Since the introduction, a couple of years ago, of the “Finale des étoiles” concept, which is an annual tribute to one famous music group or artist, the closing off-competition shows are held in front of a capacity audience. Yesterday wasn’t an exception, with “sold out” signs posted at the La Ronde entrance, and a 10-minute queue line (surrounding the entrance plaza) to move through the bag check. Following Céline Dion, the Beatles, Queen, U2 and Pink Floyd, Madonna was the focus of this closing display, with fireworks designed by Pyro Spectaculars by Souza (USA) instead of La Ronde’s longtime partner, Turin-based Panzera. The Souza family has competed twice in Montreal. In 2007, their show “An American Idol”, which was a tribute to Elvis Presley, was awarded by the Bronze Jupiter.
Following the award ceremony, conducted by Michel Lacroix who was actually back on the floating stage, the interlude prior to the display took a new form. Rather than the usual Vangelis’ musics, a host from the local radio station The Beat FM 92.5 (which has sponsored a post-fireworks dance party in Fort Edmonton through the season), with the assistance of a French-speaker counterpart, entertained the audience from the concrete area were the old control room used to be, right in the middle of the grandstands. While I do appreciate Vangelis’ music tradition, which is less noisy and more suitable for chats with my pyrofriends, I have to say that such entertainment was much more effective than the more discreet Loto-Québec mascots.
The Ferris Wheel lights were promptly turned off (this was going to be particularly important...) at 10:00pm. The audience was even surprised by the launch of nautical products during the countdown, so red flares came into life on the water as soon as the soundtrack began. Information released by La Ronde (and posted early this week by Paul) listed 26 segments, which belonged to five thematic blocks : introduction, films, downbeat, dancefloor, and finale. That was a well-edited soundtrack, with short breaks between blocks, and fluid transitions between songs within each block.
Roughly speaking, the design featured specific products and firing patterns for each segment. We enjoyed a wide range of pyrotechnic effects, including some very sophisticated shells. In particular, during the (listed) penultimate segment (Into the Groove), we saw some shells which initially burst into stars (of one or two colours), with a large pistil followed by a smaller, inner pistil, then transitioning to a cluster of crackling of the same size than the large pistil, and ending with multiple crackling stars which covered the same space than the initial stars. On "Who's That Girl?", we saw bicolour shells (one-half blue, one-half green) and inverting-change of colours. Cylindrical shells, multi-breaking shells of sky mines, and very detailed bow-tie shells appeared on "Take a Bow". The richness and vividness of the colours were emphasized during the “Crazy for You” (with glowing shells of thin falling leaves) and “Secret” songs. The blue and white part on "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" reminded me the Cienfuegos’ show, the Argentinian entrant in 2006 : the majesty of the music was well mixed with large shells of crackling pistils, whose stars ended in crossettes. We also saw Souza’s famous low-level go-getter effects, as well as rare shells of tridimensional cubes.
It was not a surprise to see "Like a Prayer" listed as the ultimate song. It was a dramatic segment with an effective build up. At the end of this part, the light of the Ferris Wheel were turned on. However, I was stunned as I had recorded only 28 minutes. There was a surprise in store! Following a short break and applause from the audience, the show continued with the unlisted song “Hung Up” (also chosen for the dramatic finale of Pirotecnica Soldi in 2006, which suffered of a technical failure), with strobes along the third ramp, as the lights from the Ferris Wheel began to flash. I thought that the person in charge was still not sure whether lights must be turned off or on! Then, it became obvious that the lightening package had been arranged so that the Ferris Wheel joined the party in all its glory, with various sequences of lights, until the end of this actual finale. The effect of surprise couldn’t have been more effective and it brought the 2015 edition of the competition to a close in a brillant way!
That was an excellent display, with a wide range of high-quality products, great pyromusical design, good synchronization and a well-done soundtrack. One minor criticism is about the technical design, as more action at lower levels would have been a good thing. That being said, I had some expectations based on Souza’s previous shows in Montreal and I wasn’t disappointed. It was a excellent idea from La Ronde to invite a different company to present the closing show as it brings more diversity.
Fred |
