Growing up, the idea of going to the circus consisted of seeing a bunch of wild animals you normally wouldn’t see, crazy acts, full grown adults decked out as clowns and sometimes some cool stuff like motorcycles, cannons and fire. It seems like over the years people have started to crave seeing crazier things thanks to TV and the internet essentially desensitizing them. So, when it comes to entertaining people, it better be pretty damn wild to make it worth while… At least for people who are more into action sports and “adrenaline junkies”.
By now, there’s no denying that you have heard of the Nitro Circus. Between the TV shows and the constant flow of crazy videos popping up on Youtube, it’s hard to miss them. Travis Pastrana has essentially formed this massive crew of crazy people from BMX riders to freestyle motocross, scooters, rollerblades, skateboards and pretty much a few guys who are just crazy enough to send it on whatever they can take a ride on. Since the show took off, they started touring to stadiums around the world doing shows filled with wild riding, never before done’s and a lot of goofy stuff just to see if it could be done or to get peoples reaction. Add in two hype men, one being BMX’s own Andy Zeiss, some loud music and plenty of fire… You’re bound to get people pretty excited…
The other night, the crew rolled into Minneapolis, and we were invited up to check out the show. Obviously there was no way to miss this, especially since we’ve been seeing some crazy footage from some of their previous shows and hearing rumors of things that were going down. There was a pretty high level of expectations as to just how crazy things were going to get, and needless to say… The show didn’t disappoint. Between all the crazy riding, seeing a paralyzed guy do a backflip on a dirt bike, Ryan Williams pull off a nothing forward bike flip (which is pretty unreal, by the way) and really just seeing how many kids are exposed to BMX (and the other stuff) is pretty amazing.
Although it can be a little cheesy and some people aren’t really that big of fans of what these guys do, we were still stoked on the show and really were left with one thing on our mind. If you ever get the chance to see a Nitro Circus show… DO IT. It’s a good way to spend a Saturday night, that’s for sure.
Below are just a few photos we snapped. Due to not having my flash and low lighting, it was a little tricky getting the quality, but we ended up with a few solid photos giving you a look at what went down. Take a peek!
Mix loud music with a lot of fire and you’re off to a good start. Travis Pastrana getting the party started.
Gotta have some hype men to keep the crowd into it. Some of you might recognize that second guy… Andy Zeiss is the Vans Europe team manager. It’s good to see core guys making the calls, versus some random guy who kind of knows which BMX tricks are which.
James Foster, Jed Mildon held it down for the BMX show with the occasional trick on a BMX bike from Ryan Williams and Special Greg.
The freestyle motocross guys are so wild. It’s gotta be weird sending some of the craziest tricks in a tight setup like the Nitro Circus works with.
These guys were sending it on the ramp with pretty much anything they could get to roll or slide off the ramps. Double decker bikes, barrels with wheels, Big Wheels, skis, snowboards, surfboards.. You would be surprised what can fly over these ramps.
Bruce Cook might be paralyzed, but some how he defied pretty much every doctors word that said he would never ride a dirt bike again. A little help from a seat belt and a few zip ties and he’s good to go for some backflips.
Yeah, that’s 4 people doing a backflip on the dirt bike… Three of those people started the night off in the crowd and I’m pretty sure one ended up at the hospital…
Zorb golfing looks like a good time to us.
It’s kind of hard to believe that photo above, so we included a link to the video. Ryan Williams might be a scooter rider, but he might as well be a BMX rider because he was doing all sorts of crazy shit on a bike, including this Nothing Forward Bike Flip. Basically he lets go as the bike front flips, grabs back on and lands. Did NOT expect him to land that one.
Double backflips on a dirt bike are no joke. Such a crazy thing to see in person.
So, like we said above… If you ever have the chance to see a Nitro Circus live show… Do it. You won’t be disappointed and you will probably see something you never expected to see or never thought was possible. Overall, we were stoked on it.
Check out more from the Nitro Circus crew.
