I loved the circus as a child. It was magical, exciting and thoroughly entertaining. The animals, clowns and trapeze artists mainly stole the show. Clowns never bothered me and I just enjoyed the whole buzz. Along with the sugary treats. I’ve take the kids to see the circus in the past, but nothing like this. In fact I don’t think Aria had ever seen the circus. I hadn’t thought much about it, but when it arrived close by at Queen’s Park in Glasgow, I knew we had to go. We headed to see the famous and amazing Zippos Circus to see their current Jigit tour.
Arriving, it was well organised and inside it was all setup. There were stars of the show walking around while everyone was getting seated. Some of them were selling light up toys, popcorn and candy floss. All very reasonably priced at £5 and under. I don’t mind paying that, much cheaper than elsewhere with these light up toys. The boys were fascinated with the plate spinners.
Each year the famous Zippos Circus creates a new show, this year was the turn of Jigit. I think this is a great idea, it’ll mean you want to come back year after year without thinking you’d been there done that. There are lots of new acts, but they keep with the entertaining ringmaster that is Normal Barrett MBE. He is ace. And was walking around talking to people. Wait until you see his budges.
Everything in the tent is setup and ready to go. There are no second takes and everything is live. These performers know their stuff and even without massive special effects, your jaw will drop.
Little miss having her first experience of the circus and I would like to say first taste of candy floss, but that would be a lie. She’s my third child after all. You know what I mean.
The only animals they have in this circus are horses, and well budgies, but I’ll get to that. The amazing Jigitovka is a special style of horse riding, which I am guessing is where they got the name of the show Jigit. These horseback riders are incredible. Honestly, how they do it and the horses are amazing. They are all well looked after, you can see that and you can go and see them too when they are not performing.
There are no clowns as such in Zippos Circus, well not clowns as I’d know it. You know, the ones with red noses, flowers that sprayed water and creepy makeup. So no worries there. Instead they have Emilion, who is a guy who sits in the audience at first as a member of the press and brings some slapstick humour to the show. He’s funny and not scary in the slightest. He also brings on a bit of audience participation in one of his sketches. He was on stage for most of the show.
The next funny man is Alex the Fireman. He does more slapstick humour, whilst attempting to put out a fire. Don’t worry he gets there in the end and only got a few members of the audience sprayed.
One of my favourite bits was seeing the girl on the motorbike doing the juggling, goodness that girl’s leg muscles are impressive. This was so controlled, skilled and perfect. It looked incredible.
Aria was a bit fan of Laci the acrobat. Aria is wanting to get into gymnastics so this was up her street. She was graceful, elegant and it was just down right impressive. There was no safety net there if a foot went out of place. Could you watch it?
The juggler was impressive, juggling many balls, clubs and hoops all in a neat pinstripe, three piece, suit. It took a few attempts for all the hoops, but my goodness he got there in the end.
At the break the stars come out to chat with the audience and sell some of their goodies as well as teaching some plate spinning. The boys were fascinated with this and we bought them a plate each, at less than a fiver and it’s been played with loads, I couldn’t complain. They loved it and look at the patience they had.
I think someone wants to join the circus when he is older. What do you think?
A few of the acts come on more than once doing different things. The lady on the left was the one on the motorbike doing the juggling with her feet. They played the drums as the next act came out to the ring.
The knife throwing act may have been my least favourite. This is done by Toni and his wife and Toni throws knives at his wife. I couldn’t watch, but he didn’t get hit.
Now this is impressive. I can just about manage one. This girl could hula hoop with about 100 at once. Impressed? I was.
She is also a human butterfly, that explains it!
The Zulu Warriors were up next and did some impressive acrobatic moves, some through hoops and a lot of trust and balancing going on there.
OMG you need to see the contortionist. This is no for the squeamish. I struggled to watch this amazing man twist his body in ways it shouldn’t be, still with a beaming smile on his face. He fitted his whole body through an unstringed tennis racket. I know!!! How?
The moment you’ve been waiting for, Norman and his performing budgies. I know, cool aren’t they? This act is famous, very cute and sweet. These little birds perform like pros. It really is a cute little act.
The grand finale was Lucius motorbike troupe and their Globe of Death. This is aptly named as it looks terrifying.
They have 5 motorbikes going around inside this at 60mph and then it opens up. I may have hid my eyes at this point. The kids loved it. It really was incredible. I have a Facebook Live video over on my facebook page if you want to check it out in action.
At the end all the members of the circus come out and take a bow. They were all dressed in Scottish gear and had the Scottish flag too. It was a lovely treat. You can feel the close knit family vibe and pride of belonging to the circus coming off these guys in waves. They are incredibly talented, lovely and it really was a delight to watch from start to finish. The kids even asked if we could go back the next day. We didn’t, but we will. Honestly, if you can go to see this, you should. You’ll love it.
Disclaimer:- We were given tickets to go to the circus, but bought other items and truly loved it. All thoughts and love are our own.