I was intrigued by the debut show Blue Star Pyrotechnics was going to put on. The Canadian entrant had reportedly not participated in any other international pyrotechnic competitions, and this display was one of their most complex, if not the most complex, ever undertaken. The outcome was a VERY GOOD show that the audience, once again fairly modest on this Thursday evening, was able to enjoy without the rain that had been forecast for several days spoiling the experience.
Film music is commonplace in pyromusical shows. This time, the designer took a slightly different approach by selecting excerpts heard in trailers for blockbuster movies, hence the title Coming Soon: A Fireworks Blockbuster. In many cases, these were remixes that echoed familiar tunes but in a slightly different light. The soundtrack included 15 segments, some of which were quite short. The display did not suffer from being overly long in this regard. In addition, several transitions were very well edited, promoting a certain fluidity throughout the show. The Canadian team is a possible contender for the Best Soundtrack award, but there are still three competitors to come.
However, the quality of the pyrotechnics was slightly lower compared to the Italian and Japanese displays. We had been told about a few hundred small «jellyfish,» which appeared at the beginning of the ultimate segment, to the slow start of the Star Wars music. I don't remember seeing this effect before. Single- and double-ascension girandolas, which are more common, made their first appearance this season, but their flight was laborious: they remained fairly low, they had low luminosity, and their trajectory did not always seem to be what was intended. We saw a few multi-break shells, and other pyrotechnics that looked like small sets of rockets (cones of rockets?) ending in very thin stars. Fans of nautical shells, like me, were treated to shells of stars and, later, shells of comets on the lake. I think two others were planned during the finale, but they seem to have been submerged and exploded underwater. A few pieces featured one- or two-color changes, but the color palette was somewhat narrower than in the previous two shows.
Walking near the lake and looking down from the Ferris wheel, the fireworks setup seemed to feature a fairly elaborate technical design to optimize the use of the available space. There was material on all the launch ramps, with several products facing the lake: in addition to the nautical shells of stars and comets mentioned above, there were rotating nautical fountains, as well as a successful arrangement of candles or mines propelling stars in multiple directions across the surface of the lake (from ramp 3 towards the audience, and from ramp 5 towards the opposite end of the lake). Two waterfall effects located on either side of ramp 4 worked well at the beginning of Madonna's Like a Prayer. On the other hand, the installation of four scaffolds on ramp 2 did not add any real value to the show. For most of the display, the tableaux featured a good density of products — the finale was very strong — but some passages were a little lacking, notably on Believer by Imagine Dragons and Like a Prayer, just as the nautical fountains only really covered the left half of the «stage» that constitutes the lake.
With a spectacular start (an impressive barrage of fans of crackles and salutes), a theme that took a different approach to movies, a pyrotechnic performance that matched the rhythm of the music, a fairly continuous sequence between the tableaux, and a climactic finale, the pyromusical design proved to be successful overall. There were a few weaknesses here and there in the design or execution. For example, a few nautical shells that had characterized the first segment burst once the second segment began. In the penultimate part, sequences of five mines appearing repeatedly on each of the platforms on ramp 5 consisted of monochrome mines on the first four platforms, but a multicolored mine on the last. One might also wonder why the show began with such a powerful sequence when the music of Blue Monday started off fairly quietly. However, these shortcomings are minor. As for synchronization, it was very good throughout the show.
The integration of lasers was different in this show compared to the first three. On the one hand, on a few occasions, these lights seemed to be truly synchronized with the music. On the other hand, and to my surprise, there were several passages during which the lasers were accompanied by pyrotechnics. I timed 5 minutes of lasers: four segments totaling 4 minutes and 10 seconds of lasers alone; and three segments totaling 50 seconds during which they were integrated with pyrotechnics. I am surprised by this disparity compared to the previous three shows. I wonder what it will be like in the next ones.
For its first participation, Blue Star Pyrotechnics delivered and the team can be proud of its performance. The show featured several interesting ideas. Its execution suffered from a few weaknesses, but they were all relatively minor.
My personal ranking so far:
1. PyroItaly (Italy)
2. Great Sky Art (Japan)
3. Blue Star Pyrotechnics (Canada)
Note about this ranking: Currently, I feel a lack of consensus among loyal attendants of the competition. In my own view, these three are very close. The shows presented so far likely make a more competitive start to the event than in recent years, and everyone's rankings differ significantly. If this situation continues until the end, the situation will be truly complicated for the judges! I also remind everyone that the show I ultimately ranked in the sixth position in 2024 won the Bronze Jupiter! That being said, the best may be coming. Sugyp won the Bronze Jupiter in 2016 and certainly wants a most prestigious award this year, especially following their Vestale d'or won in Cannes in 2023. Then, Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, also winner of a Bronze Jupiter (2007), has an opportunity to get a higher position on the podium. And Lux Factory won in other competitions, including a Vestale d'argent in Cannes. The forthcoming weeks shall be exciting!
Fred |
