| On a stormy Wednesday evenning, the spectacular spectacle known as Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam blew into Birmingham at the Verizen Wireless (Oak Mountain) Amphitheater.
Tony Hawk along with Kevin Staab, Jesse Fritsch, Jason Ellis and Sergie Ventura plus BMXers John Parker and Dennis McCoy, as well as Freestyle Moto-X riders Drake
McElroy, Matt Buyten, and Greg Garrison made it for the show. As storms blew in all around, somehow, luckily, the amphitheater remained dry at least for the time being. I lucked up on a free ticket compliments of Faith skate shop (Peter), met up with Jay Salilias and his
crew and got to the show just as it was about to begin at 6:30. I figured a show of this size with big name pros like these would draw in lots of people but it was even
bigger than I expected. I suppose due to the ramps and jumps and room needed, the actual event was set up out in the parking lot of the amphitheater. Now, I could go on and
on about every little detail of the skating, the pros, the crowd, etc, but I will let the pictures tell the story. I will just give my overall opinion....which is exactly
mixed right down the line. On the one hand, you soon came to realize that you were basically paying $30 for a 1 hour (yes, it was right at one hour) glorified, synchronized
demo with overpriced merchadise ($30 t-shirts?!?!). On the other hand, you were getting to see some great skating, BMX and Moto-X riding in person, and it does help draw attention
to the local scene as well. In fact, Tony even made an announcment about the the recent closing of the Homewood city skate park. Would I have paid to see it? No. Am I glad I saw it? Yes.
It was awesome to see Staab and Hawk skating in person doing so many of the tricks I had seen only in videos....even if I had to listen to Ellis' annoying, egotistical MC-ing.(haha)
One run Tony did was really just for us older guys. He did a run of nothing but 80's tricks flawlessly....even his weird fakie-flip the board around his foot-sweeper thingy. (haha)
Seeing him do a 720 in person was really unbelievable as well along with all of his runs really....the guy is just flawless even at his age. Seeing Staab do head high backeside ollies
was equally impressive....even though the crowd seemed to not get how difficult that was...and seeing Staab do a McTwist was a new one for me! This is not to say the other guys didn't
rip. Sergie was doing airs even higher than the bike guys! Jesse Fritsch did some great, technical, modern tricks. Sadly, Neal Hendrix didn't make this show, however Jason Ellis made
up for it with some difficult runs. But in typcial Ellis style, he could not do more than 3-5 tricks in a run without bailing. (haha) The show itself was split into sections. First, there
were introduction runs for the skaters and bikers. They took a break and the Moto-X guys did some tricks. Back to the skaters and bikers, they did some doubles and triples runs. Then another
break for some video. I think they might have the loop at larger shows, because Ellis alluded to this as they showed videos of him doing the loop and then a bunch of various slams. Another
skater and biker section after the video that they called the Jam Session. It was just each person getting to do runs of whatever they wanted. One more break as the Moto-X guys did there
thing one more time. After that, it was the big finale. Some big tricks, all skaters riding at once, etc. as it built up to Tony's big trick. I was expecting Tony to try the 900, but he ended by going up, bailing his deck and jumping onto another one set into an ollie
blunt....pretty friggin cool!....but no 900. (haha) With that, it was over. Tony threw his helmet out to the crowd....pretty cool of him. Then, Tony said thanks to the crowd and wrapped things up. As soon as it was done, the crew started dismantling
the ramp and tearing it all down for the next show as Jesse Fritsch threw out some t-shirts. Not 15 minutes later, a huge thunderstorm moved in and drops began to fall. I made some rounds to say hi and bye to a few folks
and just did get to my car when the bottom fell out. With that, my Huck Jam day was over. |
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official poster
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Walking up to the spectacle
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View from the crowd
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Kevin Staab big backside air
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Staab frontside
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Staab inverted
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Ellis backside air while MC-ing
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Ellis backside
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Sergie warms up with a small Method
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Dennis McCoy
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The man himself, Tony Hawk
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John Parker tail-whipping
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Staab goes head high
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Jesse Fritsch kickflip grab
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Ellis flips and grabs
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Sergie goes higher
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The tour trailer
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View down the side as Tony airs to fakie
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View from back in the crowd
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Another view from the back
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The screen says it all
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DJ Mike Relm
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View as the sun sets
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Old schooler Lex Hunt and Shannon
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Moto-X jump
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BIG jump from the Moto-Xers
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Nice one foot look back
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Mark Leo and family
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Doubles run
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Fritsch over Ellis
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Hawk and Fritsch
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Hawk and Fritsch with synched airs
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Sergie, Ellis, Hawk, Fritsch, and Staab
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Hawk backside lipslide under the air to fakie by McCoy
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Triples!
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Crowd all the way to the back! Nice turn out!
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Sergie checking the crowd for ladies...seriously! He was on it. haha
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Parker with a huge tail whip
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Staab goes BIG
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Frontside ollie floater from Staab
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Sergie builds up with a big set up air
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Big Method from Sergie but bigger to come!
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Huge air from Sergie
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Ellis goes head high
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Tony Hawk McTwist and shout
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Best Madonnas ever!!! Tony Hawk making some noise!
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Tony thanks the crowd
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Parker goes huge no handed
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Parker upside down and spinning
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Staab backside
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Staab backside ollie head high!
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Fritsch kickflips and grabs high
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Fritsch frontisde kickflip
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Sergie coming in from a HUGE Christ air
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Sergie bones an Indy air
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Parker goes big
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Staab floats one pretty Lien air
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An even bigger backside ollie by Staab
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Brad Lovell enjoying the show
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When you thought he couldn't go bigger...Sergie does!
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Hawk and Ellis ham it up for the crowd
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Hawk with a big tail grab frontside
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Hawk thanks the crowd again
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Big Moto-X jump
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Another big jump
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Hawk pulls the 720 during the Moto-X jumps
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Nice jump!
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All skaters line up for one big run
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4 at once!!!
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Ellis with two BMXers
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Tony thanks the crowd
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Tony thanks all the riders
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Fritsch throws out some t-shirts
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Staab pulls the McTwist as the credits roll
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Danny enjoying the show
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The secret of the perfect vert ramp
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Shannon, Little Jon, Scott D, Jason, Phil Hosey, Lex Hut and Hawaii Steve
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The Faith crew gather up
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Pro and hometown boy, Ben Gilley signing autographs
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The bad stuff moves in...show over
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