The schedule of Fire on Ice is now available on the Montreal Old Port website. It's a shorter event this year. It also appears that all displays will be on movie soundtracks:

Saturday, December 14
Saturday, December 21
Saturday, December 28
Saturday, January 4

All shows begin at 8pm.

Fred

I wonder if BEM is missing this time, due to their problems back in June? Or if the budget was such that they had to reduce the number of displays. Still, something to look forward to!

Thanks for posting this Fred!

Paul.

Tonight was the last show of the 2013-14 Fire on Ice series. I missed the first one (by GFA, on Dec. 14), but I attended the other displays : FAE on Dec. 21, Apogée on Dec. 28, and Royal tonight. Each show last 12-15 minutes and was produced with music from soundtracks of a given type of movies: Christmas (FAE), superheroes (Apogée), and dance (Royal).

I have not taken notes of each show. But I believe that, among the three displays I have seen, the one from Royal was the best. Whereas previous shows have lacked of density, each segment of this one appeared affluent. Royal also presented a great range of products, launched in various ways (the design was more complex than the previous shows). For instance, firing a couple of mines or comets (I don't remember the exact effect) from a vertical pole added a nice touch to the show. FAE and Royal soundtracks were interesting and well-edited; with Apogée, some music segments baldly ended. Unfortunately, the sound system of the Old Port was not powerful enough to allow us to hear the music at the end of tonight show, right after the penultimate "Flash dance" segment (at least from our point of view, along the hangar).

It is also a shame that because some physical constraints on the quay, the firing positions must be located on a very small area, on the "left" side, slightly "behind" the pavilion (I mean, from the point of view of people who are along the hangar and on the ice rink, that is, for most viewers). I heard this limitation was due to the stage built for the Igloofest (a music festival which is scheduled to begin shortly). It is my souvenir from the FAE display, in mid-December, that firing positions were dispatched across the usual, larger area, making some comparisons more difficult to do.

While these displays are, by far, less spectaculars than those held in the summer at La Ronde (right across the river), they are nice opportunities to enjoy fireworks for free, to add colours and rhythms in our winter routine, and to meet some pyro friends. And thanks to the metro system, I was not jammed in the traffic. ;-)

Fred

Fred,

it was good to see you (and the other pyromaniacs) for the two displays I attended. I definitely really enjoyed Royal's display - I believe it was the best I've seen in all the years I've attended this festival. As for the traffic, it wasn't too bad for me for Royal's display! It was good to see that so many people attended the displays though!

Paul.