Yet another season is soon coming to a close, though we still have the closing show to look forward to after today (July 26th)! Year after year, as the competition draws closer to its end, it only makes me realize how rapidly the years are passing! This season, however, was one that seemed to have passed much more quickly, perhaps because we only had six competitors, and we are more accustomed to eight to sometimes nine!

In any case, please post your personal and jury predictions here. Reasoning for your choices would, as always, be interesting, but it is certainly not compulsory!

Trav.

I think there were only six competitions, one opening show and one finale, am I correct?

My predictions are:

1. canada
2. australia
3. france
4. spain

Yes, Rachel, you are correct - six competitors (I just edited it). Thank you for pointing that out! Still, though, only eight shows this year!

Trav.

I predict

1. Canada
2. France
3. Australia

with a very special mention to the opening entry by Weco that could have figured on the podium if it had been a regular entry. This was the display that I enjoyed the most this season and the one I look forward the most of watching in video during the winter.

STL

The 30th edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition already comes to a close. Following a well-established tradition in this forum, it is time to summarize our viewpoints, to disclose our final ranking, and to make our predictions of the upcoming official results. While this anniversary edition has been held with great cooperation of Mother Nature, it has also been organized against all odds, with the withdraw of an important sponsor (Telus) and the constraints of the Federal Bridge Corporation, more and more reluctant to close the Jacques-Cartier bridge for fireworks events given scheduled construction works on other bridges in the area. Even the newly appointed Quebec Minister of Transport, Robert Poéti, added his two cents a couple of days before the opening of the competition. Such pressures are likely to continue over the forthcoming years. Furthermore, we are still waiting for news regarding the renewal of the sponsorship by Loto-Québec. So once again this year, all fireworks fans should tip their hats to the organizers of the competition, more specifically to Martyne Gagnon and Paul Csukassy, whose commitment should be acknowledged, somehow, one time or another.

It is unclear why the line-up has been shorten to only 8 displays this year (the sponsorship or bridge closure issue?), but the quality has certainly not suffered. The 2014 edition is definitely one of the best since a couple of years. Of course, without recruits – whose performance is more or less unpredictable – and given the record of the contestants, the level of the competition this year is not a surprise. The off-competition opening show, performed by the Platinum Jupiter winner Weco Feuerwerk, was the prelude to a great vintage. My only regret is that the Platinum formula, introduced 10 years ago, has not been reproduced, which would have contributed to create a new tradition.

In contrast with previous editions, we didn’t experience any major technical problems and no significant delay. The only one occured with the Italian display, in order to manage late viewers who were still coming to the grandstands at 10:00pm, according to the annoucement made by Michel Lacroix. Generally speaking, the seating process seemed more efficient than in previous years, with numerous ushers wearing a question mark in the back.

As media coverage of this event is almost nonexistent, Internet-based sources are critical to be informed about what is coming up and the features of each display. I want to acknowledge the work done by Paul Marriott and Mylène Salvas who have voluntarily devoted time to collect and to deliver relevant information for each display. Bob also contributes to share the experience with people who can’t attend thanks to the full videos he has uploaded the following day of each display, in addition to his great photos.

It is my opinion that four excellent displays are contenders for the podium this year : Pirotécnia Caballer (Spain), Royal Pyrotechnie & Fireworks Spectaculars Canada, Brézac Artifices (France), and Foti International Fireworks (Australia). While Pirotécnia Morsani (Italy) and Melrose Pyrotechnics (USA) are classified lower in my ranking, they did very good shows, but I unfortunately believe they won’t be on the podium this year. Whereas there was a clear winner in 2013 and winning trios in 2010 and 2011, I feel that the competition is tighter this year, between the aforementioned four contenders, so the differences in my ranking are not very significant. The jury prediction is also more difficult to do.

As it should always be the case in a competition, and especially when the level of the competition is so high, the winners of the Silver and Bronze Jupiter – as well as those who are not on the podium – should not be too discouraged, and the winner of the Gold Jupiter should be modest in the victory. I really want to emphasize this as I heard some mean comments this year, fans of some teams being openly happy of (actual or anticipated) misfortunes or weaknesses experienced by other contestants. In my opinion, this does not comply with the spirit of the "university of fireworks" envisioned by Panzera and many other people, that is, a unique place gathering excellent pyrotechnicians who may learn and be inspired by each others. Everyone should keep this spirit alive.

As I posted detailed comments on each display, I am not going to summarize them. So, my personal ranking is :

1. Brézac Artifices (France)
2. Royal Pyrotechnie & Fireworks Spectaculars Canada (Canada)
3. Pirotécnia Vicente Caballer (Spain)
4. Foti International Fireworks (Australia)
5. Pirotécnia Morsani (Italy)
6. Melrose Pyrotechnics (United States)

Soundtrack Award : Brézac Artifices (France)

While Brézac Artifices has experienced some minor problems, the degree of difficulty was higher given the theme. The French team reached a new level in art of storytelling. As a political scientist, I may also have enjoyed the theme more than most people. The Canadian display met all the criteria, while the theme and the overall concept were easier to share with the audience and to stage with fireworks. The Spanish show was a great achievement too, with an excellent know-how, high quality pyrotechnic pieces, engaging soundtrack and perfect synchronization. However, it should be noted that my personal preferences only occasionally fit with the jury decision. From 2005 to 2013, my favorite display has been awarded by the Gold Jupiter only once in three (in 2007, 2011 and 2013).

My jury prediction is consequently different than my personal ranking. An important predictor of the official results is the position of each contestant in the competition schedule. Being among the last contestants is strongly correlated with a place on the podium.

Since 1992, the Montreal International Fireworks Competition relies on a popular jury and presents about the same number of contestants, that is, between 7 and 9 (more often 8-9). A different sort of jury existed from 1985 to 1991 and the line-up was shorter. There were Bronze, Silver and Gold Jupiter awards each year (but in 2004 with the Platinum Jupiter, nonetheless three finalists were announced). The following statistics are about the three annual winners (or finalists) from 1992 to 2013:

- 1 of 22 first in-competition displays (4.5%) won a Jupiter.
- 10 of 66 first three contestants (15.2%) won a Jupiter (never more than one within a single year).
- 39 of 66 last three contestants (59.1%) won a Jupiter (we have never seen a podium without any contestant from the ultimate trio).
- 15 of 22 last in-competition displays (68.2%) won a Jupiter.

Given these statistics and the anticipated differences between my personal tastes and those of the public, my final prediction is :

1. Royal Pyrotechnie & Fireworks Spectaculars Canada (Canada)
2. Foti International Fireworks (Australia)
3. Brézac Artifices (France)

Whether the parachute or spiral issue in the French display penalizes Brézac Artifices, I would then predict a Bronze Jupiter for Pirotécnia Vicente Caballer (Spain).

I am not sure whether the soundtrack award is decided by the jury or the organizers, so I hold my personal preference (France) as prediction.

Fred

hehe Fred, so I guess we are in agreement with the predictions

Personal Rankings:

Gold: Royal Pyrotechnie
Silver: Pirotecnia Caballer
Bronze: Foti Fireworks

Jury Predictions:

Gold: Royal Pyrotechnie
Silver: Foti Fireworks
Bronze: Brezac Artifices

Best Regards,
Vander

Don't forget to include your predictions for the best soundtrack as well!

Paul.

My official 2014 rankings:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. Spain
4. USA
5. France
6. Italy

My jury predictions

1. Canada
2. Spain
3. Australia
(or the same ranking as mine)

Salut

Bon je ne dois pas tenir compte du feu Francais car je ne l'ai pas vu.

Mes prédictions


1- CANADA Royal Pyrotechnie et FST
2- ESPAGNE...Caballer
3- AUSTRALIE... Foti

Trame sonore préférée......Espagne

fredbastien Je ne sais pas si je peux écrire en français sur le forum (I can do a bilingual version of my post!), mais je suis tout à fait d'accord avec votre prédiction! J'ai vu tous les feux et je suis pas mal certain que ce sera le Canada pour l'or, l'Australie pour l'argent et la France pour le bronze si elle n'est pas pénalisée en raison des parachutes - sinon je vote pour l'Espagne tout comme vous. J'ai bien hâte de voir le résultat du jury le 2 août prochain! Ce fut une très courte édition: les firmes ont une chance sur deux d'être sur le podium, mais c'est certain que comme vous le dites, la perte de Telus comme commanditaire présentateur a dû faire très mal sur le budget. En tout cas, une chose est sûre: le monde est petit! Jamais je n'aurais pensé que je partageais la passion des feux d'artifice avec mon professeur à l'Université et qu'on a été tous les deux sur le jury de l'International des Feux Loto-Québec!

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. France

Julien, il est tout à fait permis d'écrire en français sur le forum. Le monde est petit, en effet, et celui de la pyrotechnie l'est encore plus, les chances sont donc bonnes de nous recroiser. Il existe très peu de gens qui allient une expertise en pyrotechnie et l'exercice du journalisme. Or il y a là un vide à combler. Depuis longtemps, la couverture médiatique des feux est inversement proportionnelle à la popularité de l'événement et, lorsque des reportages sont faits, ils sont souvent superficiels et très pauvres en information. Il y a certainement là une contribution à apporter au cours des prochaines années, soit à l'intérieur d'un média pour lequel tu travaillerais, soit en qualité de pigiste pour un grand média montréalais. Ce serait franchement bienvenu d'avoir un journaliste qui interviewe les artificiers (comme Paul et Mylène le font pour leurs sites respectifs) et qui propose une critique de chacun des spectacles. Nous pourrions en rediscuter sur un autre fil de discussion de ce forum ou en privé.

Paul, I just edited my previous post and added my choice for the Soundtrack Award.

Fred

only saw half from onsite; so my selection shouldn't taken really into account. However here it is
1) Caballer
2) Royal
3) Foti
(again, thanks for BB for filming them - my firends think I'm crazy to full on watch each missed shows on my TV...)

So that's my listing however it does raise a question/concern re. Budget... Royal seem to have had twice as much - which is partially understandable since they're already onsite so no planes, hotels, and stuff to pay. Which is fair, they're a local team so good for them. But am I the only one who thought they had brought in twice as much as the other teams? (Which is also allowed I think, from any team). Don't get me wrong; it was a spectacular show, reminds me of GFA's CDS tribute a couple years back

Djbono, it's very hard to compare when you're you don't watch all the displays on-site. From what I saw, Caballer had the largest display. Royal/FSC, Foti, Melrose were fairly similar in size. Brezac and Morsani were a bit smaller, but not much. As for how the budget works, the organizers pay a certain amount for the fireworks and the transportation of one container. Even local companies can bring in a special container of fireworks for their entry - these can be products that are not homologated for use in Canada. As for airfare and other transportation of pyrotechnician costs, don't forget that half of the Royal/FSC team came from Alberta. I believe all the "local" Royal pyros stayed in the competition hotel as many of them live an hour or more away from Montreal. I'm surprised you're comparing Royal's show with the GFA CDS one. That show was out-of-competition, was supposed to be 45 minutes long and had double the budget of a competition display.

Paul.

thanks Paul,
I understood most of that - but still it seemed pretty over powered compared to most others - but I understand it's within the rules and I wasn't complaining or anything! (can't complain when there is more boom, than expected!) More is always better! I didn't count the front one-shots but I'd ready to guess it was as abusive (in terms of quantity) than the japanese last year (or the one before?!) Did I hear they had so many they had to use a separate FireOne rig for those ? So many rumours, so little info... (well appart from on this forum, very good info indeed!)

As far as judging from afar - I know - it's nonesense and I shouldn't even have put my score up there. I usually watch them from the 307 section, but sometimes (for various reasons) I need stay close to home - in which case I just go put my feet in the st-laurent river from the south shore and watch from there ___well knowing I'm missing 40-70% of the show___.
But the real question is how to get to every show without ruining myself? How do you guys do it!?

--
Last, I know we shouldn't compare but what I meant it was as much power packed- full-screen-filling, large scale and exciting like the CdS special (very purposedly didn't watch Celine's so can't comment.)

-
Hoping to see you all this Saturday after the gig.
(BTW - imagine how incredible it would have been to finish last year with a special finale on Dark side of the Moon... it's a 44minutes album, it was crying for it! Oh and why last year ? Because it was it's 40th anniversary. If it's not done before that, I volunteer do work on the 50th anniversary!)

But the real question is how to get to every show without ruining myself? How do you guys do it!?

The best way is to purchase a season pass. You can buy one before the beginning of the summer at a very low price (the special rate, last year, was around $60 or $70). Each fireworks night, once you are in the amusement park, you get a seat ticket for $10 or $15. One or two coupons to buy a seat for $5 are even available among the discounts given to the season pass holders in a booklet, when you process your pass.

Fred

All the cue counts for the displays are published in my interviews. Royal's 5325 was high, but no-where near as high as the 6884 used by Vicente Caballer this year, let alone the 8727 used by Team PyroEmotions / PyroDigiT last year. There were several displays in the >5000 cue range this year. Royal also had about 2000 fewer one-shots than Vicente Caballer!

If you didn't watch the CDS special show, you really shouldn't comment about it! It had fewer than 2944 cues (92 32-cue modules) - so was less complex, in terms of cue count, then all of the displays this year (except Morsani - though they used a lot of pyro-delays). As for Royal/FSC using two firing systems, they actually used more like 9 as they had 8 PyroDigital field controllers as well as the FireOne Ultrafire console - it's normal to fire displays in Montreal with more than one controller. The reason they did this is that FSC use FireOne and Royal use PyroDigitial.

Paul.

I did watch both onsite and after the CdS show; I meant I purposedly avoided Celine's tribute because , well , I don't want to be banned here for improper language so I'll stop. Trust me I watched the CdeS one, I still remember the heat from the flame generator chases.
t
As far as cue count goes - fine for one shots - but isn't a fair representation of the amount of bombs used, as I assume most/some (maybe less true for competitions) use delays and mesh things in series. However you are correct, I should read more of your interviews before I can comment. I'm also impressed/surprised by the high amount of cues Caballer had... don't usually spanish folks like to use "barettes" with delays ?!
===
@Fred- thanks for the hint, I'll purchase one next year. Is there a "Saturday-only" pass ? They should really put on a Fireworks-only pass, even if expensive, I'd cough it up once at the begninning of the season then enjoy. For the rest... I couldn't be bothered with rides and rude carnies.

Hi djbono,

To add to Fred's comments, as an alternative, Enkil also previously suggested considering a fun pass, which costs about the same as a one-day ticket and is valid until September 27th. I believe you can watch all of the shows with this pass and upgrade it, if necessary. This might be a more ideal consideration when the season is fresh, though.

Edit: Also, keep in mind that Robert Burch kindly provides full video footage for all displays (from La Ronde), so please feel free to watch them and leave your commentaries (and, ultimately, your personal rankings)!

Trav.

Some of the teams gave me the exact product counts in all calibres - see http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=879 for Caballer. But such raw counts don't say so much as a 6" Italian cylinder shell is much more exciting than a 6" Chinese peony. Most of the displays this year used pyrotechnic time delays for the shells - it's just a lot faster to script and setup the display as it's rare that you need the shells exactly on a particular cue, except for the larger calibres.

As for one-shots, even then the cue counts are deceptive. If you have a front of 11 positions all firing a one-shot at the same time, that would appear as 11 addresses in the script - but is it one cue or 11 cues? I would think it's fairer to say it's only one cue as it represents only one point in time, but in terms of time to set-up, it's probably fairer to say it's 11 cues. This is why some of the high cue-count displays do not appear as complex as might be expected. In the past, companies used a lot more Roman candles for such effects. In the opening show by Panzera in 2000, for example, Panzera used 1,300 candles. Of these, 1,000 were 10-shot 3" bombettes - so that's equivalent to 10,000 three inch shells! PPA's winning show in 1999 had only around 2,000 cues, but they used fifty 12" shells. We just don't see displays like that anymore.

All this information, and more, can be found in the old reports and interviews

Paul.

Thanks Smoke;
I've been watching Robert's videos for 3-4 years now.
as I said, I even watch the shows I've seen physically in the 307 section (that's how messed up I am about fireworks).
I'm tired of coughing up 140$++ every time I don't get free passes; I never envisaged the season-pass route since I couldn't be bothered with rides, I never have the time to arrive onsite really before 9pm; and quite simply didn't know there was "fireworks passes" to be bought on top of those ala carte.
Thanks for all those hints!

My Jury predictions:

Gold: Canada: Team Royal/FSC
Silver: Australia: Foti's International Fireworks
Bronze:Spain: Pirotecnia Vicente Caballer
Soundtrack: France: Brezac Artifices
Green Award: Foti's International Fireworks (they are carbon-neutral)

It was a very good year this year. Any one of the shows could have won the Gold Jupiter in a regular year, so it's particularly hard to chose the exact rankings of the top 3. I believe that the Royal/FSC show was the most technically creative, with the best use of the firing space and the most diversity of product. Foti and Caballer were both very good but, despite large cue counts, were not quite as creative as Royal/FSC. Both Foti and Caballer were very "bright" displays that were also very flamboyant in their use of products, but both were a bit more restricted in diversity compared to Royal/FSC. Brezac could also appear on the podium as their display was also very creative, with a strong theme that was quite different to the others in the competition. But I believe there were too many small mistakes, compared to the others, to allow them to achieve a display Jupiter this year. I do believe, though, that they stand a very good chance with their soundtrack. The Royal/FSC soundtrack was also very good, as was the one from Foti, so it is very hard to say exactly.

As for my three favourite displays, I would have to say, based on the number of shouts and WOWs I did this year:

#1 Royal/FSC
#2 Foti
#3 Caballer

I very much enjoyed the Brezac display, but the "lows" were just that bit too low compared to the "highs" (and the highs were really very high).

All in all, an excellent year and special kudos to Paul Csukassy and all the La Ronde team for a very high quality of technical installation this year. As usual, many kind thanks to the organizers, particularly Martyne Gagnon, for their continuing support of this website. Last but not least, thanks again to Bob, Steve (and Rachel, whose pictures I will process and put up on this year's photo page) for their dedication and generosity in supplying me with them once again.

Paul.

djbono,

You have two options: the fun pass or the regular pass. As Smoke mentioned, the fun pass costs the same as a one day ticket. The regular pass is best if you want to get discounts and visit other Six Flags parks for free, so not the best option for you. You can also watch the fireworks from Fort Edmonton or behind the carousel ride, the one near the Spiral. If you're inside the park, you can also buy a ticket only for a seat in the grandstands for $10. So it should not cost you more than around $140-150 per season.

I know it can be confusing. People always get confused.

@Enkil/Smoke - thanks again a million for the hints. I will definitely go for the Fun pass w/ 10$ bump-ups each week. See y'all next year then !
==
@Paul - thanks again for the clarifications - you guys know much more than I do about pyro; I'm only a beginner with only a handful of La Ronde-size shows behind me...and I have yet to work on a La Ronde show, that'd be the Holy Grail !

Wow... 50 12 inchers !!! Must've been crazy!

Do you know if in the recent years anything bigger (and hence non-normally-permitted) than 12 inches were shot? (again I realize such questions/conversations should be in another thread, I'm spamming this one.)

Salut

Pour FRED...Merci pour ta suggestion à savoir acheter la passe de saison et payer la différence pour assister au spectacle dans une estrade. Je vais faire cà l'an prochain.
Cette année on m'a fait cadeau d'un billet pour le feu de Royal-FST.C'est très cher à l'unité.
L'an prochain je vais acheter cette passe à moins que M. Poéti décide de déménager la compétition au Parc Maisonneuve....(lol) Très drôle ce Poéti.

Roger

Parc Maisonneuve, that would be awesome since I live near by... but no chance it will happen since shows are waaayyy too complex.

My rankings:
1) Canada
2) Australia
3) Spain

Jury selection:
1) Canada
2) Australia
3) France

- Dan

The 30th edition of the competition is, sadly, very soon coming to a close, and we are all already finding ourselves making predictions as to who the winners will be. That being said, I am more than proud to announce that by the end of this Saturday (August 2nd), I will have completed 25 years of attendance at the Montreal International Fireworks Competition! Also, it is interesting to note that by the end of this season, there will have been an equal number of fireworks seasons in the 1900s (1985-1999) and 2000s (2000-2014), and next year’s competition, therefore, means that the number of displays in the 2000s will begin overtaking that of the 1900s.

Noticeably, though comparatively short, this has been a very enjoyable season, as it offered an increase in the number of exciting displays, as well as somewhat more thrilling finales. Personally, 2014 was not quite as memorable as the 20th edition held in 2004, but I thought that it featured many creative and traditional displays that frequently brought much delight to the often large audience that was seen for the vast majority of this year. Particularly memorable this season was Canada’s phoenix structure, as well as its laser comets (Australia’s, too) during its catchy "Legends of Fire". Germany’s pyrotechnic sun and France’s lit twin cables were also very captivating. We had also seen many exciting displays that reminded us of 90s-style structure, with Italy, Spain, Canada, the United States, and Australia being the most distinctively fast-paced and frequently intense (Australia leading the pack). That said, nearly half (three) of the displays this year began with an anti-climactic openings (Germany, Italy and Spain). Canada, however, put an end to that pattern and delivered the most dramatic opening this season. It was also a little disappointing in not seeing much attempts for more "precise" synchronization this year that was comparable to Portugal 2008, Sweden 2010 and, more recently, Italy 2013. Fortunately, no display, so far, suffered from terrible weather conditions (please see the following paragraph), and there were no major technical issues that occurred (unlike 2013, which was notable for technical issues). In terms of schedule structure, I am still left baffled by the fact that this season was so unusually short (only eight displays), and that Germany did an off-competition display, rather than being a part of the competitors. This meant that only six competitors comprised this year’s schedule (thus, half would receive an award).

Nevertheless, I continue to be most appreciative of the competition’s organizers for all of their hard and tireless work in allowing yet another edition to be possible to begin with. Though the competition was shorter this year, I am more than grateful to have had the privilege to see weekly to sometimes bi-weekly performances – we always need to remind ourselves just how lucky we are, here in Montreal (especially in the city), to be able to see these displays consistently! I would also like to extend my deepest thanks to all of the designers, and their respective teams, for their incredible work in the creation of their magnificent displays, as well as all of the labor involved in setting them up altogether! It always amazes me, year after year, as to just how much work and dedication takes places behind the scenes for each 30-minute presentation that most people simply take for granted! My thanks also very much extends to Paul and Mylene for kindly and diligently taking the time in supplying us with excellent inside information following each of the interviews. Special thanks to Paul for continuing to keep his website active and running for yet another year (just over 11 years is incredible, Paul!) and allowing us to indulge in various discussions for our passion of fireworks! Thanks to Robert Burch for, yet again, faithfully posting his full-length videos of each display (especially for those unable to attend the displays), as well as all of his exquisite photographs. Many thanks to Steve Austin and Rachel Bilodeau for their beautiful photos, too! Finally, I would like to thank all forum members, including Fred, Dan, Enkil, Roger, Duncan_S, Pat, Pierre, and Vander for all of their continued contributions and insightful commentaries (I am sure that Rovira is still faithfully reading our postings, as well), and Fred for sharing his various setup photographs this season!

Just a “few” words concerning the weather. Though not quite as inherently “perfect” as the 20th edition’s infamous weather record, all of the displays so far this year avoided the threat of severe thunderstorms and /or rainfall. That being said, severe weather coincided on the same day (early-morning) as the French display on July 23rd, and the Australian display evidently faced the threat of rain, although no rainfall occurred during that display, fortunately. No significant delays occurred this year with respect to the weather, although a slight delay occurred for Italy’s show due to the marginally strong winds (according to Rhythme FM). There also weren’t any fireworks nights where conditions were excessively hot, but they were all generally pleasant, with Canada’s show taking place during the coolest evening and the Spanish and American teams’ conversely being the warmest, with Spain’s evening being the absolute warmest and most humid. Several displays this year were actually quite breezy, with Italy and Canada having the strongest winds and also were directly blowing towards the audience at La Ronde, though audience members at La Ronde welcomed higher wind speeds during the Canadian display since it seemed to have added another dimension to that display. Then, headlines were created with respect to France’s performance, as breezy NNW winds quickly pushed long-burning effects (horsetails) towards spectators on adjacent sections of the bridge. For the German, Spanish, American, and Australian displays, winds were blowing the smoke to the right of the audience at La Ronde, with some periods of smoke accumulation along low-level.

Adhering to my projections for this late-Spring and Summer, indeed, we have seen an overall cooler and wetter late-Spring and Summer than recent years, even though the May-July running average has worked out to a near-normal temperature distribution. This was characterized by fewer opportunities for heat waves and less days reaching or surpassing the 30 C threshold (only four such days for the island of Montreal thus far, with similar numbers for major locations across the country and the central and Eastern United States – the hottest it has been in Montreal, so far, was 33.2 C, which took place on Canada Day). For Montreal, and surrounding locations, this has also been the coolest July since July 2009, and I suspect that periods of below seasonal temperatures could continue into August, unfortunately. This was due to the overall jet stream pattern remaining often in a somewhat similar manner to this past Winter’s, as broad upper-level lows continued to circulate enduring episodes of cooler weather across much of the country, preventing maximum temperatures from frequently achieving excessively high values. The warm season (defined as May to early-September) was instead more humid, with an increase in the number of humid/sticky days. Across Southern Ontario to Southern Quebec, more thunderstorm days occurred, although actual number of occurrences really depended on where you reside. In Montreal, specifically, even though rainfall has been well-above average (including seeing the second wettest June in recorded history in Montreal) this Spring and Summer, thunderstorms successfully managed to avoid the island on consecutive opportunities following those severe storms that took place on the afternoon of June 3rd. As a result, rainfall amounts, at this point in time, could have been excessively higher had thunderstorms transpired directly on the island on those opportunity days (June 17th, June 24th, July 1st, July 8th, and July 15th). Regardless, the number of thunderstorm/severe thunderstorm development days has, in reality, been relatively high. The near-perfect weather conditions so far this fireworks season also may have produced the illusion that the warm season, in its entirety, was relatively dry, but given the wet conditions that characterized the season, it was more of a reminder as to how lucky each fireworks night has been, especially when they became more bi-weekly.

Below are my summaries of each display, highlighting what I assessed as strong and weak aspects of the shows. Following this, you will find my personal predictions for the jury's decision, as well as my personal choices for the winners. Afterwards, for the fun of it, I have added subsequent sections for various criteria (such as best choice of music, best finales, best sequencing, etc.) and place those participants best suited for each, in accordance with my personal tastes. Note that I've kept the grading evenly weighted for simplicity, so I am using a total out of 50, instead of 45 (synchronization is, therefore, out of 10, not 5).
---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------
Participating country: Italy
Company: Pirotecnia Morsani
Date of presentation: July 5th, 2014

A warm Summer evening set the stage for this highly anticipated first competitor of the season. However, wind gusts were often nearing the 40 km/h threshold and blowing towards the audience of La Ronde directly. Before the show, Rhythme FM stated that it would be delayed until the winds died down to more suitable levels (although, at the same time, it was also stated by Michel Lacroix that the display would be delayed to allow people more time to get seated). The delay was about four minutes in length, but, fortunately, winds were not overly breezy during show time and resumed to gusty standards almost immediately after the show had concluded.

This was a very enjoyable performance by the Italian team. The show featured very high product quality, color and a great diversity of effects, especially the fabulous variety of shell of shells and multi-breaks. The nautical shells were particularly well used and were some of the most memorable this year. Synchronization was also very nicely executed and was accompanied by a nice selection of music (“Heart of Courage”, for me, was the most passionate musical selection used this season). However the theme was not particularly very evident through the pyrotechnics, and I felt that the connection was more understood in relation to the soundtrack alone, including with respect to the emotional feel. Consequently, the show extensively lacked creativity and gave the appearance of a more simplistic pyromusical design. This was a little disappointing, especially with such a fascinating theme to explore altogether. The finale was very good, but it was on the short side, and the opening was somewhat anti-climactic with the narration. All in all, a good effort from the Italian team, but because of the lack of a more complex design (compared to other shows that we have seen this year), I do not believe that Italy will receive an award, unfortunately.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 8.5/10
Pyromusical design: 7.5/10
Technical design: 8/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 8.5/10
Total: 41.5/50<---83%

Participating country: Spain
Company: Vicente Caballer
Date of presentation: July 12th, 2014

The warmest evening temperatures and highest humidity this fireworks season were present for the Spanish team, with a late-evening temperature of 26 C. Winds, by contrast to the Italian display, were much lighter in nature, leading to some smoke build up but adequate enough to push it gently to the right of the audience at La Ronde.

What a fantastic and traditional display produced by the popular Vicente Caballer of Spain. The show was rich with vivid colors (especially the traditional Spanish colors), high-quality products and provided some very exciting sequences. I also found the available space to be well utilized, and the structure of the display allowed for some interesting firing angles and patterns. The music was unfamiliar but largely enjoyable and effectively coordinated with the fireworks. In general, though, I found the theme to be particularly weak, and some segments appeared somewhat redundant, where some firing patterns were similar. The use of drooping effects (notably horsetails and falling leaves) also became too common for my tastes. Like Italy, the opening segment felt anti-climactic due to the narration, and the finale started very well but ended much too soon (much different than their legendary 2004 version). Perhaps the display might have also benefitted from less full-length musical selections. The show stands a good chance to collect an award this year, though I believe it is most suitable for the Bronze, if anything.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10
Pyromusical design: 9/10
Technical design: 8/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 9/10
Total: 44/50<---88%

Participating country: Canada
Company: Royal Pyrotechnie & Fireworks Spectaculars Canada
Date of presentation: July 16th, 2014

The coolest (and least humid) evening of the 2014 fireworks season settled itself in time for Team Canada’s display. However, winds were fairly strongly blowing towards the La Ronde audience, although the winds seemed to have added a different dimension to the display!

The highly anticipated Canadian team duo delivered a very engaging and thorough performance. The display featured so many interesting firing angles and made very good use of the available space. Product quality was high and there had been a vast array of effects used to represent most of the elements of each musical track for the theme “Legends of Fire”. Synchronization was virtually flawless and technical issues remained at a minimum. The choice of effects to highlight certain aspects of each soundtrack was clever, and the interplay between effects was very creative – the laser comets, phoenix structure and nautical shells during the finale being the most memorable of effects (perhaps the most memorable of the entire season). While the nautical shells were not so numerous, as compared to Italy, there were some massive sequences of nautical shells of red stars, the force being so strong that some water may have been lifted and sprayed onto some spectators at La Ronde! Best finale of the season. My only real criticism was that the show did not seem as emotionally enticing as I previously envisioned, by contrast to both Canada 2009 and Canada 2010. Definitely a strong contender for an award, but most favorable for the Gold, in my mind.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9.5/10
Pyromusical design: 9.5/10
Technical design: 9/10
Soundtrack: 8.5/10
Synchronization: 9.5/10
Total: 46/50<---92%

Participating country: United States
Company: Melrose Pyrotechnics
Date of presentation: July 19th, 2014

The second warmest evening of the season took place for the American team, with temperatures as high as 25 C in the metropolitan area, coupled with moderate humidity. Winds were breezy from the SSE to SE and generally pushing the smoke to the right of the audience at La Ronde (but sometimes towards those on the far left on Notre-Dame street).
This was a very enjoyable display delivered by the American team, being the loudest of all competitors this year, and the most concentrated towards high levels of sky. The low-level sequences were very enjoyable and used the allotted space very well. Product quality was emphasized by brilliant colors and very expansive and symmetrical effects. The music was also familiar and mostly enjoyable, especially Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and the narratives did not really detract from the show. That said, the theme, “Fright Night”, did not seem to produce that feeling of despair and dread as it probably could have through the pyrotechnics. I am also not certain why “Thriller” was used twice. As much as I enjoyed the display, the firing patterns with the mid- to high-level shells were repeated fairly frequently, which showed a more simplistic design. The finale was lengthy, but it needed a little more with respect to build up. Still, this was one of the more memorable finales this season and was certainly a nice, early birthday present.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 8.5/10
Pyromusical design: 8/10
Technical design: 8.5/10
Soundtrack: 8.5/10
Synchro;nization: 9/10
Total: 42.5/50<---85%

Participating country: France
Company: Brezac Artifices
Date of presentation: July 23rd, 2014

The only fireworks day to experience severe weather, although the (severe) thunderstorms largely took place during the morning hours, and conditions quickly improved beyond 2:30 p.m., leaving partly cloudy skies for the evening and low humidity, though it was a touch cool. However, winds were fairly breezy from the NNW, pushing smoke (and long-burning effects) towards those on the bridge nearest to the park (making headlines).

Team France truly showed a novel performance dedicated to Nelson Mandela and created a very unique atmosphere by making use of a generally different selection of music. The effects were excellent, and the low-level sequences were fabulous (particularly the utilization of nautical flares and fountains to emphasize certain musical elements). I also thought that the emotional feel of the display was apparent, both through the music and fireworks. The effects had also been carefully selected in order to creatively portray each segment and highlighting musical elements (such as when using whistling comets or ghost shells). The theme was, in my opinion, the best represented of all competitors. It is unfortunate, however, that the technical problems resulted in multiple points of asymmetry at low-level, although these appeared as minor. I also found the color selection to be somewhat more restricted than what other competitors exhibited, though the product quality was excellent. It was also unclear as to how the lit cables related to the display. Overall, a contender for a Jupiter this year, and I believe the team will be fighting with Spain for the Bronze.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10
Pyromusical design: 8.5/10
Technical design: 9/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 9/10
Total: 44.5/50<---89%

Participating country: Australia
Company: Foti’s International Fireworks
Date of presentation: July 26th, 2014

A return to more Summer-like weather rightfully took place for the final competitor, with late-evening temperatures of 22 C, moderate humidity, and somewhat breezy SSW to SW winds, pushing smoke mostly to the right of the La Ronde audience. However, some scattered convective showers were taking place around the island during and just after display time, but fortunately, conditions remained dry and pleasant during the show itself.

This was very likely the MOST exciting/intense display of the season this season and in recent years. This Australian team truly knows how to excite the audience and were true to their word in that they would like to deliver an interesting display. The opening sequence at low-level was fantastic, and the show really continued with generally fast-paced sequences of mid- to high-level shells, creating what appeared to be a series of false finales! The low-level sequences were fantastic and were often supported by much upper-level activity. Again, product quality and color richness/diversity were superb. Many of the musical selections were familiar and worked so well with the fireworks. The transitions to more serene moments had also been effectively implemented, but the short breaks given between segments were welcomed because of the overall speed that the display featured. The complexity of the show, however, seemed more constrained due to the light nature of the theme, but the thematic connection was obvious. Because the display was already so intense, it was likely that the finale was eclipsed by previous segments, being somewhat on the short side. The Australian team stands a strong chance to collect an award this year, and I also agree that it could be the Silver.

Pyrotechnical pieces: 9/10
Pyromusical design: 8.5/10
Technical design: 9/10
Soundtrack: 9/10
Synchronization: 9.5/10
Total: 45/50<---90%
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Adhering to the above summaries, and consistent with other posters of this forum, I am also confident that Canada will be awarded with the Gold Jupiter this year. The show was the most “complete” and offered so many vibrant segments that were so dynamically pleasing. Synchronization was the most creative, and the music was enjoyable and well represented. No technical problems were observed. My prediction for Australia in second place is similarly due to their display offering the “full package” while being very effective and memorable as a final participant. This show was just so exciting and fairly complex that spectators with any kind of taste would become satisfied. However, the degree of complexity was generally more limited than the Canadian display’s. France’s display is a sure contender for the Bronze because of a large amount of creativity exploited, unique soundtrack selection, and showing, in my humble opinion, the best thematic representation this season. Spain equally had a creative display and a novel/traditional soundtrack selection and did not suffer with technical issues, as compared to France. It also showed a little more exemplary color selection, even though Spain was also restricted in color diversity. However, Spain was somewhat less complex than the French display, was slower to begin, had a little more monotony with firing patterns and had no real thematic premise. That said, I enjoyed Spain’s musical selection a little more than the French team’s (not to say that the French team’s was not good!), and the show excited me more with its sequences, especially later in the display. We have also seen in the past that the lack of a sound thematic connection is not always a decisive factor that overlooks all other aspects (i.e. Canada 2009). So, it really comes down to personal taste when considering both France and Spain! As such, here are my personal jury predictions and choices (followed by other criteria that I considered):

Trav’s jury prediction:

1st: Canada
2nd: Australia
3rd: France

Green Achievement Award: Australia

Trav’s personal choice:

1st: Canada
2nd: Australia
3rd: Spain

Best choice of music:

1. France
2. Canada
3. Italy
4. Australia

Most intriguing effects:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. France
4. Spain

Best quality products:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. Spain
4. France

Highest color richness:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. United States
4. Italy

Best devised and represented theme:

1. France
2. Canada
3. United States
4. Australia

Best sequences:

1. Canada
2. Australia
3. Spain
4. France

Most powerful/energetic displays:

1. Australia
2. United States
3. Canada
4. Spain
5. Italy

Best opening segment:

1. Canada
2. United States
3. Australia

Top finales:

1. Canada
2. United States
3. Italy
4. Spain

Let us see what the decision will be, as nothing is ever certain (learning especially from 2008). Other than that, I am hoping for a strong Panzera finale, much like in 1996 and 1997, to appropriately close the 30th edition of Montreal fireworks!

Trav.

Trav, you record of attendance is certainly impressing!

Re the weight of the criteria: the officlal grid is now on 100 points instead of 45. The weight of each criterion is now as followed:

Quality of pyrotechnical pieces = 15%
Pyromusical design = 30%
Technical design = 30%
Soundtrack = 15%
Synchronization = 10%

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge you for your unique contribution to this forum. Your accurate and precise weather forecasts posted before each display are very, very useful. Thanks!

Fred