Montréal International Fireworks Competition Reports

Rock Loves redux …

Designed by Rocco Vitale, with Matt Wood , Jason Farrell, Phillip Stewart and Stephen Vitale; soundtrack design by Todd Marcocci; PyroDigital firing with 695 FM-16 firing modules, 24 field controllers and 8952 cues; ShowDirector scripting and visualization.

Pyrotecnico were blessed with perfect weather during the setup of their second show in Montreal, their return keenly anticipated after their Gold Jupiter winning debut in 2008. With a similar theme, the level of anticipation was very high, especially given the news in the interview that this display would be one of the most complex ever fired in Montreal.

Alas, Mother Nature decided to try and spoil the proceedings. An extremely isolated thunderstorm targeted La Ronde around 8pm, with lightning striking close to the firing site and absolutely torrential rain for about 15 minutes, together with microburst-level winds. Your humble reporter was soaked to the skin whilst sheltering under a tree (which is not advisable during a thunderstorm). Once the rain had stopped, it quickly became apparent that the setup had been affected, with at least two of the tower structures now leaning to the right. Crew could be seen on ramp 3 and they were able to restore these to their correct vertical orientation. However, given the massive puddles around La Ronde, many of use were fearful of other damage this storm could have causes.

Our fears were exacerbated around 9:30 when a few shells launched. During the next few minutes, other products fired from different positions. For experience pyrotechnicians, this left us with a feeling of absolute dread. How much of the show would be affected? Would it even fire correctly at all? With 695 firing modules and 24 field controllers, with only a few minutes before showtime, we feared that it would be impossible to rectify and faults caused by the storm.

When the countdown came to an end, there was a collective sigh of relief as the show seemed to start properly (save for some missing candles in a fan on the right hand side and a few missing shells here and there). After a couple of minutes, our fears subsided and it became apparent that all was well (though there was always a feeling at the back of our minds that problems would crop up later on).

The show began with the same song as Pyrotecnico’s original Rock Loves show in 2008. It’s worth repeating the lyric:

“Welcome back, my friends / To the show that never ends / We’re so glad you could attend / Come inside! Come inside! [...] Come inside, the show’s about to start / Guaranteed to blow your head apart / Rest assured you’ll get your money’s worth / The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth / You’ve got to see the show, it’s a dynamo / You’ve got to see the show, it’s rock and roll.”

As this piece ended to a thunderous volley of salutes, shells and runs of one shots, the audience roared their approval. This was going to be a fantastic show. And so it was! Mother nature, on the other hand, decided that smoke should be directed slowly towards the audience, this being exacerbated by the increased humidity following the downpour. Very quickly it became difficult to see the brilliant colours and effects of the low-level ramps and, indeed, the shells very clearly. Rocco had promised each song would have its own palette and feel, and I’m sure they did, but it was difficult to make out what these were sometimes.

The pyromusical design was both simple and complex at the same time. Many times there would be something happening at every level, from small flames at the bottom all the way up to massive shells above. But, at other times, there would be just flights of shells. Some of the songs felt like a complete display in themselves, ending with a mini-finale, but others were more integrated into the soundtrack. The arches and towers were used very effectively, with the arches providing firing angles that were essentially less than zero degrees. I’ve seen other companies use arches but they end up just looking like larger fans – the design here was superior. The smaller vertical towers were used for horizontal left/right mine sequences, as well as fast running sequences of horizontal gerbs running from left to right. The 13 pontoons forming ramp 5 were in a large U shape and gave more depth than is usually the case, with the use of many gerbs being really effective. Another simple, but brilliant, effect was that of “1×60″ gerbs fired on an axle, giving a quick pulse of rotating sparks from the larger towers. Also, despite the use of ramp 5, nautical products were evident from bengals, through fountains and to large nautical shells, causing gasps from the audience.

The display featured a very wide dynamic range, from full-on finale-style endings to much more serene pieces. For example, The Sound of Silence began quietly with flares of various colours coming to life on ramp 3, ramp 5 and the towers. As the climax was reached, there were dozens of large fountains burning on ramps 3 and 5, together with nautical fountains, shells of photoflash above and sequences of flames below. The close proximity of ramp 4 made the V-shaped fountains there seem particularly large.

The penultimate segment gave the impression of being a faux finale, the sky being filled with comets from every position at the end. A particularly long pause between the end of this music and the real finale (to the aptly titled “Shoot to Thrill” by AC/DC) emphasized this feeling.

The actual finale was as grandiose and spectacular as we had anticipated, culminating in the loudest volley of salutes I can remember in the past 20 years. Everyone’s ears were literally ringing and the audience jumped to their feet to give the team a well-deserved standing ovation!

This display will definitely be on the podium and it was a shame that the smoke accumulation prevented from seeing some of the finer design details. A few small criticisms – to my mind, there was too much repetition of flame effects and there were times when there was a disconnect between the upper and lower levels (a few times there were just volleys of shells). Also, there were more errors in the shells fired than I expected, plus some missing here and there (though that was almost certainly due to the weather). All in all, though, these criticisms are small, especially given the complexity of the display. The soundtrack was fantastic, with a wider range of rhythm and pace than I had anticipated. I suspect the final determination of Gold versus Silver Jupiters for Pyrotecnico and Dragon Fireworks will be down to the jury’s appreciation of their respective soundtracks (plus the weather is bound to have some influence). What a competition this year!

Rocco kindly provided these statistics for the show:

Shell count: 4947

Single shot devices: 7464

Multi shot devices: 695

Miscellaneous devices: 30