Tune In
Designed by Diogo Vasconcelos, Soundtrack by Diogo Vasconcelos; FireOne firing with ~3500 cues.
Summer 2023 continues to present challenges for pyrotechnicians and their audiences alike. During middle of the afternoon on display day, Environment Canada issued an unprecedented tornado warning for the island of Montreal. A “warning” means the threat has been observed, not that it might potentially happen. A couple of hours earlier, a tornado had touched down in a suburb of Ottawa, about 200km to the west of Montreal. Funnel clouds and winds of over 100km/h were observed at the west end of the island of Montreal and a tornado did touch down just off-island in Mirabel. A series of intense thunderstorms, including a supercell, swept over Montreal from around 4pm until 6:30pm. During that period, over 85mm of rainfall was recorded – pretty much the same as the average for the month of July (92mm). Many people thought it would be impossible to have a successful fireworks display that evening, but technical director of the fireworks competition, Paul Csukassy, together with his team, were well prepared. By the time 10pm arrived, we had almost perfect weather with decent winds, though a little bit too much towards the audience, but not enough to mar the display. After the presentation of the team, together with a somewhat uncoordinated and random selection of silence and the usual music, the display began on-time, with the big wheel correctly participating in the countdown this week.
The display began strongly, to the delight of the small, but enthusiastic, audience. Good use was made of the ramp 5 floating pontoons – their position quite close to the audience really adding an extra dimension. On the top of ramp 4, a large sign saying “On Air” together with a picture of a radio microphone, which was switched on during the narrative portions of the display, all whilst the fireworks and music continued. This narrative element was well-done and the soundtrack was well-mixed – much better than Macedo’s 2017 participation, where I noted the sound-editing as a weak point.
The first half of the display was very well done, with a good variety of effects and excellent synchronization and good use made of the display area. Pretty much all of the firing ramps worked well and it seemed the weather had only affected a very small number of items, which was quite amazing really. After this mid point, I felt the fireworks and effects became a bit repetitive, without too much variety, though I did enjoy the segment with strobing horsetails. For a few minutes between the mid-point and the final two segments, I did feel the design was not as strong as the first half of the display. The final two segments were very well done and the finale itself was very well crafted and powerful, building to a dramatic climax and ending in thunderous volleys of very large salutes. The audience jumped to their feet and gave the Portuguese team a well-deserved standing ovation. In 2017, Macedos took home the Bronze Jupiter and I think their entry this year was stronger than that award-winning one, so this augurs well for a podium position. Of course, it’s early days yet, but this was a very good display.