SATURDAY night’s monster truck show in Albury has been labelled a “monster dud” with disgruntled patrons declaring they won’t go to the event again.
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A crowd of about 1800 people turned out to watch the methanol-guzzling trucks at the Albury Showgrounds but yesterday some were not happy.
Complaints levelled at the event — which organisers say attracts 600,000 fans across Australia annually — included a premature finish, not enough monster truck action, that it was still daylight when the fireworks went off and the flame-throwing jet van was not on the program.
“It was a monster dud,” Wodonga’s Carol Page said after taking her children April, 17, Jake 14, her nephew and her son’s friend.
“Most of it was amateur motorbike riders and we hardly saw the monster trucks.
“When they did come on, Scooby Doo ended up wrecked and Batman caught on fire.
“Most of the time the kids were bored.”
Miss Page said she would not go back.
North Albury’s Jason Curtis, who admits being asked to leave by police after jumping the railing onto the arena to ask where the jet van was and then stood on the railing to rally the crowd, described the show as “dismal”.
“How can they have the human inferno and fireworks but say they can’t have the jet van because of fire restrictions?” he said.
Albury’s Chris Chant, 20, said the show was “pathetic” and, among other complaints, criticised the fireworks which ended the show about 9pm for being set off before it was dark.
Wodonga’s Suzanne Hoppo took her son, 7, who said the show was “awesome, but she felt paying $20 for his ticket was “a bit steep”.
Regina Brearley came with her three children, aged 11 to 15, from Geelong for the show and said it was worth the money and “fantastic”.
She said they would go again in April when the show came to Cranbourne.
Promoter Clive Featherby said the show would return to Albury and rejected the criticism, saying the show finished on time after more than four hours of entertainment, which started at 4.30pm with a pit party.
He said the jet van did not run due to fire restrictions but they had a permit for the fireworks and human inferno.
“If we had started the jet van up it would have started a major fire, it shoots a 30-foot flame out of the back,” Mr Featherby said.
Promotions had said the jet van would not run if fire restrictions applied and an announcement was made offering refunds at 4.30pm.
