Words and photos: Andrew Maness
When I was a little kid I loved going to the circus. I even rode on an elephant at one, way back when parents would let their kids do cool shit like sit atop the world’s largest land roaming mammal. These days circuses aren’t quite as en vogue, kids are busy watching other people play videos games on YouTube or Snapchatting or whatever the fuck it is that kids do these days. A quality traveling “Big Top” is hard to find and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna go to Vegas just to shell out a couple hundred dollars to watch some acrobats act out what amounts to my idea of a bad trip. That’s not a circus, that’s a goddamn nightmare.
There were more people there later, we swear.
So what’s a person to do when they want a little bit of real spectacle in their life? Until gladiators once again take to the sands, I’d say a big air contest in Southern California ought to satiate the thirst of the mob. Whilst walking around the grounds of the Rose Bowl I overheard many people repeating the same couple phrases, “This shit is fuckin tight!”, “This shit is fuckin crazy!”, “I waited an hour for a beer! But this shit is fucking crazy tight so I don’t care!”. Those poor bastards, they had no idea that if they’d only walked to the far side of the Flood Stage you could get a beer very promptly. Rumor has it that none other than Mrs. Saori Wall talked the vendors into serving beer over there as it was originally just the place to get your age verification wrist band. If that’s true then it confirms what I’ve long suspected, Eddie’s wife has a smile that will make most people do just about anything she asks. Remember Saori, with great power comes great responsibility.
How to make any snowboard-related festival more fun.
With a $10 PBR in hand I headed towards the main attraction of the event, the VIP tent. Anyone who’s anybody would be over there and once inside I was not disappointed. I rubbed shoulders with the likes of Reggie Bush and his knockoff Kardashian wife, John C. Riley of Boogie Nights fame, a couple pro-skiers who shall remain nameless and of course the man of the hour Jesse White. Jesse was my coach at Windells when I was just wee lad and it was damn good to see him out supporting his bum of a younger brother. I tell ya, if that kid could just get his act together he might really be able to make something of himself but he spends far too much time playing Guitar Hero in his basement.
The ringleader.
The view from the VIP was nice, they did a pretty good job of keeping the plebes at bay. I did see two girls run and hop the white picket fence, only to land on the other side and instantly get nabbed by the fun police. One girl turned on the waterworks and the other began apologizing profusely, pretty sure both got booted from the grounds. I hung around long enough to stuff my face with food from the free buffet which was about a Ruby Tuesdays on the scale of Applebees to Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse. I should have switched to booze after dinner but no fucking way was I paying $13 for half a shot and some Shasta ginger ale. At least in VIP the PBR’s were ONLY $7.
Obligatory porta-potty shot.
It got dark when I was hitting about 70% full buzz and the head to head round of snowboarding started. I had almost forgotten there was going to be a snowboard contest, which in my defense was pretty damn easy as the vibe was more like a music festival than a big air showdown. I made my way across the field through a sea lake of people, swaddled in their Air + Style x Target hoodies. The merch folks had to have been so psyched that the temps dropped to a chilly 55 degrees that evening, they must have made a killing. Maybe next year they’ll use some of that money to pay off the right people in Pasadena that’ll allow musical acts to turn the volume up to a festival level. I mean it was plenty loud enough for me since I snuck into the photo pit but apparently everyone else couldn’t hear Kendrick Lamar very well which is too bad cause that guy is seriously talented. In fact the musical artist lineup was damn impressive for a first year festival. The Flaming Lips, Black Lips, Lip Slips, Portugal The Man and Diplo are just a few of the acts that graced the stages of the first ever Air + Style on American soil.
See look, the crowd even included celebs such as John C Reilly!
Once again that reminds me, there was a snowboard contest element to this two day festival. The Euro usual suspects were there to point it down a man made white ribbon of death leading to a jump Bob Burnquist would hit switch. In all seriousness, the jump was on the bigger side for a stadium jump and from where I was sitting the riders appeared to be getting plenty of hang time. Sage Kotsenberg was there, he didn’t make finals which is a bummer because what’s good for Sage is good for snowboarding in general. Still, there was plenty of style to be found in the head to head superfinal thanks to Stale Sandbech who took home the overall Air + Style tour championship earning him a casual $50,000. Stale ended up 3rd on the podium, bested by Seb Toots and his massive stance, as well as a very stoked Yuki Kadono. Yuki landed a switch B/S 1620 triple cork and got 1st place. As far as the majority of the crowd was concerned it could have been Ben Hinkley doing a double front flip or Johnny Knoxville in a sled with a bottle rocket in his ass. People were losing their shit seeing these guys ride and if that plants the seed for loving snowboarding, which in turn brings money into the industry thus creating more jobs, well then I hope Air + Style becomes an American institution for years to come.
Sucks that it rained the following day when the skiiers were doing their thing. I guess that’s just the universe’s way of spraying them.
Chicks.
Too many words? Here, just watch this weird British site’s video instead.