We were right up near the front, and we didn’t find the sound too loud (the rock concert and the monster trucks were pushing our son’s comfort level) We did hear some parents saying that their infants found it kind of loud, but it was clear that the concert was built for little ones’ sensibilities. There were balloons and confetti, free DJ Lance Rock glasses and opportunities to get on camera and appear on stage.

I have to admit, I really like the Yo Gabba Gabba TV show. If you don’t enjoy watching YGG, you may not enjoy this live show as much as I did. But it really felt that the minds behind the original heart and soul of the show put every effort into making an entertaining live show. Not once did I feel like a corner was cut. The show was about one hour of performance (it did feel a little short, but I don’t how long it would take to satiate the YGG thirst) My wife is not as infatuated as I am and she had a great time. Watching our son in pure joy was worth it too. They played a lot of our favorite songs, such as the name game, Everybody Freeze, the Goodbye Song, and of course Party in My Tummy. The band Steel Train played “It’s Fun to Dance” for the Super Music Friends Show portion, which may be a different band at your town.

I would also like to take a moment to say that the roadies and other member of the crew that interacted with us were incredibly polite and helpful. I’m used to pretty elitist staff at other rock shows that really play up the “I’m with the band” mentality and make me feel like I’m lucky to be at a concert in general. But the folks that showed us our seat ran and got some DJ Lance glasses for us after we sat down, another crew member helped me get my son up to the little pit at the front of the stage near the end, and everyone else was patient and understanding. Very classy.

This show is expensive. The base ticket itself was about $61 a person (I still think parents should get a $20 discount– only children under the age of 1 don’t need a ticket). Then Ticketmaster added in some additional fees, so that we were up to over $210 for 3 people by the time it was done. We had a blast, and it’s near enough to my son’s birthday that he felt like it was a real treat. (That’s not true, he’ll be expecting another big concert in a month or two). It’s also no surprise that there are vendors walking around selling overpriced souvenirs. There is fun stuff for sale, and we did go home with a Tour logo Tote bag, but we also brought some of our own Yo Gabba Gabba toys in our hands and wore matching character shirts to the show, and that helped quell the pressure.

We were able to score some wristbands to the VIP Backstage Party. This package is a bit more expensive, but includes some choice seat tickets, meet and greet with the Yo Gabba gang (with photo) and beat boxing with Biz Markie. There’s healthy snacks and a chilled-out atmosphere. We got to meet DJ Lance Rock as well, and had an amazing time just hanging out with our favorite characters walking around.

All in all, if you and your children like Yo Gabba Gabba, you will have a great time at the show. It is a little expensive for an hour long show (with brief intermission to make a potty break) and if you can swing it, you can’t top posing for a pic with the Gabba Gang after the show. If you can’t make it to VIP party, you can try and be quick and nab a pic as the Gabba guys walk right through the crowd after coming back from intermission, and try to sneak up to the front for Biz’s beat of the day. Biz does share the mic with some kids from the audience.

My recommendation is to go when the tour comes to your town (the arena had a healthy crowd, but was not full, so tickets are probably still available for your city). Check out YoGabbaGabbalive.com to buy tickets, and we have several chances to win tickets… in Pittsburgh PA or Rochester NY, or in the national Cool Tricks contest. But you gotta hurry. They’re on the move and they’re coming soon.

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Check out our review when Yo Gabba Gabba Live came to DC!

Official NTR Rules
One winner will be chosen to win a family four pack of tickets to see Party in My City in Pittsburgh PA on September 30th, 2010. Tickets may not be exchanged for cash. Tickets do not include the VIP party. No purchase necessary. You may either draw your own Yo Gabba Gabba illustration or use an existing Yo Gabba Gabba product.
The Promotion is open to legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry. Employees of YGG Touring LLC (“Sponsor”), Wildfire Interactive, Inc., and their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies and promotion agencies involved with this Promotion (including but not limited to Don Jagoda Associates, Inc.), and the immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of any such persons or entities are not eligible. Subject to all federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations. Void in Quebec and where prohibited or restricted by law.

Pittsburgh nowhere near you? Swing by our friends at Gabba Friends.com to enter their contest to win tickets for the September 21st Rochester show!

READ below for more details!

Miami, FL — (August 18, 2010) Hello friends! YO GABBA GABBA! announces the launch of the Cool Tricks contest which provides an opportunity for fans across North America to show-off their unique talents. Gabba fans are invited to upload a :30-:60 second video demonstrating their Cool Trick to win the opportunity to receive a VIP Family 4 Pack and have their winning video played during intermission at the KIA Motors Presents YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE!: THERE’S A PARTY IN MY CITY! show closest to their hometown. All participants are also automatically entered into a sweepstakes where one lucky fan will receive a five night trip for four to the Caribbean or Mexico.

In addition, each winner will also receive $100 worth of organic baby food, toddler, and lunchbox snacks and two “Party In My Lunchbox” Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! concert t-shirts from Revolution Foods and Plum Organics. Grand prize includes roundtrip air, Junior Suite accommodations, and all meals to a choice of Palladium Hotels & Resorts.

To enter the contest, participants must upload their video to Facebook at http://facebook.yogabbagabbalive.com. Winners are determined by public vote in each tour market. So be sure to get all your friends and family to vote for you!

Cool Tricks begins on Wednesday, August 18 at 10AM EST and winners will be notified and announced prior to the show date in each local market. The entry period for the grand prize sweepstakes will end on Sunday, Dec 12. See official rules at http://facebook.yogabbagabbalive.com.

Cool Tricks is a popular segment on the television series where children and adults show off their special talent or skill (gymnastics, cup stacking, breakdance move, etc.). Celebrities such as Tony Hawk performing a skateboard move and Rhys Darby doing the robot have appeared on Cool Tricks.

Heading back on the road, KIA Motors Presents YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE! THERE’S A PARTY IN MY CITY! will make stops in 60 cities at top theaters, arenas and amphitheaters across North America starting on August 27 in Bethel, NY and ending in Dallas, TX on December 12. Featuring music, singing, dancing and animation, KIA Motors Presents YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE! THERE’S A PARTY IN MY CITY! is an interactive experience that offers audience members of all ages the opportunity to witness their favorite characters come to life. Joining the characters on stage will be hip-hop legend Biz Markie to teach kids how to beat box with “Biz’s Beat of the Day.” Special guests will join the party on stage for the Super Music Friends Show and Dancey Dance segments.

For complete tour, ticket, and VIP package information, visit www.yogabbagabbalive.com.

Check out our review when Yo Gabba Gabba Live came to DC!

The Battery

After he’s charged he’s immediately ready to play. He will stand there and “breathe” and encourage the child to play with him. Sometimes he’ll burp or fart when you’re not pressing any buttons, but usually my son is pounding buttons and cracking up the whole time. I recommend giving Big Foot some wide open space, when he rolls over or sleeps he moves around quite a bit, I recommend maybe 3-4 feet away from furniture. My wife did get a little anxious with the amount of banging going on near the dining room table. He seems to work just fine on short carpet or hardwood.
The main thing to grasp here is that he’s more of a “puppet”, and less of an RC monster that you’d make walk around the room. You can make him go forward and backwards, and do flips, but he doesn’t really turn, so the play is more about getting him to do funny things in one basic spot, not prowl your house.
The engineers have really perfected the “toy that rights itself” function with Big Foot. He can stand up on his own pretty quickly and gracefully. My friends and I would stand around in a circle, huddled around The TMX Elmo, cash clenched in our fists, betting if he’d actually stand up again. And we love Elmo Live, but he couldn’t stand up on his own at all. But Big Foot takes the falls and tumbles in stride and is upright again in moments. He can easily offset his balance and fall over (intentionally). Sometimes when he rights himself up, he’s facing a new direction, and there is no action on the remote that rotates him or changes his direction, so that’s a minor complaint.
I really like his personality… it’s a mix between caveman naivete, and anxious puppy dog. My son has taken to him too, we used to say goodbye to just our cats each morning as we left the house, but now he says goodbye to Big Foot too. The clumsiness goes with his robotic limitations, and really does come off as a “buddy” for the kid. Even though the personality is a big part of the presentation, we like that we can control what he does with the remote. We do love Elmo Live, but sometimes all we wanted to do was dance with Elmo and we had to keep hitting his belly to try and get the right random action. We also have talks with our son about exercising right, having dreams (good and bad) and saying “excuse me” after being gassy, it’s cool having someone that our son can relate to  when we bring up these concepts. I also have to mention the small tuft of furry hair on top helps make him seem a little more cuddly than if he was just solid plastic. The only thing I’d like like for them to add is have his eyes close when he’s off and his battery is recharging.
The Remote
The remote control is very easy to hold and understand. I pointed out once what each button did, and after that he was going to town on his own. The layout is thoughtful and the kids have an easy time holding it. I like how the pictograms are easy enough for kids to follow, they don’t need to be able to read to play. There is a cardboard card that explains each button that you can hang onto when you first start playing (rather than need to flip through their road-map sized directions sheet) to figure out what each one does, but we just started mashing buttons and having fun. And kudos to the toy designers here, the remote resembles a plaster cast of a Big Foot foot print that so many Big Foot hunters seem to have and display. The remote takes 2 AA batteries.
Press the button on the remote and he does one action, but if you hold it down for a few seconds, it does something else. Press the Sleep button once and he yawns, hold it in for a second and he’ll lay down and go to sleep. Now hit the Happy button and he’ll have a pleasant dream. Hit the Angry button and he’ll have a nightmare. We found out that you could tickle his belly while he sleeps to make him purr.
So we like the cause-and-effect functionality, but there is also some randomness mixed in to keep it fresh. I think younger kids will absolutely take to Big Foot right away, but older kids will get a kick out of him too.
Aside from tickling and feeding him his leaf you can also play ball. His right hand can grip the included red ball. Hit the Ball button on the remote and he’ll quickly toss it, but if you hold the button down, he’ll wind up to throw as long as you’re holding the button. When you let go, so does he, and its accompanied by a bowling ball crash sound effect. It took us some frustrated time to figure out, but he’ll only grab the ball when his elbow straight. The first time, my son inched up to him and tried handing him the ball as if he could take it on his own.

There’s tons of stuff that Big Foot does and it’s all very amusing (as evidenced in the video above) to young children. Besides the battery charging time I mentioned, the only other big drawback is the price. I’ve seen him in stores now between $100 and $110. (Spike was in the $120-160 range). I think Big Foot is a lot of fun and worth it, but I can see droves picking him up if he ever hit the $75-80 range. I’m thinking he may be a favorite deal on Black Friday. I should disclose that this Big Foot was provided to us to review, but if I knew what I know now, I’d fork over the $100. But, if  you know what an accomplished consumer I am, you’d know that I’d also scope it out for awhile, see how long he’s sticking around on shelves and maybe wait for that first price dip to snatch him up.

When I first saw Big Foot, I knew that he’d be a lot of fun. Now that he’s in our house, it’s crazy to see how much my son befriended him and how much he laughs while playing with him. He’s a little expensive and takes long “naps” while his battery is charging, but he is a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend buying it. You can grab the iPhone app for free and see more demo video from the official Imaginext page.

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