A stretch of hot/very hot and humid weather built across S. Ontario and S. Quebec, hot and long enough that a formal heat wave was born after the third consecutive day of temperatures surpassing the 30 C/32 C threshold for many areas. Maximum temperatures in Montreal reached just over 33 C (on July 14th), and the high/very high humidity that accompanied the heat also meant that humidex values were approaching the mid 40s C, in some case. Late-evening temperatures also remained near-constant at 30 C in the metropolitan area. With the combination of high humidity and light winds, smoke build-up, at times, became a factor, but the WSW winds were mostly pushing the smoke to the right of the audience at La Ronde (left for those on Notre-Dame), although right-hand sections were sometimes receiving it.
Following Switzerland’s exciting and engaging display, our third debutante participant of 2012, Sirius Fireworks of Canada, delivered a beautifully crafted, though very different, performance. At some points, it reminded me a little of a Spanish/Italian type of show, perhaps because of the general pace involved, and due to some of the effects used. At the beginning, the show started off serenely, with a gradual arrangement of red flares distributed at low-level, but soon after followed by a rush of shells and comets that delightfully surprised the audience! The display offered good product diversity, a fair variety of colors, originality, and some subtle transitions. However, I personally felt that synchronization was the strongest aspect of this display, especially at low-level with the mines, gerbs and single-shot/angled comets, most noticeable during the first half of the display (mostly during segment four (Intro), with the angled mines). When appropriate, a careful choice of effects were used to define many of the soundtracks involved. For example, during segment three (Ping Island/Lightning strike rescue op), shells of go-getters and screaming serpents, as well as the nautical shells, well portrayed some of the major elements of the soundtrack used. During segment six (Little Motel), shells of falling leaves and single-ascension girandolas also were implemented to represent some of the tranquility of that song. I also loved the nautical flares used to represent a part of “Sinking Friendship”.
My principal criticisms with this display are related to the overall conceptual framework. As several other members of this forum have already expressed, I, too, share the feeling that, though unique, the musical selection (a few exceptions, of course) was not very compatible with the fireworks, nor did it have any sort of relevance to the employed theme of “Eclipse” (perhaps some brief narration would have helped here). Probably more important, to me, is many of the soundtracks’ inability to evoke the different emotions that I had previously envisioned in association with such a theme. A previous examination of the proposed soundtrack led me to doubt the musical capability to effectively outline the thematic premise, and, really, there was very little connection. Though I am not a fan of the overall musical choice, and in spite of the music-fireworks link being well established, the display did not, in my mind, drive a distinctly emotional atmosphere, unfortunately. The beginning of the show had a little more direction in this context, but once arriving at segment five (Sail), I started to lose the fluidity. Apart from the music, however, synchronization was very good, although a couple of areas could have been a little better at mid to high-level - synchronization itself appeared most emphasized for the first sections of the display. Also, the color diversity was reasonable but had narrowed towards the second half of the show. The faux and real finales were good, although I would have personally preferred a more colorful grand finish, especially after such a convincing penultimate piece!
All that being said, in spite of my criticisms directed largely toward the musical choices and structure of this display, I believe that, given the strong synchronization, originality, creativity, sequencing (especially with the nauticals and other low-level effects), and musical representation, the Canadian team stands a fair chance for picking up a Jupiter. However, this may be highly dependent on the judges’ taste in music, and how emotionally drawn they were to the display in relation to it. On another note, as learnt from the past, we have witnessed displays emerging successfully when poorly understood thematic connections were present for those shows, so this obviously needs to be kept in mind.
This year’s competition is certainly showing signs of becoming a more distinct race, unlike the most recent years.
Pat, nice to see you after nearly two years!
Trav.
