan as part of a trip to watch the US Monster Jam show. The boys were somewhat younger back then and Holly was too small to enjoy the show, so it was just me and the boys whilst Tina entertained Holly. Ever since then we have been waiting to go back to a Monster Jam show as a whole family and this year we was fortunate enough to accomplish this as the 2023 show was being held on the sacred West Ham football pitch at the London Stadium.

Things have certainly changed with the boys since Cardiff. Gone are the days of buying them some popcorn and a soft drink, now it is super expensive ciders and hot dogs!!!!! Joshua seemed really uninterested in the show from the outset and just looked like he wanted to go home to play GTA. Brandon enjoyed it and me and him had some good petrol head discussions. Holly was a little bored at the start when we was waiting for the show to start, but she soon started enjoying it once the roar of the Monster Trucks deafened the stadium.

The format was much the same as Cardiff with the trucks all racing in pairs during a knockout stage for the first half of the show. This was won by the new Iron Man Monster Jam. After this there was a skills event where each truck had two attempts to pull off a skill. This was where the OG Monster Trucks came in to their own with Grave Digger performing well and just being beaten by Maximum-D. Then the final round each truck has 2 mins to just "send-it" freestyle and the audience votes scores on an App. Again the OG trucks proved their prowess on the freestyle with my favourite Megladon along with Maximum-D and Grave Digger showing the new trucks how it is done.

Two or three trucks tried the elusive back flip and all ended up trashed and being towed off the arena. Megaldon also ended up scrap after finishing it's 2 min freestyle run upside down on its roof. The OG "El Toro Loco" was a bit of a let down throughout the show and neither me or the boys were really impressed with the new breed of Monster Jam's which included Black Panther, Spiderman, Iron Man and Thor. Clearly these themed trucks have been brought in to bring in a new audience, but to be honest I would have rather seen Zombie, or Monster Mutt myself.

Our beloved and sacred West Ham football pitch is unrecognisable for the Monster Jam show.

Boys were too busy drinking their cider to pose for a picture.

The show starts and the OG Grave Digger leads out the noise.

My favourite and pick for the day - Megladon.

The new breed of Monster Jam - Black Panther, Spiderman, Iron Man and Thor.

The OG's - Maximum-D, Megladon, El Toro Loco and Grave Digger.

Megladon is drawn in heat one against Maximum-D.

All lined up and ready to start.

The one and only Grave Digger getting some air time.

El Toro Loco looked fantastic, but definitely had an off day.

Grave Digger was pipped to the post by Iron Man in the final of the racing.

Great shot of Megladon hitting some air.

And another.

And more, yes this is my favourite truck so lots of pictures.

Maximum-D leaving it all out there with a back flip in the freestyle round.

Another Magladon picture.

Maximum-D put on a great show as always.

Megladon performing an end over and driving on it's front wheels.

Grave Digger went on to smash the freestyle and win the Championship for the day.

The champ.

Suppose I should show some pics of the new breed - here is the Spiderman one.