Hi everyone,

Please post your reviews of the American display here!

Trav.

Exactly 15 years after the Pyrotecnico’s award-winning “Rock Loves” performed on July 30, 2008, their fellow citizens of Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks presented an excellent show on the same theme. The quality of the design, the products and the soundtrack, as well as the flawless synchronization, make the American team a serious contender for a Jupiter, despite an anti-climactic finale.

Among the previous Rozzi’s competition shows I have attended (Pyrotechnic Carnaval in 1997, Imagine in 2000, Dream in 2005, and The Seasons of Life in 2015), only the most recent had a substantial theme. Era of Rock was more in line with Rozzi’s tradition of a light theme. The rock theme isn’t original. Since the start of the competition, there were at least seven other shows with the word “rock” in their title :

i. The Shock of Rock, Syd Howard (Australia), 1994 (Silver Jupiter);
ii. Rock n’ Fantasy, Ipon (Italy), 2000;
iii. Rock on Fire, Macedo’s (Portugal), 2006;
iv. Rock Loves, Pirotecnico (United States), 2008 (Gold Jupiter);
v. La puissance du rock Vulcan (Hong Kong), 2013 (“Born to Be Wild” was the English title);
vi. Pyro Rock’n’Roll, A.P.E. Parente (Italy), 2015; and
vii. Rock Loves... Redux, Pirotecnico (United States), 2018 (Bronze Jupiter)

Also, there are countless other shows with a soundtrack mostly made of rock musics, the forthcoming Finnish being the most recent example (according to its descriptive on La Ronde website). I can’t say that Rozzi has revisited this theme in a significant way. That being said, the soundtrack wasn’t inconsistent with the (light) theme – in contrast with the Canadian one – and it was properly edited, with some very nice transitions which were reflected in the pyrotechnic side of the performance. In addition to that, the stereo system was once again very effective, several songs beginning with the music coming mostly from one set of loudspeakers and the lyrics from the opposite set.

The range of products was pretty wide, with many multi-break shells (studatas), different types of shells and candles, nautical effects, sky mines, long duration cakes (of whistling tourbillons, for example), etc... Many of the mines and comets were particularly thick, especially those fired from the closest ramp. One of the most striking characteristics of the arsenal was its vivid colors, like the yellow, orange, lime, and purple. There were a number of shells with one color change (peonies, chrysanthemums, and some ghost shells).

The soundtrack and these products led to a great pyromusical design. Shortly after the opening, on Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the pyro really followed the many rhythmic variations. It’s hard for me not to think to Pains Fireworks (2007) large sun famously captured by Robert Burch when I hear the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun. This time, the tableau on this song evoked the colors of the rainbow as the sky became filled with multicolor shells and cakes of stars. The segment on Scorpion’s Wind of Change began in a very serene way, opening on a red carpet of nautical flares, was also a beautiful moment, later causing me to briefly scream. This part nicely transitioned to Queen’s You’re My Best Friend, where some lyrics were illustrated : here, with a heart created by purple (??) stars shot vertically and heart-shaped shells above; there, with a smiley face created with other stars shot vertically followed by shells of smiley face above. The purple was obviously widely used on Prince’ rainy song. While the pyromusical design was great overall, the finale wasn’t as powerful as I expected, especially after some very loud and action-packed segments (e.g., Boom Boom). Indeed, Proud Mary ended with a 20-second barrage of salutes, followed by some fans of comets and a handful of chrysanthemum shells. I expected a higher and larger barrage of some sorts of products above the many salutes. I found it anti-climactic and it didn’t elicit the screams I typically produced during a finale!

With six previous competition shows and four off-competition displays as well, Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks is a seasoned company at La Ronde, so it has very good knowledge of the site and its possibilities. Unsurprisingly, the technical design was a strength of the show, with a great use of the lake (nautical products) and the fifth ramp. The many fans of comets and other effects fired so close to the audience were impressive. The mines shot horizontally along the third ramp, on various musics, were a nice change from the most usual firing patterns. At several moments, the show was going on at several levels at the same time, and the products displayed at different altitudes were perfectly paired together. I could not ride the Grande Roue to get an overview of the setup, but the fourth ramp appeared not to be used.

The synchronization was flawless. Briefly, I felt concerned with the premature launch of nautical red shells about 45 seconds before the countdown. Luckily, it hasn’t been a symptom of a broader problem. There were countless note-synchronized sequences, but not all the time, so it was not too mechanical, so to speak.

I feel a close race between HC Pyrotechnics and Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks at this stage. I believe the Belgian and American shows share many characteristics : a light theme, a great soundtrack, flawless synchronization, very few technical problems, great pyromusical and technical design (while less nautical products in the Belgian show) without using the fourth ramp. The American team has made a slightly more intense and diverse use of the lake. The Belgian team has displayed some color-changing mines and shells which were more impressive, and its finale was more climactic. Also, I believe that HC Pyrotechnics’ most serene segments featured more quiet fireworks effects than Rozzi’s ones, which still heavily used shells.

So, my personal ranking so far :

1. HC Pyrotechnics (Belgium)
2. Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks (United States)
3. Macedo’s Pirotecnia (Portugal)
4. Hands Fireworks (Canada)
5. Dance of Fire (Ukraine)

Aside the premature ignition of some nautical shells, the pre-show was executed smoothly. The countdown occurred at the right time with the lights of the Jacques-Cartier bridge being extinguished in synchronization... but it was not the case of the Grande Roue, which was suddenly turned off once the countdown over. We were relatively lucky with the weather conditions, at least during the extravaganza. The winds came from the South, so the smoke (slowly) moved away towards the right side (from La Ronde) and the rain stopped about 40 minutes before the show, with only a very light rain for a couple of minutes, before the Purple Rain segment. But the walk from the Salon des artificiers to the front gate, just before midnight, under thunder and heavy rain, was similar to a water ride experience!

Fred

My report on this excellent display

http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=2152

What happened to everyone else's reviews this year?!

Paul.

For the third time this year, a fireworks day met with some thunderstorm risk, now exceeding any other year spent with thunderstorms successfully materializing in and around the area on fireworks days. As lift in the area began to increase ahead of a shortwave trough, it became increasingly clear that convective rain showers and isolated non-severe thunderstorms were increasing in coverage in scattered fashion. A small segment of strong thunderstorms first appeared over the West Island-Vaudreuil corridor just before sunset, with convective rainfall farther East, towards greater Montreal. By display time, periods of light rain persisted, especially near the end of the show, but this was then soon followed a very heavy rainfall associated with another isolated thunderstorm family in the area. Winds were largely from the South, allowing the thick smoke accumulations (after near-saturated air induced by the rainfall) to drift fairly gently clear to the right of the La Ronde audience, though high-altitude smoke was advancing towards far right-hand sections from overheard. The air temperature also cooled to 17-18 C in response to the rainfall, practically saturating the air at that temperature and leaving mostly cloudy skies.

This was a highly enjoyable display, despite the fairly light audience once again present, and considering this being the only weekend display. The show was rather characteristic for its energy, though while not the most energetic immediate opening piece following the anticipated countdown among displays this year, the sequence of nautical shells that appeared was already suggesting that this promised to be a very engaging show. Indeed, the range of products used was simply superb, but it was not only the diversity of products that stood out as being signature – it was rather really a matter of how effectively the products were employed to represent the soundtrack, an aspect that I thought was lacking this year to really showcase a stronger degree of complexity. As such, the team seemed to have the right insight here - the correct choice of effects frequently emerged to represent and bring to life key components of the popular music selection used for this Rock-based theme, and right blend of firing patterns sometimes almost literally induced patterns that danced with the music. Whether the deep purples in “Purple Rain”, or the appearance of the elegant heart- and smiley-shaped pattern comprised of colored comets at the central portion of the firing site, the choice of (quality) effects dazzled and defined those portions of the songs. Furthermore, we saw a careful interplay of color and effects that often cleverly articulated the music, along with the intricacies displayed by the firing patterns. As the display progressed, the energy of spectators seemingly lifted with each segment! From the energy of “Call Me” to the tranquility of “Here Comes The Sun”, we witnessed a very thorough range of transitions, all of which worked very well. Furthermore, the use of the available space was well done.

On a side note, I also found that the display carried with it some prophetic elements with respect to the weather situation of July 30th – for example, “Here Comes The Sun”, “Wind of Change” and “Purple Rain” all seemed to outline critical aspects of weather, either directly or indirectly for the situation facing that day/evening. “Purple Rain” was one of my personal favorites, with the correct coloring scheme of purple hues used, and accompanied by a firing style that built to an excellent crescendo towards the climactic portion of this segment. Another section that was quite enjoyable was that one prior to “Wind of Change”, called “Boom Boom”.

My criticisms are few and minor. The display was original, but in the grander scheme of things, it was not so original. As mentioned by Fred previously, we have seen several displays (including Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks) take advantage of a Rock-related thematic framework. To be fair, the scope of the display brought a different approach relative to Rock themes in the past (as with other re-visits of similar themes). The show itself undoubtedly worked well with such a theme, but I was hoping to see a little deeper exploration of elements encompassing Rock in this edition. Thus, the theme itself came across as relatively light. To another end, quite minor, a few brief periods of asymmetry also occurred to our left along low-level, where a single firing position appeared to have failed. Further, fairly common this year, the transitions were a little too abrupt between segments to properly “digest” and process each segment. Finally, I enjoyed the finale, especially with its volleys of salutes, but it was very broken up and not quite to the point. I agree, too, that the finale could have been much more powerful and consistent to conclude what was overall a very strong performance.

All that said, I feel confident that the United States will reach the podium this year!

Trav.