Hi everyone,

Please post your reviews of the Italian display here!

Cheers,

Trav.

Great 4k quality video from Mylene of this show: https://vimeo.com/1098751859

She has the opening show as well as five of the displays from last year too!

Paul

My excitement for this debut display of PyroItaly in Montreal increased several notches when I learned that its designer, Federico Tibaldi, had played an active role in the award-winning PyroEmotions & PyroDigit team in 2013. On Thursday evening, the purple bracelet on his wrist, which he had worn 12 years ago, was just one of the reminders of that fabulous Jukebox Memories extravaganza. There were some others in this EXCELLENT show, which already makes PyroItaly a serious contender in the race for the Jupiter awards.

Under the title Life's letters, the show aimed to combine two narratives: it evoked (1) the stages of the life cycle, through the choice of 12 songs and short letters whose writing also had to reflect (2) the evolution of writing techniques. The stage was set by superimposing (or amplifying?) the sound of a pencil scratching on paper with the introductory lyrics of Firedancer by Poets of the Fall*. This was followed by four short narrative passages in French** — with a female voice that seemed to be the same as that of the Juke Box in 2013 — the first to the sound of a typewriter, the second through the characteristic sounds of a text message exchange. For the last two, we heard heartbeats and the ticking of a clock, two sounds that harmonized well with the themes of love and the present moment passing very quickly. However, this marked a departure from the evolution of writing techniques, which could have continued with the sounds of a dot matrix printer and the tapping of a keyboard, just to give a few examples. That said, the show designer had the good idea of taking advantage of these four narrative segments to inject a good portion of the four mandatory doses of lasers.

The pyrotechnic arsenal displayed by PyroItaly stood out for its bright colors, well-defined shapes, and clear sequences, for example with the chromatic changes. This was obvious from the very first tableau with large chrysanthemums, cakes propelling comets and green and purple stars from each end of the fifth ramp in fans that converged in the center of the lake, and other shells of stars with gradual color changes. Later, mushroom-shaped shells featured three color changes on their caps. In the penultimate part, on U2's Beautiful Day, various rainbow-colored patterns highlighted this richness of color. However, I was surprised not to see any multi-break shells in this Italian show. The quality of the pyrotechnics was high, but it is likely that other entrants outperformed the Italian team in this regard with even more sophisticated products.

The synchronization of the pyrotechnics with the soundtrack was remarkable throughout the show, without seeming too mechanical. The pyrotechnic effects were synchronized to the beat in the passages where it mattered most, one of the most spectacular sequences being the two successive barrages of extremely loud white flashes towards the end of the finale, accompanied by a double percussion of Bon Jovi's It's My Life. Videos circulating on social media do not do justice to the power of this effect, which elicited an enthusiastic reaction from the audience.

From a technical design standpoint, this finale could not have contrasted more sharply with the opening show displayed a week earlier. Near the midpoint of the show, the part set to the music of El tango de Roxanne was as powerful as many finales and served as a promising prelude to the grand finale that would follow some fifteen minutes later. Other parts also featured a high density of products. In this regard, the third ramp was used extensively, occasionally supported by the fifth ramp, which is located in the center of the lake, closer to the audience. However, the firing patterns may have seemed a little repetitive. Moreover, the circular arrangement of pieces at various angles on the fourth ramp, on the roof of the technical room, did not seem to produce an optimal effect. In addition, the surface of the lake was illuminated by nautical pieces only for a short time, during The Prayer.

Finally, the pyromusical design was very good. The theme of the show was ambitious and distinctive. The rhythm of the soundtrack and that of the pyrotechnic show were perfectly harmonized. That said, some choices were a bit puzzling. For instance, during Loreen's song Tattoo, there was an emphasis on the colors of the Italian flag, despite the song and artist having no obvious connections to Italy. It would have been more harmonious to use national colors during one of the segments more directly related to the country. Similarly, I could easily have imagined pyrotechnic effects evoking typing along the entire front of the firing area (as has been done in other shows to set fire to piano notes), or emojis for text exchanges. The show's designer may have deemed it wiser to take advantage of these moments to insert lasers, which is an understandable choice.

This second fireworks display of the 2025 season took place against a backdrop of labor conflict. The stage technicians at La Ronde, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, whose collective bargaining agreement reportedly expired more than six months ago, went on strike. I don't know if it was a one-day work stoppage or for a longer period. They had to be replaced by managerial staff. This may explain some sound adjustment problems that occurred during the protocol before the show, that the lights on the Ferris wheel were turned off before and after the extravaganza, and that Michel Lacroix's recorded post-show greeting was played too quickly while the audience, which was fairly small on that slightly chilly Thursday evening, expressed its strong appreciation with cheers and a long standing ovation. What a moment of ecstasy!

Fred

*Opening narrative (from Firedancer, by Poets of the Fall) :

In the space between thought and wonder
Memory cannot pull you under
In the moment between breath and dying
You are free, fearless, you are flying

**Original narrative :

Le temps est trop long pour ceux qui attendent
Trop rapide pour ceux qui craignent
Trop long pour ceux qui souffrent
Trop court pour ceux qui jouissent
Mais pour ceux qui aiment, le temps, c'est l'éternité

Les amours d'été se terminent pour les raisons les plus différentes
Mais ils ont généralement un élément en commun
Ils sont des étoiles filantes
Un moment de splendeur dans le ciel
Un éclair fugace d'éternité qui disparaît en un instant

L'amour le plus beau, c'est ceux [sic] qui réveillent l'âme et nous donnent envie d'aller plus haut
Ceux qui enflamment nos cœurs et apportent la paix à notre esprit

La vie est divisée en trois temps : présent, passé et futur
De ceux-ci, le présent est très court
L'avenir, incertain
Le passé, sûr

What a strong start for the competition this year. Italy's show was impressive in many ways. Impossible not to mention the Finale which, I'm pretty sure, gave goosebumps to most of the people watching at LaRonde!

I liked :
— The fact that the soundtrack was not only with Italian music. It was a smart choice, making it different from most Italy displays we see.
— First half of the show was absolutely awesome, very entertaining.
— Those big 12in shells. Always impressive.
— The ground salutes during «It's my life»... What a shocking surprise! I'm still wondering how far away they were heard!
— They used the whole site close to perfection. Very large, often making the display look even bigger.
— Very creative patterns for the one-shots on ramp 3.

I noticed :
— Sometimes I felt a disproportion between ground effects being too strong vs shells in the sky.
— Some transitions were a bit rough on the soundtrack. And speaking of it, I had trouble relating the theming with it.
— First narration segment in English, the others in French. I didn't get that one.
— During second half of the show, ramp 3 was sometimes overused with one-shot patterns creating confusion. Super nice cake-slices could have been used to create variation.
— I also felt second half of the show lacked something (creativity, momentum, emotions...) to keep up with the first half.
— «Beautiful Things», at least 5 blue lights did not light up on ramp 3 at the beginning, and I didn't feel that fireworks were following all the emotions of the song.
— «Died in your arms» segment became repetitive while still being nice with that pink-gold strobing color.

Personal thoughts
The night before the Italian fireworks, after reading the interviews, I couldn't help but watch the 2013 show on YouTube. I actually found quite a lot of similarities between the two shows starting with the narration part. Shooting style, creative patterns were also similar. Same recipe, same result? 2013 show was a gold Jupiter one. Could this one be on the podium too? It surely has the potential to.

Dan

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Really really personal thoughts
It seems like this year there will be more short laser sequences instead of 2 like last year (but still totaling the same amount of time). At first, I thought it was a good idea. But after watching the opening show and the Italy one, I realize it's way worst. It now kills the vibe four times. And compared to last year, we really often get the lasers directly in our eyes. No more lasers, PLEASE.

A huge 67 thumbs down to whoever is responsible of the walking path between LaRonde and Jean-Drapeau metro station. There was a flooding on the path under the Jacques-Cartier bridge. Water was coming from the parking (which was closed that night...). No signage, no indications, nothing. Light is low at this particular place. No fun.

Here's my review: https://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/2025/07/06/italy-july-4-2025-piroitaly/

Definitely one of the best first-in-competition shows we've had in a while.

Dan: sorry, we will be having the four segments of lasers in all the shows this year. I've made some feedback about them being directed at the audience — the opening show was the worst (I counted 35 times) compared to last week's show where I counted around 5. Hopefully there will be even fewer as the competition progresses.

Paul.

Severe Thunderstorm Watches were enforced through most of the day. A mid- to late-afternoon family of thunderstorms managed to appear over the Western portion of the island of Montreal, affecting the Western West Island to Vaudreuil sector, as well as Northwest towards Lachute-Saint Placide and South towards near Chateauguay and Huntingdon. Substantial rainfall occurred over these areas in a small time, but luckily farther East towards greater Montreal and close-by managed to remain dry. Breezy NW to occasionally WNW winds were also present for the evening period, remaining as NW in time for the Italian display and causing the light smoke accumulation to evacuate towards (far) left-hand sections of the La Ronde audience from all altitudes of the display. Humidity declined into low status, though this combined with the breezy nature of the NW wind fields added an apparent chill to the air (19-20 C).

I echo the positivity surrounding this display, including the idea that this was one of the stronger opening in-competition displays. Indeed, it was equipped with a strong arrangement of effects coupled with delicious product quality, which became quickly apparent deeper into the show. I was quite enamored with how the display came to life during its second to final third, really getting the audience to grow ever more engaged. By the time the «Beautiful Things» segment had established itself, it was more obvious as to the tighter sequencing and delightful splashes of color that we would soon be treated to. The low- to mid-level sequences were particularly emphasized and often well executed the timing of signature components characterizing several soundtrack selections. I found this to be especially noted in «Beautiful Things» and «Beautiful Day». At some points, a more monochrome approach was taken, best showcased early in the performance, but it sometimes worked well with those songs at the time. The color arrangement to create the Italian flag at low-level, and the carpeting effect of red stars racing along the lake were especially neat during «Tattoo», as well as the shells of salutes, jellyfish shells and red photoflashes gracing the sky during «Beautiful Things»!

While some of the songs felt random, they generally flowed well with the pyrotechnics and served to keep the audience regularly drawn to the display. Being a huge 80s-90s music fan (notably 90s Eurodance), I particularly appreciated Cutting Crew's «I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight» appearing in this show (and as an intro/background in the opening show), even though I didn't quite understand its link to the show's theme (see below).

Despite the enjoyment experienced during this display, I do have some mostly minor negative points concerning it. Notably, though appearing with a strong technical framework, the conceptual design of the show was more reserved. To that end, I was unable to detect the connection of the employed theme, «Life's Letters», with this display. The bits of narration did offer some hints, but the link was still hardly ever made obvious for me. There were some musical choices that perhaps elicited the meaning somewhat more, but I continued to have difficulty picking it up as the show evolved. As such, it was not always clear how relevant most of the listed songs actually were, as well as their placement in the show other than for creating the necessary changes in rhythm and pace. Further, I envisioned that the show could have benefitted more from shorter song-lengths/song editing, especially to reduce the moments of monotony that were present early in the display and thereby offering more attempts at more engaging sequences. There were also some brief periods of asymmetry (such as with the blue flares introducing «Beautiful Things»), as well as abrupt transitions (one stand-out case here was from «Beautiful Things» to «Tattoo»).

As suggested previously in my review, the first 10-11 minutes of the show came across as a bit persistently slow-paced, not helped by the continued disruptive nature of the laser segments (especially for those viewing from outside of La Ronde) and the anti-climactic opening piece. Some good transitions during the first 33% of the show but still resolutely following the same pacing method. Coloring scheme was additionally more conservative during this window of time, and so I felt a slight loss of complexity during most of this section. There was also a reliance on drooping effects (i.e. horsetails) to terminate several segments which, I thought, created a sense of similarity between a sizeable number of segments. The finale itself was quite spectacular with its volleys of thunderous salutes, but it was a bit on the short side and probably would been even more spectacular if joined with the earlier crescendo, rather than separating it from that.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable display, and it does go without saying that it did have the audience quite energized. That said, although the level of energy would build, the laser segments continually placed a lid on this momentum, and so it was and still is not always simple to keep the audience immersed under the laser-segment formula. Despite my criticisms, there is no doubt that the display came strong and offered much to use the available space accordingly along with a splendid diversity of products, augmented by excellent product quality and tight choreography.

Trav.