Hi everyone,

Please post your reviews of the Finnish display here!

Trav.

What a night! That was an excellent performance of Joho Pyro from Finland, the 32th country to be represented in the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. The designer Johan Höllander and his team have demonstrated full mastery of their art.

The theme of the show and the related explanations disseminated by the designer in interviews were not clear to me. It turned out to be a very original concept. While the soundtrack was made, once again, with popular songs, the show had two original twists. First, the idea to rely mostly on covers (hence the title Under Cover, unexpectedly renamed 60 ans de succès marquants during the pre-show). Second, the idea to insert two “radio static” short interludes, each one announcing four forthcoming songs with cues from their original record. The line-up was consistent with this theme. One of the only criticisms I would make to this extravaganza is that none of the songs were intertwined with the next, causing a pause between each of the 9 segments. Furthermore, the transition between the very artistic The Sound of Silence and Call Me was somewhat brutal, the latter having a dramatic start whereas the former was very serene.

Speaking about the pace of the show, one of its strengths was the consistency of the rhythm of the soundtrack and the pyrotechnic performance. The soundtrack provided some serene times (Stairway to Heaven, The Sound of Silence) and it was reflected with the kind and the quantity of fireworks displayed. The latter was one of my favorite parts of the show. It started with blue and red gerbs and other low-level effects. Then it gradually increased in altitude and size, with horsetails ending in various colors. Then the pace increased with relatively silent mines and bombettes of very bright white stars. It peaked with shells producing something similar to weeping willows, which were then complemented by note-synchronized stars and fountains, and a final touch made of silent shells of bright stars (or horsetails). The dosage here was perfect.

In interviews early this week, the designer explained that no pyrotechnic effect was going to be used in more than one tableau. I guess that it was accurate. There were similarities between some of them, but I believe there were always some variants. This led to a very diverse arsenal. Moreover, I also saw a wide range of firing patterns, the most spectaculars being this barrage of cakes horizontally shooting stars across the lake from the fifth ramp on Céline Dion’s River Deep, Mountain High. The fourth ramp was not used for this show, but the fifth ramp produced great effects once again, and we saw many kinds of nautical products. Generally speaking, the design of each segment was extremely clean with perfect geometry. The show had a strong density and the finale was very climactic. This excellent pyromusical design was augmented by perfect synchronization through the show.

The quality of the pyrotechnic pieces is another strength of this piece of art. The exhibit started right at the beginning with three large shells of peonies, each one increasing in complexity : the first was just a color-changing peony; then we saw a shell of star with sequential color-change in one way and the pistil changing of color in the opposite direction; then a shell with double pistils inside. Not as spectacular as some HC Pyrotechnic (Belgium), some mines had two color-changes. Other products extinguished themselves very suddenly. On the music of Live and Let Die, I saw some shells of cracklings which didn’t “crack” all at the same time, rather by phases or by subsets. Many colors were vivid (for example, on Stairway to Heaven, the very bright orange electrical comets and, above, some shells of the same color). There was also subtle differences in some products. For instance, during the first interludes with radio static, we saw white nautical flares and fountains with various levels of brightness. During S.O.S., I saw a rare product which behave similarly to a gerb, but causing a very bright flash effect instead of a gerb. At the end of the show, there were also some very bright falling leaves (sort of). Generally speaking, I felt the designer truly “played” with the brightness of some pyrotechnic pieces.

Following a couple of hours glued to the radar, monitoring the thunderstorms and heavy rain in the area – and at La Ronde – just before the show, I sat in the benches around 9:20pm under a light rain. Following the introduction of the crew and the national anthem, I was afraid to see the smoke from a salute almost stationary. Thanks God, the thunders didn’t jeopardize the display and it started at 10pm prompt. The rain stopped around 10:10pm, the wind was just strong enough to blow the smoke away, and the rain resumed a couple of minutes past 10:30pm. More important, the weather conditions didn’t appear to impact the show by any mean and it was apparently executed without any technical glitch.

Overall, this extravaganza was almost perfect, a vibrant showcase of the fireworks crafted by various manufacturers and of the pyromusical art at its best. I felt very engaged through it and I felt privileged to attend a such beautiful event. I am not going to reproduce here what I spontaneously said to some people immediately after the show, but let’s say that I was ecstatic, to say the least! It is a shame the Thursday schedule and the bad weather conditions prevented more people to be there.

So, my personal ranking is :

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

Fred

P.S. : The next show will be presented in collaboration with Panzera, not “Panza” as the speaker said to the small audience in the park, immediately after the show. This announcer also did the countdown (without the cooperation of the Grande Roue) instead of using the one prerecorded by Michel Lacroix. Once again some confusion there.

So, now I also watched the video uploaded under the member section. Once more thank you for providing this - it is very appreciated

In summary: WOW - Great show!

As always, Fred has been very thorough in his reviews and I can only agree in his opinion.

Should I highlight a few things I particularly enjoyed it would be:

- Surprisingly well working soundtrack! I am a fan for classic music (and film-music) but really like this soundtrack. Not only is it very well edited but the versions of the songs were refreshingly different and there were enough variation to take us through the emotions which should be evoked during a show. I was surprised to see that "only" 9 songs were included but this works really well and sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed (confused?) if the songs change too fast. There is a limit to how many changes my mind likes - but maybe that's just me.

- Design was very well done with great choreography. Also it didn't get mechanical. I also like when there are more serene moments instead of constand "pedal to the floor-cue-shooting"

- Great product range. It paid off to pile stuff in the corner, as Paul took note of in his interview

Congratulations from Denmark to Johan and his team. I have never met them but would surely have given them strong hugs after the show if I had been in LaRonde! Although security probably would have me removed ;-)

All the best,
Lars

ADDENDUM

As I reported above, the show entitled “Under Cover” - and advertized as such on La Ronde website, both in French and in English, since the release of the programme in Spring 2023 - was unexpectedly names “60 ans de succès marquants”, both through the pre-recorded message of Michel Lacroix and by the live announcer. This move sounded very odd, as it is not a French-language translation of “Under Cover”.

The title “60 ans de succès marquants” vaguely reminded me of the title of a previous fireworks show. I just checked. “60 Years of Unforgettable Music” was actually the title of the Pyrotex Fireworx display presented on the same date (August 3) in 2022.

So there was a confusion from La Ronde, not only last night, but also when all the recordings were done weeks ago. I hope this mistake will be corrected with the right title during the live closing ceremony next week.

[ADDENDUM #2] I just watched again the end of the recording last night. After the show, the live announcer provided the correct title for the closing statement. So there is hope for next week!

Fred

This was an outstanding display! Difficult to write the review, to be honest, as tears of emotion welled up.

http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=2181

For the fourth time this year, a fireworks day faced some thunderstorm threat, including strong to severe thunderstorms. The appearance of thunderstorms on this night was historical under several regards. First, there has never been this many fireworks days spent with thunderstorms in and around the area in a single year. Second, there has never been back-to-back fireworks days where thunderstorms made an appearance, and to that end, never making an appearance on consecutive nights so close to display time (July 30th and August 3rd). Even the Belgian display narrowly missed the July 21st severe thunderstorms.

In my initial weather analyses presented on both predawn August 2nd and August 3rd, it was suggested at the time that some discontinuity in the thunderstorms and convective rainfall could occur in time for this display. Despite later follow-ups on August 3rd hinting that this would become less likely in light of more persistent lift, it was good to see these breaks, indeed, defied the odds and actually come to fruition when we really needed them to. Of course, that was not the end of it, as light rain persisted practically 10 minutes into the display, but more especially as more thunderstorms later appeared following the display later in the evening and during predawn in isolated fashion. With fairly close lightning strikes, strong winds, and significant rainfall, I became nervous that this would cause potentially substantial issues for this display. Ultimately, my fear of technical issues being a legacy of these rather strong thunderstorms was put to rest, for it became apparent that seemingly everything was remarkably still in working order as the display unfolded.

Skies remained cloudy for the display, and the air was saturated from the thunderstorm’s heavy rainfall, increasing the likelihood for thick accumulations of smoke. Following the early-morning rainfall, Severe Thunderstorm Watches appeared, and even a Tornado Warning in Eastern Ontario, leading to an actual tornado touchdown yet again in the Ottawa area. Winds were quite light and somewhat variable in direction for the show, pushing the thick smoke accumulation clear to the right of the La Ronde audience, but by the 20-minute mark, the smoke started drifting towards those on Notre-Dame Street as a wall. At saturation, the temperature was 18-19 C for display time.

This was an absolutely brilliant and thrilling display with such excellent craftsmanship. Much like the American show, this one featured many interactive soundtracks, some of which evoked particularly strong emotions for the modest crowd present. The display began serenely but quickly exploded with a delightful burst of color, seemingly out of nowhere! Much like for the American show, this opening was similarly showing great promise for what was to come.

The sequencing showcased throughout this display was just amazing, and there was hardly ever a dull moment, much like in the previous display. The small audience was thrilled to hear the appearance of certain popular songs, and so expectations were quite high to see how well the pyrotechnics would follow suit. Indeed, they did not disappoint – we were often treated to a spectacular arrangement of effects that gave the songs a very mesmerizing and sometimes operatic appeal, but also brought out musical elements symbolically under some circumstances. The pyromusical design was, therefore, almost flawless. To that end, I found that all levels of the display were effectively used, from low-altitude to high-altitude, and there was a right balance between tranquil and faster-paced segments. I was especially emotionally-drawn to “Sound of Silence”, probably being the most emotional segment of the year alongside “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” in the Belgian display previously. Stunning nautical devices were further carefully used in this display, especially in the concluding segment with the “dancing fish” effect and nautical shells! Product quality was just outstanding, as displayed by the color richness and magnificent appearance of the shells. Although I hoped for a more colorful finale (very colorful finales rare this year), the finale itself was just awesome and came quite strong for those final 63 seconds!

At the more negative side of the spectrum, I again honestly had a difficult time grasping the thematic framework of this display. The musical choice was clearly enjoyable and so well represented, but it was difficult to fully understand how this choice related to the theme. I got the impression that the display was intended to be something like a representation of a radio broadcast or the like, taking us through a musical journey through different decades - like Portugal’s “Tune In”; I immediately felt this notion when the show would be briefly interrupted serenely with low-level flares to let the audience hear previews of upcoming songs, and with some reminder of the original artists of those songs. In light of this, while I obviously enjoyed the display, I think that I would have enjoyed it so much more with the original versions of the songs used; somehow, this affected the extent to which I enjoyed the display from one section to the next. For that reason, I felt more drawn to the American display than this one, even though the American display had a light-ish theme. For the songs themselves, much like for Belgium and Canada, I think that the show would have benefitted more from further soundtrack editing, allowing for shortened versions of these songs and, thus, giving space for other songs to appear. Finally, a very minute point, but for several segments early in the show, there was a similarity in the firing style in that segments would begin gentle at their openings, followed by a sudden rush of pyrotechnics. While this works well, it made the display sometimes more predictable from one piece to the next.

Overall, an outstanding show this was with so many memorable moments, but I am not yet sure if I quite have this one ahead of the American display. Thankfully, the weather was cooperative for this highly anticipated performance – probably the most signature aspect of this very memorable fireworks day for me.

Trav.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for the thorough review as always. It is very clear that it was a very emotional night both for the team and the afficionados such as you, Fred, Trav and who else I don't have space to mention here.

For Johan I fully understand the "emotional rollercoaster" caused by the weather. Hundreds of hours of meticulous preparation in risk of being spoiled by bad conditions. Therefore I am very happy that they fired the display under conditions which allowed the audience to enjoy the show.

It is also very touching how it was also an emotional experience for you. Firstly it's very special knowing that certain items are not to be seen no more. But also being so passionate about the competition and contributing through many helpful dialogues over the years really is something. Huge kudos for all your effords to the competition and kindness to all us crazy visitors, who might not ever be competing ;-)

All the best,
Lars

Lars! Great to see you here again, and thank you for continuing to share your thoughts/comments with us!!

Trav.

Hi Trav,

My contribution is extremely limited - it is very hard from the distance. But the videos really make i easier to follow the competition. However I must admire the great work by you, Paul and Fred. It is admirable and means a lot for the competition.

But now I look forward to knowing the winner on thursday. My winner is surely JoHo - which is appropriate since this reply is in the feed for reviews on their fantastic show

All the best,
Lars

Lars,

good to see you here again! Thanks, as always, for your kind words and support!

JoHo had the best display this year ... but I'm not confident the jury will agree. I think it will come down to the soundtrack, unfortunately, as the final determinant of the winner.

Paul.