1999 l'International Benson & Hedges Montréal Pyromusical Competition Report

France Notre-Dame de Paris Wednesday July 21^st, 1999

Société Étienne Lacroix

Once again, a perfect warm summer evening was the setting for the sixth display in the competition. With the purchase of Ruggieri, Lacroix-Ruggieri is now the oldest and largest pyrotechnics company in Europe, with a history dating back to 1739. Tonight's display was the first joint Lacroix-Ruggieri venture put on in Montréal with shells from Spain, Italy and France. Fired using the Pyrodigital system, the seven part display promised to be exciting.

Part 1 to music from Notre-Dame de Paris.
Ouverture. Rocket cones bursting to blue stars opened this display. Then barrages of weeping willow shells in threes and fours, followed by multi-breaks bursting to blue balls as the music moved seamlessly to
Belle. Charcoal comet with small fireflies candles with firefly shells above were followed by green comet shells and then more volleys of firefly shells. This alternating theme of green comet shells, charcoal firefly comet candles and fireflies shells was repeated. These were followed by silver comet dahlia shells, then more firefly shells, slow falling silver comet shells, going back to the repeating sequence of green comets, firefly charcoal comet candles, and firefly shells. Next, large shells of silver comets turning to red, with candles of the same below. The segment was brought to a close with rocket cones bursting to red stars and a shell of tourbillons.

Part 2 to music from Starmania.
Needing Love. This segment opened with palm-tree shells, followed by mines of blue stars and glitter, with bombettes of blue stars and gold glittery fireflies above. This theme repeated several times and was followed by beautiful blue mines moving from left to right in perfect note synchrony. Then mines of comets in the centre, with blue mines moving from right to left. Finally a large gold comet to blue ball shell as the music moved seamlessly to
Business Man Blues. A line of gold fountains opened up with fans of gold comets in the centre. Then a flight of palm-tree shells, followed by gold glitter comet candles with colour bombettes above in red, then blue and then green. Next, weeping willow shells followed by pink ball candles. Then a line of brighter fountains followed by white ball candles. A grove of weeping willows and then nautic mines of green stars with the same in shells above. Next, orange ball candles, then green, then silver balls and fine gold glitter comets. This sections was brought to a close with a really large multi-break of balls and comets as the music moved to
One against the others. Bright yellow-headed comet candles opened up with shells of really great colour balls above. Then red glitter mines followed by really bright comet candles criss-crossing left and right. Above these, comet and ball shells in pale green, then red and blue, then really bright red comet candles. Above these, ball and comet shells as the music moved seamlessly to
Ziggy's Song. Pale gold bombettes with rising tail shells behind and then mines of crossettes in pale gold glitter with red ball shells above. Then tourbillon candles and really deep blue mines followed by wobbling ball with comet shells above. More tourbillon candles and then more blue mines and bombettes with large double-petalled flower tourbillon shells above bringing this segment to a close.

Part 3 to music from Notre-Dame de Paris.
Asile. The segment opened with silver comet shells above and glitter mines below followed by crackly bombettes, sounding like applause, followed by the same in shells above. Really thick gold comet candles opened up with thin gold comet shells above followed by bright palm trees. Then a barrage of palm-tree candles followed by glittering palm-tree shells with blue stars at the ends. These were followed by the same, but with red stars at the end. This segment was brought to a close with a huge weeping willow shell with the stars reaching to the ground, to cheers from the audience.

Part 4 to music from Les Misérables.
Tombé par Terre. A line of silver fountains opened up followed by barrages of salute candles to the fast rhythmic music. Red mines in note synchrony left and right, with small silver glitter mines. Above these, silver dahlia shells and then crossed bombette candles below. Volleys of large ball and comet shells followed by more salutes and mines. The section was brought to a close with three huge palm-tree to blue shells.
La Premièe attaque Nautic gold fountains fired up in the lake with pastel coloured crossed ball candles behind, each shot a different colour. Then small palm-tree shells, then brighter and larger ones with blue note synchronized mines moving left and right. Barrages of palm-trees were fired as the music moved seamlessly to
Final with double-petalled flower tourbillon shells and some really bright yellow cluster shells, with mines below and more tourbillon shells above as the music moved to
Mon Histoire Candle of clusters of stars and the same in very large mines were followed by five silver girandolas, rising gracefully into the air. Then shells of fireflies and silver mines in the centre as the music moved to
Intro as slow spinning tourbillon shells were followed by shells of very slow falling red stars, with fireflies from bombettes below. Then another flight of five girandolas followed by more firefly shells. The segment was brought to a close with two rocket cones bursting to gold stars with slow spinning tourbillon shells above.

Part 5 to music from Révolution Française.
Ouverture. Silver strobe pots and fountains opened up at the back of the display with shells of bright red and blue balls above. The shells were split half and half in the two colours and were followed by a barrage of multi-break blue ball shells as the music moved to
Retour de la Bastille. Fans of bombettes in silver and blue were followed by palm-trees turning to blue, with glitter comets below and then more double colour shells. Large blue mine bursts were followed by a large weeping glitter shell, with the stars reaching to the ground, bringing the segment to a close.

Part 6 to music from Notre-Dame de Paris.
Le Temps des Cathédrales. A period of dark sky, longer than was artisicaly feasible indicated a technical problem. Then bursts of bright mines were followed by another period of darkness. Things got going again with bright headed comet candles and silvery comet palm-trees. These were repeated and followed by shell bursts of very small and vivid blue stars and shells of silver crossette comets. The pace of these increased until the sky was filled, bringing the segment to a close.

Part 7 to music from Hair.
Let the Sun Shine This final segment began with vast numbers of small palm-trees coming from candles. Then large glitter palm shells behind followed by ball and comet shells. Larger numbers of glitter palm shells were followed by some titanium salute barrages and then multi-break ball shells. The pace increased somewhat with large numbers of glitter palm shells, some more titanium salutes and a final really large weeping willow shell with stars reaching all the way to the ground.

This was a very well co-ordinated and artistically designed display. It turned out that the dark sky was caused by a very large mine which knocked over a firing rack, burning some cables. There were some nice shells and good use was made of the synchronization capabilities of the Pyrodigital system. However, the finale was rather short and my overall feeling of the display was that, whilst it was very enjoyable, at no point did it really excite me. I still think Canada is the one to beat.