My apologies for this late posting, as I I had been preoccupied with my research thesis, as well as documenting severe weather!
Generally pleasant weather conditions prevailed for the Japanese debutante, but a few isolated convective rains had developed several hours before the display was set to take place. A passing cold front was descending from the NW into S. Quebec, enhancing convection at the time. By evening, instability, as expected, subsided, leaving a few clouds, moderate humidity, and temperatures hovering around 24-26 C. Winds were also gusty during the afternoon hours from the SW but sharply weakened by the early evening period. During the first half of the display, winds initially came out from the East, allowing smoke to actually push towards Notre-Dame street, but for the latter sections of the show, winds gradually took on closer directional tendencies to what had been forecasted.
You will notice that my comments for the Japanese performance fluctuate between what has already been expressed in previous reviews. Overall, I thought that the display presented by Aoki Fireworks was well crafted and certainly held many surprises for a debut display. The show featured a good diversity of high-quality product, enjoyable choreography, an interesting selection of soundtrack, and some fantastic transitions in pace from one segment to another. For myself, the strongest aspects of this display were the musical choices, the fabulous choreography, especially at low level, and the general structure of the show. Although the beginning of the display was somewhat anti-climactic, the sudden burst of shells thereafter was really captivating, something that had been frequent in the segments to follow.
My principal criticisms with this display are redundancy and, as Fred also stated in his review, a lack of a sound thematic premise. For the former, though most of the music selections employed were, for the most part, enjoyable, I was under the impression that the fireworks were often not doing many of the tracks justice, naturally giving the feeling that the vitality of the music was not always adequately brought out as it could have been. As one example, at times, I found that the fireworks were not always following the intricacies in rhythm and pace, something that was, for me, prominent during the more vigorous soundtrack heard for parts of the first half of the display. As a result, the show sometimes did not exhibit the degree of complexity or creativty that I had initially imagined with respect to synchronization, and there were a few moments where attempts at synchronization appeared to be a simple interplay between music and fireworks. The repetition in firing scheme seen through a number of segments also acted to reduce musical representation, and there were also a couple of points where transitions between soundtrack were a little abrupt (such as segment two to three). However, as mentioned previously, the highest level of complexity was best exemplified with the use of the low level sequences of angled mines seen during segment three, as well as for many other low to mid level effects used, allowing for some particularly effective attempts at choreography. The music itself comprised of a good choice of tracks, but I felt that it lost some of its vigor/fluidity toward the latter parts of the show. Near the end, I also envisioned that the performance would have probably benefited from soundtrack editing, as opposed to using full-length (or near full-length) tracks - this may have helped to reduce/avoid repetition in firing scheme.
With the artistic nature that the display commanded, it was evident that the theme was broadly portrayed, but the subtle details that encompassed the thematic framework were not always so clear. While the intent of the theme was generally demonstrated (mostly through transitions in pace, and the different effects used), it was frequently difficult to visualize what relevance the music selections had. Consequently, it became a challenge to grasp the key components that may have engendered the theme. In this sense, it was also a little surprising that the finale was relatively small, and so short - even though I was not expecting a large and vehement finish, I initially thought that with the artistically-oriented approach, the finale would resemble large barrages of weeping willows at mid to high levels, followed by a concluding volley of salutes.
The design of the display was good. In general, the diversity of effects was high, and the color richness was fabulous, but it seemed that the range of color was somewhat limited at times, as there appeared to be more of a focus on red and beige relative to other colors, particularly for parts of the first half of the display. This took a little away from a few early segments with respect to creativity, as a more diversified color selection would have been more representative during those points. Also, while it is true that many sections of the display filled the sky at all altitudes, for some of the initial segments of the display, there were times where high level activity was unsupported by that at low to mid levels, creating a sense of disproportion at those points. The structure of the display, however, was very well organized, and though I did not fully comprehend the theme, the artistry shown was, again, certainly pronounced, and this was further augmented by the high product quality employed. In terms of the products used, I was enthralled not only by the enjoyable low level sequences, but also by the exquisite farfalles, as well as the occasional rising tail shells (always a pleaser) and the massive 12" shells. In addition, the performance maintained excellent symmetry - this was particularly noticeable when fans of comets emerged from low levels (left, right or central, or a combination of the three) to support higher level activity later in the display.
All that being said, this was an absolutely enjoyable debut display by Aoki Fireworks, as it offered many intriguing pieces, magnificent sequences, and a great music selection. It would certainly be a treat to have the team return to Montreal to participate once again!
Trav.
