Over The Top Ringling Bros Confection Prices

[Terry Monohan]

This past Saturday we attended the new Ringling Bros Greatest Show On Earth (No longer a circus) at the old Oakland Coliseum in Oakland CA. I never go to sports arena events and was shocked at the prices for food items these days the Feld Entertainment family is charging. They want $18 for a small bag of pre popped pop corn, snow cones $19 and wow you get to keep the cheap plastic cup. The bottled water not even spring water just filtered junk was $9, If you are a beer drinker It was $19. The paper program looked like a bargain at $15.

I felt sorry for the families that lined up to buy all the foreign made overpriced toy/color flashlight junk in the limited booth stands in the lobby.

Being Feld Entertainment didn't bother to advertise much that they were in town for three days the audience at the 11AM Sat morning show was about 1/4 filled. Most people think the circus is out of business.

We did enjoy the show from our cheap high up lonely seats. Great use of multi strobe effect LED color lights, fire flames, fireworks, and titled floor video screens plus the use of lift stages. The color neon/LED cannon used at the end was very colorful when they shot a lady out of It. The whole show is off balance. They had too many of the same type of floor acts at the start and did not bring the high wire acts in till later on.

No more animals used in the new arena show but they did have a fake robot dog that was very interesting It was the star of the show and they used the pooch twice.

No more arc light local IA union spotlights used everything is pre programed fixed beams. The sound was mono center speakers but had good base and treble. No more music orchestra but they did have a great live guy on the drums 'cymbals many times and he was very good. The dude must be tired out after doing three shows per day.

In the old days of the Ringling Bros Circus they would have many guys selling all kinds of food and toy crap in the seating areas. Not anymore just saw a few guys trying to sell all the overpriced treats and most people were not buying. The snow cones were melting fast.

If you are lucky to live in the cities Ringling is coming to check the new show out. They are not going to many of the states and towns they used to perform in. No more classic circus train. All the performers travel in trailers and park in the arena parking lot.

Same your money on the lobby confections and eat drink before you go and enjoy the new show. Ringling Bros The Greatest Show On Earth is back

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

It's not the same... so eventually people and reviewer's will figure that out. The last time I actually saw it, I was probably about 10 years old, that was at the old Chicago Stadium that had that fantastic Barton with over 800 stops and 3600+ pipes. I actually think watching the Circus train unload was more fun than the actual circus itself.

[Mike Blakesley]

They are between a rock and a hard place. Can't have animals but that's what "true circus fans" would want to see. Have to sell concessions at the higher prices to make a living, but people either don't buy because they're too expensive or sneak in their own.

Maybe they should retool it into a smaller show and perform in theaters, kind of like Cirque Du Soleil does.

[Harold Hallikainen]

A great book on the circus life is "Water For Elephants." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_for_Elephants

[Scott Norwood]

What is the deal with the animal acts? As a kid, I loved seeing the lion tamer and the elephants. It makes me sad to hear that these are gone.

I would never support animal abuse, but I'm not sure why "good treatment for the animals" is necessarily incompatible with "animal acts in the circus." And I think that there is value to giving children the chance to see amazing and exotic animals up close and in person.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Just wait Scott...Zoo's will be next to have to close because of the animal act...

[Mike Blakesley]

I would never support animal abuse, but I'm not sure why "good treatment for the animals" is necessarily incompatible with "animal acts in the circus." And I think that there is value to giving children the chance to see amazing and exotic animals up close and in person.

I think it's a combination of 'animals being in cages' (and hence not allowed to run free and be killed by predators, like they would in the wild) and 'animal cruelty' by trainers, which it's all to easy for the circuses to be caught at. The main issue witht that is, something that may not hurt an animal at all but is used as a training device is seen as 'cruel' because it's making (or incentivizing) the animals to do something they might not otherwise do.

We were at Disney World in January and saw the bird show at Animal Kingdom. The trainers make a huge deal out of the fact that if an animal doesn't want to perform a particular stunt that day, they make no effort to try to convince the animal to do it. They just move on to the next thing.

I agree it's a shame that most people will never get to see lions and tigers and such, and zoos probably are the next thing on the chopping block. Then rodeos, which are already under quite a bit of fire in some places.

I've always wondered how many animal lovers have fly swatters, or use bug spray. George Carlin did a whole hilarious routine about how we decide what animals we kill. ("We only kill them if they're tasty.... or if they're pests. And, it's fun!")