Hello everyone,

Please post your comments/reviews of the American display here.

Cheers,

Trav.

I went to La Ronde tonight with a famous French song in mind. Composed by Patrick Bruel, Place des grands hommes begins with “On s’était dit rendez-vous dans 10 ans / Même jour, même heure, même poste / On verra quand on aura 30 ans / Sur les marches de la place des grands hommes.” And it continues with, among other things, references to the nervousness and excitability typical of long-awaited reunions. Designer Rocco Vitale’s absence (and our age!) aside, these lyrics applied well to the feeling I had. In 2008, Pyrotecnico debut display Rock Loves was awarded with the Gold Jupiter. Since that time, Rocco Vitale has attended multiple shows in Montreal and it was unfortunate that he could not attend this excellent extravaganza!

Also, my excitement and nostalgia were fuelled by Pyrotecnico’s decision to keep the same theme for its returning show. Rock Loves (redux) featured similar special structures than those successfully used in 2008 (arches, towers). The soundtrack was different, but the opening song, which was the same than in the original display. And the appropriately titled song Karn Evil 9 : 1st Impression, Part 2 had perfect lyrics for an opening segment: “Welcome back, my friends / To the show that never ends / We’re so glad you could attend / Come inside! Come inside! [...] Come inside, the show’s about to start / Guaranteed to blow your head apart / Rest assured you’ll get your money’s worth / The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth / You’ve got to see the show, it’s a dynamo / You’ve got to see the show, it’s rock and roll.” That being said, the design of this opening segment was totally different than the one did ten years ago.

I believe that the technical design was one of the most important strenghts of this very dense show. It was a massive display. With more than 13,000 pieces, as reported by Mylène on her blog (I do believe that Paul will report more specific figures), it is possible that Pyrotecnico achieved the largest extravaganza in the history of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition, by the number of devices. (I am pretty sure that it was the largest since I attend the competition, that is, 1996. I don’t have reliable records about the shows made between 1985 and 1995, but I don’t know any specific and reliable report of a larger show than this one.) Pyrotecnico really made the most of the firing site. There were two large arches on ramp 4 and smaller ones on ramp 3. Also on the third ramp, there were three main towers and four smaller ones, as well as other small towers on the perpendicular access pontoons between ramps 2 and 3. A series of about 15 poles along the third ramp, shooting horizontal effects, allowed for some interesting chase sequences of gerbs on the musics of No One Knows and The Pretender.

Whereas the arches has been the stars of the 2008 show, I thought that the most ingenious and effective part of the technical design, this year, was the semi-circular 5th ramp created with 13 floating platforms – click here for a picture. It was much more effective than the typical 5th ramp made of a straight line of platforms in the centre of the lake. Pyrotecnico did fantastic semi-circular chase sequences of mines (Madness), gerbs (Cosmic Love, and comets (November Rain), moving from the back to the front, and the reverse. Some fans also shot various devices from the “tip” of this 5th ramp (i.e., the closest platform from the audience), which were very impressing due to their proximity. And these floating platforms didn’t prevent the appearance of a carpet of nautical flares and the launch of nautical shells.

The synchronization and the pyromusical design were also excellent. The beat of the fireworks really followed the one of the musics throughout the show. The synchronization was flawless, with many note-synchronized segments. During this massive extravaganza, I especially appreciated the more serene part on The Sound of Silence. It began with silent fireworks, as fountains, mixed with gerbs of various colours, progressively came into life from the towers, the third ramp and the fifth ramp. At its climax, this sequence probably featured about 60 fountains. It continued with the aforementioned carpet of nautical flares, shells of photoflashes, some flame effects, and HUGE V-shaped fountains on the 5th ramp.

Later, on Coldplay Fix You, a series of cakes shooting crackling shells of falling leaves evoked the lyrics “tears come streaming down your face.”

The pyromusical design has also been at its best with the penultimate segment on Guns N’ Roses’ November Rain. Spinning wheels and plentiful flights of double-ascension girondolas created a serene opening to this part. Then, shells of comets with farfalles burst above. As the tempo increased, note-synchronized flashes added a dramatic component to this segment, which then featured sequences of comets along the 3rd and 5th ramps, with shells of comets above. Then, these comets became more numerous and appeared from everywhere, soon filling the sky with burning fireworks moving down to the lake (the “rain”). The sky was so filled that it could have been a serene finale, like the one I had briefly expected from the Canadian team during the Hallelujah but which did not materialized.

I wonder to what extent this penultimate segment had been designed like a “faux finale.” Indeed, there was a long interruption (about 10 seconds) between this song and the beginning of AC/DC Shoot to Thrill (what a name for an actual finale!). The soundtrack was made of 14 segments, all songs, except the instrumental 12th segment (Fire on High by the Electric Light Orchestra). These were popular songs with, in most cases, quick transitions.

For viewers who sat in La Ronde grandstands, the overall experience has been severely impacted by the accumulation of smoke. It was not as bad as the Hong Kong Vulcan’s show in 2015 (or, even worst, the American Austin’s one in 2002). However, the combination of weak wind, wind direction towards the audience, and the monster size of the fireworks show caused a such accumulation of smoke that we could not fully appreciated the brightness and the specific tone of the colours. Fortunately, I do believe that we were able to see all the devices fired during the show. There were very few colour-changing pieces. However, I would like to highlight the use of some mines which quickly extinguished on The Spirit of Radio, many flame effects, some fountains which turned into swinging fountains on Fix You, and surprising “circular gerbs” (for lack of a better term) on the towers and along ramps 3 and 5 on the instrumental Fire on High.

That was definitely an excellent performance. Pyrotecnico is a serious contender for a Jupiter. That being said, I am not sure that it is going to win another Gold Jupiter this year. Generally speaking, I would say that it was slightly less creative and bold than the Philippine show, which went off the beaten path with musics from video games, featured (more) changing-colour effects, and maybe has used more detailed or multi-effect shells.

My personal ranking so far :

1. Dragon Fireworks (Philippines)
2. Pyrotecnico (United States)
3. Apogée (Canada) (tight)*
4. steyrFire (Austria) (tight)*
5. Dancing Fireworks (China)

*Subject to revision at the end of the competition.

***

I do believe that this show suffered of the accumulation of smoke, but also of its schedule in the 2018 line-up. I felt that I and other viewers would have enjoyed it much more before the Dragon Fireworks performance. To be honest, after the show tonight, I was surprised by the reservation and limited enthusiasm of many fireworks aficionados I discussed with – as well as the atmosphere in the Salon des artificiers when the Pyrotecnico crew arrived. Also noteworthy is the fact that many people were still more talkative about the Philippine show – one week later! – than the American one we just attended. Sometimes, it is said that bigger is not always better. I wonder to what extent this extravaganza, which was outstanding by its size, has been an example of a such statement. Despite the smoke accumulation, it was difficult to monitor and to fully appreciate all the components of this show, as so many different things were simultaneously happening.

***

“The game is not over!” I ended my review of the Philippine show with this veiled reference to the theme chosen by Dragon Fireworks. And, technically, it is not over yet as Giuliani Fireworks is setting up its debut display, scheduled on Wednesday, Aug. 1st. I was told that the size of the Italian show will be more “standard” (with two massive extravaganzas, La Ronde crew members are apparently exhausted!). We must remind that La Ronde has announced the withdraw of Howard & Sons (Australia) and the addition of Giuliani to the 2018 line-up just one month ago, on June 28th. I don’t know when the decisions have been made, but I am afraid that, in such conditions, it might be very challenging for the Italian entrant to exhibit the same quality of design than under “normal conditions.” I am looking forward to see it.

Fred

Here is a good quality video recorded from Notre-Dame, while a bit too far from the bridge, so we can't see many low-level effects. However, it allowed to have a smoke-free view of all the shells above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYsIqo1MXU

The video features the musics broadcast by Rythme FM. However, the radio station has apparently not transmitted the right soundtrack between 7:58 and 9:58!

Fred

For me, this show was maybe better than Dagron's last week. I liked the material more than dragon's, I feel more connection with this kind of music, the set up was more complex and besides the smoke and some firing problems it was almost perfect. I'm waiting to watch some HD video from inside la Ronde to make my choice... by now for me is a tie.

___________________________

EDIT: After watching the whole thing from inside the park I believe that Dragon have some advantage for jury's eyes: the music was more apealing for general public, maybe less firing problems and the N°1 reason the smoke, wich took away the colour vividness of some effects. By now my personal ranking is:

1)Pyrotecnico
2) Dragon Fireworks
3) SteyrFire

Even though I think Dragon will win.

When smoke gets in your eyes...

This was a very good show. However, personally, I found the smoke took a lot away from it. Of course, this is of no fault of the competing team. Likewise, I'm sure the heavy downpour at 8:15 PM didn't help the situation.

The show had some interesting effects. Likewise, made excellent use of the lake for a full experience. However, I found the theme a bit harder to follow. Likewise, some effects were just very difficult to see (with the smoke).

There was also great use of colours, nice "flying saucer"-type shells and a very nice finale.

Rankings for this year so far:
1) Philippines
2) USA
3) Canada
4) China

Did not see: Austria.

My video of the display can be found here, also taken from Notre-Dame/De Lorimier street:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iMVIyvkmEA

I would still encourage watching the above video that Fred posted over my own, as you can better hear the music (I am listening using earphones). I am typically positioned closer to the bridge. I included at the very end of the video a photograph of a lightning discharge that I captured close to the bridge.

Because of just enough wind speed (8-11 km/h) and the WSW winds in place, we were able to view the vast majority of the display without much problem. Had the wind speed been even lower (i.e. below 5-6 km/h), then this would not have been possible, and we could have probably had a situation near-similar to Hong Kong/China 2015, when virtually all major vantage points had considerable difficulty seeing large portions of the show.

The very isolated (strong) thunderstorm of the very late-afternoon to early-evening acted to further enrich the moisture concentration in the air, as indicated in my full weather report, under the "Temperature/Humidity" section, if rainfall occurred. As a result, even after the thunderstorm departed to the East/ENE, it left behind a very important element that would still likely affect the amount of smoke build up. Furthermore, this display was enormous, and there were many smoke-rich products used along low-altitude. Even though wind speeds were marginally reasonable, the WSW direction did not help matters, and the net result was a hazy display, especially deeper into it.

The temperature also cooled quite rapidly over a small amount of time (barely 30 minutes) after the thunderstorm. Indeed, right before the thunderstorm, the Molson display read 25 C, and after the storm, it was 20 C, and it was resolutely 20 C for the remainder of the evening. This is consistent with the 20-21 C specified in the weather outlook in a situation where rainfall would occur during the early-evening.

EDIT: Was the launching of a few shells prior to the display related to the thunderstorm?

Trav.

So far we've been rather lucky with the weather that it until last night. I found it to be a difficult display to rate properly although I still enjoyed it very much. Taking the video was a bit challenging not to mention that copyright issues are a bit problematic. Nevertheless, here it is.

https://youtu.be/xj2PCd5jIhA

Enjoy

It was a magnific display from Pyrotecnico. As some one said the smoke took a lot away from it, I felt really sorry for them since its quite obvious a display like this took them a lot of effort. Just before the show some pieces were shot from different ramps, now I guess it was a test to check everything was ok after the heavy rain, but just before the show I wasnt sure if it was a test or technical problems. I was a bit worried about it.

Althought it was a magnific display, very well designed and powerfull I have some mixed feelings. And it has nothing to do with the quality of the previous performance of Dragon fireworks.

Pyrotecnico show from 2008 is probably one of my favorite shows from the Montreal competition ( with some others shows, of course). As they did a “redux” of the show I think its fair to compare them and try to explain why I am not as excited as I thought I would be.

Their hability in 2008 to put the theme together using one main style of music was brilliant. The mini-themes inside the display worked really well. One segment oriented to colors, one segment about love, another one about peace ... it was like a rock symphony: an openning, different movements and finally the closing. In my humbe opinion last night the theme was too plain. I expected the same pattern they used in 2008 and it didnt happen.

The opening segment was also revealing. They used the same song as they did in 2008 to open the show, and it was quite obvious the way they conceive the pyromusical design is quite different now. The 2008 opening wasnt as neat as it was yesterday, but in terms of excitement it was massive. I think this feeling of technique over emotion can applay to the rest of the display. While the 2008 show was pure emotion yesterday I felt the show was too mechanical. To me a good fireworks design is the one that let the fireworks flow and yesterday the approach was too mechanical. Ive been thinking about it, but maybe the influence and brotherhood with Ricasa is not that good in terms of inspiration and design. To me there were too much things happening all the time, too much small effects and one shots being fired to follow the music perfectly but distracting from feeling it. It reminded me sometimes an stadium show, with all the small effects rotating the circular ramp over the lake.

I would highlight the Sound of Silence segment, the finale of the segment was brilliant. Pure emotion, i got goosebumps. Also the segment with the Queens of stone age, Muse and Electric light orchestra somgs were magnific. Special mention to those “one shot gerbs” during the E.L.O song, brilliant. I think Ricasa made it.


The finale was magnific, abrupt, rough, the last barrage of salutes was super loud. One of the loudests i have experienced in a night time fireworks show. It was more reminicent of a mascleta.

Overall it was a super show, but from my point of view not as good as their debut. Maybe bigger, but this time bigger is not better.

My personal ranking:
1- Dragon Fireworks
2-Pyrotecnico
—-
3-Steyrfire/Dancing fireworks
4-Apogee

Rovira,

the "one shot gerbs" you're referring to that appeared to spin were RES 1x60 indoor pyro gerbs mounted on a small axle so they could spin - I should have taken a picture as they were very neat - there were even ball bearing sets on the axles!

Paul.

the "one shot gerbs" you're referring to that appeared to spin were RES 1x60 indoor pyro gerbs mounted on a small axle so they could spin - I should have taken a picture as they were very neat - there were even ball bearing sets on the axles!

These are the “circular gerbs” I referred to, in the penultimate paragraph of the main section of my comments. It was a very interesting effect! Unfortunately, I am currently unable to isolate these small devices on any of the many pictures I took from the ferris wheel.

Fred

For those on Facebook, I believe this is what you're referring to:

https://www.facebook.com/198701586826029/photos/a.266534023376118.8093 9.198701586826029/2208591009170400/?type=3&theater

No, that's not it. Those are double-ascension girandolas - they rise into the air, then fall, then rise again. The effects we're talking about were attached to the towers and were a quick spin of sparks that lasted about a second.

Paul.

I was not able to be onsite for the show, but I REALLY enjoyed it on video. The smoke was certainly an issue, but the fireworks show was a complete performance for me. Directly in tune with the music, just a wonderful show in my opinion.
I do agree with the above, I think Dragon has a slight advantage having shot ahead of the US, it gave them an extra WOW! factor. But I personally liked the US better and think they had much more finesse. They knew when to take the foot off the gas abit and let the music and fireworks dictate effect quantity.
Sound of Silence was a masterpiece for me, albeit on video. Great work Pyrotechnico!

My report - including all the product statistics - http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=1455

Weather conditions became more important for this display. A humid and unstable environment led to a few (strong) isolated clusters of thunderstorms by early-afternoon ahead of a weak shortwave trough, leading to the issuance of severe thunderstorm watches, including for the island. By the late-afternoon, convective coverage evidently began to decrease, but the risk for convective rain showers and isolated thunderstorms was still very much active until the early-evening, as highlighted previously in the weather thread concerning the rainfall situation for the early-evening of July 28th. Indeed, an isolated strong thunderstorm initiated near the Ontario-Quebec border and traveled NE, evolving over the course of its journey. This thunderstorm eventually affected much of the island directly, striking the SW West Island first, and then moving on to greater Montreal, La Ronde and eventually towards St-Hubert. The effects of the thunderstorm near the firing site began by 8:10 p.m., at the other side of the river. The sound of the deluge of rain from this thunderstorm eventually became fearsome – so strong that very significant water accumulation occurred over a narrow time frame (less than 13 minutes of such rainfall intensity, with the thunderstorm’s core moving out of the area by about 8:27 p.m., right before sunset (which was 8:29 p.m. on July 28th). This very heavy rainfall was augmented by two ferocious loud thunder crashes and occasional strong downbursts of wind in response to close, high-energy cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. As the thunderstorm moved off, frequent distant lightning could be seen lighting up the thunderstorm up to 9:01 p.m. to the East/NE. This description of the event does not do it justice, so I recommend here the following video, as Fred posted in the weather thread previously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjgmznOl97A

Remembering past cases of thunderstorms in the area, and their impact on fireworks displays also made me concerned about the status of the setup thereafter. These concerns were realized when some pyrotechnic material was launched between mostly 9:20 and 9:50 p.m., and I then naturally began thinking about possible technical issues that might have resulted from the previous thunderstorm. Luckily, everything appeared to be okay as the display began, but as Paul mentioned in his report, that feeling of something more considerable eventually transpiring was looming constantly from beginning to end.

The thunderstorm also dramatically cooled the ambient air temperature, as I previously pointed out could happen in a situation where early-evening rainfall occurred. Before the thunderstorm arrived, the Molson display showed 25 C, and after the event, it resolutely showed 20 C for the duration of the evening. Furthermore, the air underwent further humidification beyond the high humidity levels that were already present. As a result, even though the thunderstorm had already well departed before display time (leaving partly cloudy skies at that point, with large clear breaks), its legacy was left behind. Indeed, the increased humidity and light WSW winds meant rapidly developing smoke pushing towards the La Ronde audience directly, although largely central and right-hand sections of the on-site audience were affected. The smoke accumulation was further magnified by the size of the show, as well as the abundant amount of smoke-rich products along low-altitude. The combination these factors often led to the display appearing hazy/murky from La Ronde’s perspective, but for those on the opposite end of the river, the wind speed and direction were suitable for viewing this enormous display by the return of Pyrotecnico of the United States. The thunderstorm also did have an impact on attendance, as it appeared rather sparse for a Saturday evening!

This was a very creative and generally energetic display, complete with rich product quality, a good diversity of color, and very interesting choreography. The display began serenely, soon evolving with faster sequences of fans of comets, accompanied by bursts of the traditional colors emerging from two of the three erected towers. It became apparent that, like the display presented by the Philippines previously, this would be a very complex display filled with many moments of excitement and detailed synchronization! However, it was also apparent that some firing positions were not necessarily coming to life as they should have, creating moments of asymmetry early on (more on this below). As the opening segment transitioned to “Nothin’ but a Good Time”, we were presented with yet more exemplary elaborate synchronization along low-level, especially towards the conclusion of that segment! I also personally adored the rapid firing patterns introduced in the following segment, “The Spirit of Radio”, as well as the bursts of photoflashes that brightened the firing site with each glow while adhering well to the music! The sequence of crimson-red photoflashes to terminate “November Rain” was similarly breathtaking. People were additionally gasping at the dramatic repeated “unfolding” pattern of the central fans of violet stars along low-level, as this was very rich and exquisite in its delivery to conclude “Madness”. One of my personal favorite segments was “Fire On High”, right before the penultimate piece. The precision of the arrangement of circular structures at the surface was very integrative and flowed extremely well with the song’s beat at that point into it. The flares were also used very well prior to this to really define background components of the song.

I also personally loved the transitions to more serene portions of the show. In particular, this was well executed when preparing for “The Sound of Silence”. Indeed, this particular section evoked a very strong emotional feel, and the element of silence was really respected well during the song, largely at the beginning, and then to conclude. I also found the use of the towers to be implemented well at the beginning of this song. The conclusion of this song was, furthermore, represented appropriately with shells of silver glitters “raining” down right before the fountains below were extinguished. A very dramatic piece achieved, indeed! Then, the display re- introduced the more robust sequencing and rapid firing rates by “Believer”, showing off sudden transitions in rhythm and pace, yet very clean. While I was not familiar with all of the songs, as is often the case with most displays, anyway, the music was mostly enjoyable and worked well with the fireworks.

For this reason, the technical and pyromusical designs were of high calibre. Notably, the display sustained the correct fluidity from one segment to the next, effectively demonstrating strong emotions from one moment to the other, even within the same segment, at times! The fireworks certainly felt very passionate in highlighting many of the songs used to represent the sort of sequel to Pyrotecnico’s 2008 theme of “Rock Loves”. To reinforce the music, Pyrotecnico, like Dragon Fireworks, often used very appropriate effects, as mentioned previously, to represent the various songs used. “November Rain”, as another instance, was guided by girandolas for its introduction. The theme was also clear and well represented through a relevant selection of soundtrack. The finale was excellent and quite memorable, particularly when the principal three firing positions became so robust, appearing to converge to some common point when the shells eventually burst at an incredible pace! It was definitely a finale to remember, although its intensity level and duration were slightly lower than the finale shown by the Philippines!

Unfortunately, while certainly not criticisms, the thunderstorm did also leave a bit of a scar on this display. Immediately when the show began, unless it was intentional in some way, it was evident that some firing positions were not coming to life as they should have. For example, during the opening, the introductory fans created along the middle and left appeared to be executed as they should have, but a single shot was only being fired from the far left (our left) throughout this sequence. This seemed random. Not long after to accompany these fans were some mid-level shells. It appeared that these shells, as was shown at other points in the display, were firing mostly to the right (our right). This was also shown in at the beginning of “November Rain” and at a few other parts of the show in a similar way. In time, this sometimes made the display appear skewed to the right and gave a sense of imbalance. Also, during “Fire On High”, an unwanted void space in between the yellow stars at low-level could be seen. Overall, these didn’t detract from the overall vibrancy of the display, but they did become frequent enough to notice and have at least some impact on the symmetry of the display.

Also, even though we were not affected by the smoke nearly as much as La Ronde was, the color richness sometimes was fading due to the dampness of the air, which prevented a true appreciation of the product quality. Of course, the effect of the smoke, relative to La Ronde’s perspective, was significant and so needs to be taken into account. Given the thickness of the smoke often compromising the view, I suspect that this will be a factor in the final decision.

Outside of weather-related problems, I would have liked to see more use made of the towers – in particular, I was hoping that the towers would come to life more often later in the show as they did in the opening. Also, while the range of devices was high, it seemed a bit more restricted than during the Philippines display, and the degree of elaboration was also a bit lower, in my opinion, than in that show somehow. As I also felt in 2008, the selected theme was a bit simplistic, even though it worked very well here. Finally, while the variations of the rainbow firing style at low-level were effectively diversified, perhaps the rainbow/arch appearance altogether was a touch repetitive.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable display and is a very likely contender for a Jupiter, especially for those spectators on the other end of the river. As much as I also loved nature’s fireworks prior to the display, I felt bad for some of the problems it induced for the display (both during and prior to), and for anyone who got drenched!

Trav.