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 Montreal Fireworks Forum —› 2012 Display Reviews —› Portugal - Grupo Luso Pirotecnia reviews
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Posted: Jul 24, 2012 18:47:19

Please post your thoughts/reviews of the Portuguese display here!

Trav.


Posted: Jul 24, 2012 19:25:29

It hasn't started yet!


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 00:26:52

Very enjoyable display by Luso tonight! To be brief, I loved the choreography, especially at low-level with the nautical shells and mines at many points! The music also flowed very well with the show, although I did not very much enjoy a couple of the songs that were used. The colors were in a fair selection but could have been a little richer in a few places.

One aspect of the display that really surprised me, though, was the very frequent use of horsetails and go-getter shells for representation - for me, this reduced the overall diversity and complexity of the show, as compared to what I remember from 2008. The theme wasn't always too clear to me, but I did sometimes feel more of a connection through the transitions in pace.

The finale was excellent and was nearly a replica of that in 2008 (minus the charcoal comets)!

Overall, again, a very entertaining display by Grupo Luso Pirotecnia, but I suppose that I was expecting a little more, at times, during the display, especially in terms of structure.

It hasn't started yet!

Hmm...perhaps I should have stated at the end my posting, "when you return!"

Trav.


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 02:45:18

Some video footage that I took of the Portuguese display (taken from Notre-Dame/de Lorimier street):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhcEuB9W-dw

Trav.


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 07:07:43

Here is the video for Portugal - July 24: http://www.burchcom.com/2012/index.html

If you want to download and save a copy to your hard drive, right click on this URL and select "save target as":
http://www.burchcom.com/2012/portugal2012_qtp.mp4


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 08:22:03

That was easily the best show from this year, so far! The synchronization was as expected from luso. I specially liked the parts during the "Fire" sections of the show. The theme of the show was very well done, Alternating segments of Fire and Soul were present throughout the whole show. With the fire segments being more fast pace and intense while the soul segments had a lighter feel and used mostly horsetails and go getter shells. As Trav has mentioned, there was a lot of horsetails and go getters in this show, but in different forms. I guess this is alright since i would rather see different kinds of horsetails and go getters than different variations of peonies. The height of some of the Roman Candles looked like they were 3 times the height of the ferris wheel. These roman candles looked incredible! Some of the roman candles also looked like they had atleast 15 shots like the ones used in the final song. Unfortunately it appeared as if they did not have any nautical shells but the pendulums more than made up for this. Luso's still the masters of special structures in Montreal! Too bad about the miswired mines! I found the songs they used to be enjoyable but i still think that epic music is where Luso really shines like the one shots segment in the final song. Hope they get a Jupiter from this show!

Next will be my most anticipated show, Vaccalluzzo! I hope they don't disappoint.

My rankings so far:
1. Portugal (95%)
2. Greece (91%)
3. Canada (90.4%)
4. Japan (88%)
5. France (84%)
6. Switzerland (79%)

Vander


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 09:34:32

Just a quick note for Trav: there were no nautical device of any kind fired during the show. The shells that were close to the water were actually attached to the "pendulums" and gave the audience the impression that shells were being directly fired at them at a low angle over the water! It was very dramatic. Also of note were that the Portuguese used many volleys of rockets at one point in the display, as well as some large fireballs (where we could feel the heat from these in the stands). The "pendulums" had all sorts of effects on them and were a unique addition to the display - I'll try and post some photos of these later that I took while there was still daylight at La Ronde (though the "pendulums" were horizontal to the lake at that point).

Paul.


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 13:38:25   Edited by: fredbastien

Grupo Luso Pirotécnia does fireworks like no others. As I arrived near the firing area, a couple of hours before the show, I thought we were going to enjoy another creative and surprising display. The second ramp was filled with thousands of pyrotechnic devices, a secondary floating stage was installed behind the official stage to allow the live performances of a violonist and a fado singer, as well as a true surprise on the lake : eight horizontal structures (rumours around were that other people saw them in vertical positions early) floating on the water, in a semi-circle shape not far from the audience. In previous Luso’s shows, we say a magnificient ring in 2002, a dome and Chinese shadows of drummers in 2005, a set of archs and an underwater line filled of mines in 2008. This year, Grupo Luso Pirotécnia introduced another innovative structure : the pendulum!

The show unusually began, with the start of the soundtrack in the background of Michel Lacroix’s countdown, thus fuelling anticipation. "Are you ready?" asked the narrator to the fireworks, as does a band leader who successively surveys his various crews : the back shells, the candles, and the fountains, each sort of effects showing its presence at the right time (but with actual comets instead of the candles, but for most people, comets look more like "candles" anyway). Then, a surprising opening with Carmina Burana "O Fortuna" (usually heard in finales)… surprisingly interrupted : "We heard that too often, let us try something else" said the narrative. And then, the display really started with an interesting line-up, mixing typical South European musics and some well-known songs which fitted with the spirit.

A weakness of the show was the repetition of some effects like the horsetails, crossettes and go-getters. I think it is often the negative side of shows produced with only home-made products like this one. It was also surprising, from an experienced contestant, to not see any nautical products. However, we saw some very interesting effects, beginning with the rockets ending in sky mines, as well as a huge wall of vertically-launched comets on Sinatra’s song. I really appreciated the richness of colours, with many segments made of different shades of the same color (or contrasting similar colors), like different shades of red/pink, blue, yellow/orange and rare lime. Synchronization was flawless through the display.

Following a serene segment of fado, about 10 minutes after the start of the show, the pendulums dramatically came into life and went vertical (presumably thanks to a motorized system) with strobes lit up, successively from both extreme pendulums, then gaining pendulums located in the centre. On the rhythmic music of "We Stay Up All Night", red mines then burst from these pendulums in our faces, as the strobes continued, causing me to knock the ground with my feets! The entertaining segment continued with photoflashes, synchronized comets, and more mines from the pendulums! As we might believe the pendulums role over, they came back a couple of minutes later, this time gently moving, with red (or pink) strobes, augmented with gerbs at the top of them, the effect of the latter being stressed by the pendulums movements, then with rotating fountains. Sets of V-shape fountains along the pendulums then lit up as the violonist Éric Speed enters into the show. Various pyrotechnic effects were displayed above during the live performance, including many serpents fitting with a violonist's typical movements. Then, horizontally-rotating devices appeared at the top of the pendulums as the fado singer Yolanda Soares performed the ultimate segment, which gained intensity up to the Luso’s signature finale, made of an incredible amount of small shells of stars, all bursting in the same colour for a time, than switching to another colour : this year, we started with all-purple shells, than switched to blue, to green, to yellow, to red, and to white stars, with a short ultimate volley of salutes.

I had high expectations for this Portuguese display and, once again, Grupo Luso Pirotécnia delivered and surprised me. It is definitely a strong contender for a Jupiter prize. I like competitors who come here in order to make a not-ordinary show, but make a step ahead. La Ronde statement of presentation of Grupo Luso Pirotécnia reminded its first performance in 2002 and it was significant to do this, because its odyssey in Montreal over the last decade is characterized by outstanding efforts to be creative, while doing high-quality pyromusical displays. It reminds me the German series of displays by Weco from 1996 to 2004.

So far this year, Grupo Luso Pirotécnia is at the top of my ranking, followed by Sugyp. Congrats!

Fred


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 20:55:18   Edited by: fireworksforum

Great picture from Steve of Eric Speed and Yolanda Soares (as well as the pendulums - each of which had 50 cues on it):



Posted: Jul 25, 2012 21:36:53

Another excellent show by Luso. They know how to present professional and strong pyromusical displays. I really liked how the pendulum rose up from the lake. It was unexpected and very exciting to watch. Maybe not as exciting as the dome, but still, very well done. Synchronization was very well done, too. We also saw the best finale of the season so far, although it wasn't as good as their 2002 finale.

My rankings so far (rated from La Ronde):

1. Portugal
2. France
3. Canada
4. Switzerland
5. Japan
6. Greece

Very competitive year... In my opinion, Portugal, France, Canada and Switzerland are all winners.


Posted: Jul 25, 2012 22:01:13

Enfin, une première véritable finale! Merci au Portugal de m'avoir enfin fait vibrer!

En espérant que l'Italie pourra faire une finale encore plus intense et plus étendue dans le temps vendredi prochain!

Pierre


Posted: Jul 27, 2012 00:00:23

My report is up (including a daylight picture of the pendulums): http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=640

Paul.


Posted: Jul 27, 2012 09:28:58

My partial report on the display (post-display interview and pictures) is available on Pyro Québec.

I'll try to get the review online as soon as possible.

I don't have a video for this display for technical reasons that I won't explain here. I do hope the situation returns to normal for tonight's display.


Posted: Jul 27, 2012 12:45:04

I posted mine last night too : Mylene & Artifice

Mylene


Posted: Jul 27, 2012 16:09:18

Somewhat cool and breezy conditions were the backdrop for the Portuguese display, as severe thunderstorms passed through S. Quebec on July 23rd and set the stage for a cooler and drier air mass. Wind speeds during the display varied between 15-19 km/h from the NW and temperatures were registered at 21 C (20 C just after the display). Humidity levels maintained borderline low to moderate status and skies remained partly cloudy with clusters of cumulus clouds. The crowd appeared smaller than previous displays but still a good number of spectators were present to see the highly anticipated Grupo Luso Pirotecnia of Portugal!

This was most certainly a spectacular display, as expected, from the renowned Portuguese team! As the time drew closer to 10:00 p.m. I waited anxiously to see what surprises may be in store by Luso, especially after witnessing such an exquisite display in 2008 which was definitely one of the best displays I've seen in this competition! As the numerous ideas coursed and surged through my imagination moments before the show commenced, the display began very interestingly with the formal countdown, soon followed by a sudden burst of shells filling the sky and making for a pleasing opening and corresponding roars of approval from the audience!

Through many points of the display, I was thrilled with the elaborate synchronization in representing many of the musical selections used, particularly during the opening segment involving Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal", and especially during "We Stay Up All Night" and "Runaway Baby", where Runaway Baby (and, arguably, the concluding segment with Yolanda Soares) offered some of the most enjoyable sequences for this display, especially the mines and accompanying effects, reminding me a little of Sweden 2010! Although the overall diversity of pyrotechnics was somewhat limited, I thought that many effects used worked very well with the music, and there had sometimes been an interesting interplay of effects that nicely complemented the some of the selected soundtracks, as was seen during the "Fly Me To The Moon", for instance. The music choices were mostly enjoyable and were quite effective for the right sort of transitions that needed to be implemented with the thematic components of "Fire" and "Soul". The changes from segment to segment were, indeed, fluid, with no abrupt or slow starts between them. Many of the songs used had also been carefully selected to evoke the correct emotions - this was mostly felt for the "Soul" components, and I personally thought that "Diem ex Dei" brought a strong, emotionally-driven feel to it, really captivating me into the display at that particular point.

I must, however, briefly comment on the segment of "We Stay Up All Night", as this was quite possibly the most enjoyable section of the show, and the pendulums, most assuredly, offered a wonderful dimension to this display. It was a little difficult to discern what these totem-like structures were from Notre-Dame and de Lorimier, but many of the effects could be seen associated with them. My first observations led me to believe that large nautical shells had been used for this display - however, as Paul had previously clarified, these were, in fact, sequences of shells originating from the pendulums themselves. Regardless, the display took on a very dramatic feel once the pendulums first made an appearance, and their use for the display in its entirety surely merits points for originality and innovation! As Paul had also stated, the fireball effects emanating from the pendulums were also very enticing, but I probably would have benefited the most from the heat given off by them, had I been on site at La Ronde, as the combination of breezy winds and lower humidity levels was really giving me the chills during the display!

My principal criticism with this display, as briefly expressed above, is repetition, mostly with respect to the frequent use of horsetails and shells of go-getters. Although these effects were varied in appearance (as pointed out by Vander), I felt that their abundance reduced the overall diversity and complexity of the display and could have been replaced with more appropriate effects at certain points. Nautical devices, such as the nautical mines used in the 2008 display, for example, would have been very well suited for a few sections in this year's performance.

The transitions in pace were very well done, but I personally thought that following the opening segment, the show became more focused on the "Soul" component of the theme. This eventually led to both a feeling of monotony, and an initial impression that the display would be organized in such a way that the first half of it would be devoted to "Soul", while the latter attached to "Fire" (a dichotomous approach similar to England 2007 and, more recently, Italy 2011). However, it later became apparent that this was intended to be more of a mixing between these two key components in between the display, rather than separated individually into two individual sections. In this sense, though the changes in rhythm and pace were clearly enforced, the focus towards the "Soul" component through most of the first third of the display caused it to feel somewhat disproportional.

For these reasons, in spite of the integration of the pendulums, I thought that their 2008 display was more technically compelling, although this year's performance certainly commanded more depth and clarity in its thematic premise. It is also very well possible that I enjoyed the 2008 display a little more because of the musical selections, special effects (such as the opening of the Mission Impossible segment), the choice of effects used for representaton, as well as the structure/organization of the show.

The finale was totally awesome and was certainly reminiscent of their 2008 conclusion! This finale was built with the right crescendo and had good endurance, as well as beautiful transitions in color! As rightfully stated by Enkil, this is the top finale so far this year!

All that being said, Grupo Luso Pirotecnia has undoubtedly delivered a truly magnificent performance, and, in some ways, it reminded me a fair amount of the their 2008 display, especially with respect to the finale, and some of the sequences presented at certain points of the show. Though my negatives may come across as being major, they should not be treated as such, as this was a very well coordinated display, with very precise choreography, an enjoyable, relevant and largely emotional selection of music, a fair diversity of product, and, of course, bringing a great deal of innovation to both the display and the competition (much like Switzerland)! Thank you, Grupo Luso Pirotecnia, for bringing us yet another finely crafted display that will surely be remembered and referred to for the years to come!

Trav.
 

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