Motorcycle and punk rock to rev up fair crowds

Published 2:30 am Sunday, July 30, 2023

The Motopsycho Mania Extreme Sports & Music Show is coming to the Deschutes County Fair for an adrenaline-pumping extravaganza.

Taking place at the outdoor Juniper Arena at 10:15 p.m. on August 4-5, Motopsycho Mania will offer a blend of extreme sports and live music.

Three BMX and three freestyle motocross riders will perform tricks while Tony Grinder, lead vocalist and executive producer of Motorcycle Mania plays with the Vegas Roxx Allstars band on Friday and Electric Punk Allstars on Saturday. The Friday night band is more rock oriented, while the Saturday veers into electric-punk genre.

The bikers will show off their skills on halfpipe, jumps and stunts while a colorful light show and concert takes place at the same time in the middle of the action. Grinder says that it’s a bit of a “challenge to describe the performance to the public.”

“The key thing is that with the freestyle motocross stuff and the halfpipe stuff, people have seen that before,” he said. “People have seen band concerts before. The unique thing about this that they haven’t seen ever before, is them all going on simultaneously at the same time.”

Audience members are told to expect interaction from the performers, including potential stage diving and t-shirts being fired into the crowd. 

“During my concert, the riders don’t really have any rules,” Grinder said. “So it’s kinda anything goes. Can’t underestimate the energy and intensity. It’s infectious once we fire it all up and the crowd’s energy feeds off it.”

For performer, MX13 team manager and Redmond local Justin Homan, this type of performance is new for him.

Since he was a child, Homan has taken a strong passion for freestyle motocross and has competed and won various X-Games competitions, but performing alongside BMX riders and a live band at the same time is uncharted territory.

“This is a little more chaotic,” Homan said. “You’ll see a variety of skill levels and a variety of tricks. From backflips to upside down on a bike — we’re going to be jumping over everything really. It’s 40 feet in the air, so it’ll definitely be something to look at.”

For “45 minutes of chaos” Grinder recommends getting to the arena as early as possible to secure a closeup view of all the action and “to be ready to jump around and have some energy.”