Coming Soon: A Fireworks Blockbuster
Designed by David Sharpe PyroDigital Firing with ~3900 cues. Visualization and display management via Finale3D
High heat and humidity lead to the issue of a severe thunderstorm watch for the late afternoon and early evening period in the general area of Greater Montreal. I spent the day anxiously watching the radar as lines of storms formed to the north and south of the island but, miraculously, completely avoided the display site at La Ronde. The day before the display I had asked David if he thought the “Fanta Sea” jellyfish products would survive being out in a rainstorm uncovered and he said no, they wouldn’t, but not to worry as it was not going to rain anyway. On arrival at La Ronde around 8pm, I saw the crew removing the plastic coverings from the racks on ramps 3 and 5, as the storm watch was over, without a drop of rain falling.
We were treated to the best weather conditions of the competition so far with clear skies and, despite the high humidity levels, sufficient wind blowing from the audience towards the firing ramps such that all the smoke was cleared away. As the countdown ended, the display opened powerfully with a massive fan of crackling comets and mines across ramp 3 with salutes above. Massive nautical shells fired towards the end of this opening segment brought cheers from the audience as these were the first we’ve seen this year. It was just slightly unfortunate that these bled over into the next segment.
The sequencing and design was well done in these early parts of the display and the first laser segment opened in conjunction with pyrotechnics (which the rules permit) – this was good as it gave a more seamless feel to the display despite the forced interruptions.
We had a segment with two waterfalls fired and the more serene music would have been perfect for waterfall or horsetail shells above, so I was a bit surprised that generic “filler” shells were fired instead. Later in the same segment we had strobes on ramp 3 with the same in shells above, but only the left and centre positions, strangely, the right hand side was firing a different kind of shell. This lead into the next laser segment which again had a nice transition with pyro firing at the same time initially. The red-pill/blue-pill segment was well done (though some of the red shells at the right side didn’t fire) and we saw some flights of double-ascension girandolas (also a first this year), though they struggle to gain much altitude. This lead into the third laser segment.
Following this a very good segment with stars skipping across the lake as they were fired from ramp 3 to ramp 5 and vice-versa with some nice shell-of-shells above. The final laser segment was probably the best we’ve seen so far this year with more “activity” than in previous displays.
I glanced at my watch around 10:28 as we still had not seen the jellyfish segment and I began to wonder if there had been a problem but finally they came to life as dozens of them rose into the air forming a really enjoyable effect. Above these, we witness the 10″ and 12″ Zaragozana kamuro shells fill the sky, forming a really enjoyable tableau. This then lead into a truly dazzling finale with massive volleys of strobes, fans of dazzling coloured comets below as well as barrages of salutes, whistles and nautical shells, bringing the display to a close to a standing ovation and cheering from the audience.
Before I wrote this report, David had asked me to be brutally honest in my review. It was truly an excellent display, especially given the team’s lack of participation in any other competition and so it was truly a baptism of fire. It was good that David had worked on a display with Hands Fireworks in 2023 as this gave him the experience of seeing what the site is capable of. And so it was the case for this display. The site was very well utilized, especially the lake where we saw many nautical shells, including water ballet effects, as well as the stars skipping across the lake. There were quite a few occasions where I let out a “wow”. However, there were some weaknesses, especially during the second quarter, where the design was more simplistic with mainly volleys of shells. As mentioned earlier, the waterfall sequence was crying out for waterfall shells above. Some of the firing patterns were a bit repetitive and there was not as much variety of shell types as the previous two displays (but they both had access to custom manufacturing). Also the positions on ramp 2 on top of scaffolding really didn’t add anything as the extra height versus ramp 3 is lost in the perspective.
The soundtrack was very well put together and edited and I enjoyed it more than I had expected after just reading the list of tracks.
The audience clearly enjoyed the display and their enthusiasm is infectious leading me to feel that, for me, this display is just ahead of the Japanese one (though they suffered from the low cloud ceiling so maybe we couldn’t fully appreciate it). The bar is very high at this half way point with three very strong contenders still to fire. Have we seen the best yet? It’s hard to say – all three so far deserve to be on the podium, but it’s possible that none of them will make it! What a year this is!