Please post your reviews/commentaries of the American performance here!

Edit: Hmm, I guess the thread heading was too long. Paul, would it be possible to modify it to fit? Thanks!

Trav.

While that show was the first made by Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics, that famous family had competed in Montreal five times, and won two Silver Jupiters (for their debute display in 1992 and the latest one in 2005). I found this year extravaganza good, but I would have rated it "very good" for a recruit. Given Rozzi's record in Montreal, I expected a little more than that.

First of all, I really appreciated the Swan Lake theme. Classical music was pretty standard when I began to follow the competition in mid-1990s (along with movie soundtracks). In my opinion, it's a shame to not hear this sort of musics more often, so I was pleasantly surprised.

We enjoyed a good range of products, including several changing-colour stars (great richness of colours in this show, while they were not as vivid as with Zaragozana's products), many sky mines, studatas. shells of rings and 3D intertwined rings, single-ascension girandolas, kamuros, etc. Ramp 5 has allowed to fire massive effects from cakes close to the audience, as well as other effects.

However, I hoped for more nautical products. I remember, thanks to notes and reports, that Rozzi's shows in 2000 and 2005 didn't feature a lot of them. Unfortunatley, that was the case once again: we only saw nautical fountains and, at the end of the show, a carpet of white and yellow flares. From a designer whose family has competed so many times in Montreal, I was disappointed to not have more nautical products, which were especially anticipated with a such theme! The altitude of the show was very high (to the pleasure of the crowd outside the park, for sure!), with a lack of low-level effects.

More generally speaking, I found pyromusical design a bit disappointing. The unncessary narrative at the beginning of the show was anti-climactic (the same "problem" occurred in previous Rozzi's shows), as well as the many segments when pyros began several seconds after the musics. Was it a component of the ballet concept?

Despite these criticisms, I enjoyed the American display. It's so rare to see a pyromusical show of this size, with so many products, outside the competition that I appreciate it. In addition, the weather was fully cooperative tonight.

A technical problem has caused a major delay with the show. Michel Lacroix (who has been introduced to the audience by Martyne Gagnon herself instead of another woman who used to do it) did the official countdown at 10:00pm and the soundtrack began, without any fireworks effects. Thanks God, the whole thing has been interrupted. Michel Lacroix announced a technical problem around 10:04pm. Two sequences of pyrotechnic effects (including red mines) appeared without warning at 10:21pm - without the musics - and the show resumed at 10:27pm. For sure, this technical problem put a lot of pressure on the organizers' shoulders. However, I obviously prefer to wait a couple of minutes and to see the whole display, than to miss one half of the show.

My ranking so far:

1. Zaragozana (Spain)
2. Merlin Fireworks (England)
3. Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics (United States)
4. Fireworks by Ian Riedle (Australia)
* Vulcan Fireworks (Hong Kong)

Fred

P.S.: To any La Ronde employees who read this forum: please, ask to turn off lights under La Spirale. They are too bright, causing a lot of light in the grandstands. To continue with rides issues, La Grande Roue joined the party as it used to do and followed the countdown!

Here is a video compilation that I would like to share of the American performance. Footage was taken from Notre-Dame street:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3vz19bn18

To be brief, my comments concerning the American display are mostly in agreement with those provided by Fred. I thought that the show was very entertaining and was often energetic (and loud). Many people on Notre-Dame street were typically in awe due to, as Fred pointed out, the frequent high-altitude shells that made an appearance. The show also featured some vibrant colors, as well as a nice diversity of effects (although somewhat more reserved, as compared to previous displays this season). The low-level sequences of angled mines were quite memorable and worked well with the musical selection - the firing angles at low-level were, for me, very effective, and made for some interesting symmetry, as well as support for higher-level activity.

My primary criticisms are mostly related to a restrictive technical design. Though the transitions in pace were apparent, I did not have a full comprehension of the theme, so it was sometimes difficult for me to associate the main components of the display with it. Finally, I found the firing patterns to, at times, be repetitive, particularly with the mid- and high-level shells (not that I didn't like those shells!), which made the show feel a little on the simplistic side. As Fred pointed out, folks outside the park truly appreciated the abundant mid- to high-level activity with this display! I was personally hoping for a much bigger and dramatic conclusion/finale, but it was decent, nonetheless - for myself, the best part was when people were preparing to leave, thinking the show was over!

As for the technical problem, I am wondering as to what may have caused it. Following Michel Lacroix announcement at 10:04 p.m., at about 10:09 p.m., 105.7 FM mentioned that it would be another four minutes until the display could start. Then, after those four minutes elapsed, we were told that it could take several minutes more. At 10:20-10:21 p.m., a huge curtain of rich red mines emerged, making us think that the display was set to finally begin. By 10:27 p.m., to everyone's delight, shells emerged, and it appeared that everything was functioning properly thereafter.

It was certainly an interesting night, but, in spite of the delayed start, the display was truly a nice and early birthday present.

Trav.

Travis,

While standing on the bridge yesterday evening, waiting for the show to start, I thought for a moment that it would be nice to delay the show so that the finale would start at midnight.....in order to celebrate your Birthday!

I hope you have a wonderful day my friend....all the best to you!

Pierre

I have posted the video of the USA show here: http://www.burchcom.com/2013/usa.html

For those who want to download your own copy, right click on this link and select "save target as" ... http://www.burchcom.com/2013/2013usa.mp4

The file size is 900 MB

Very nice typically American display, just the way I like it. It was extravagant, bright and professionally executed. I especially liked the soundtrack, and I found that the music and fireworks went together smoothly. Classical music is the best choice for pyromusical shows. Synchronization was overall good, not sure if it suffered from technical problems. Overall, it was a very good display, but it could've been better. Finale was disappointing, and the faux finale was better than the finale!

All in all, I still haven't seen an outstanding display.

My rankings so far:

1. United States
2. England
3. Spain
4. Australia
5. China

It was indeed a very nice show. But I'm fairly sure we did not witness the display as intended by Rozzi. It was fairly evident to my eyes (and even more so after watching Bob's video) that the left side was not firing properly. I'm sure that the finale was affected by this since it didn't look symmetrical (salutes were pretty much coming from right side only). The music selection was enjoyable though, but there was a bit too much repetition in the material being used.

Good display though, well worth waiting for 30 mins

1. Spain
2. United States
3. England
4. Australia
5. China

My report: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=771

a good display, but marred by some details that were not as clean as they have to be for this sort of theme.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

I mostly agree with your report.

In addition to the delay experienced with Kimbolton in 2003 (due to weather conditions), this one also matched (with more or less one minute) the late start of the South African display in 2006 following a power failure which, presumably, caused a delay because La Ronde security crew was busy, early, to evacuate people from rides, instead of clearing off the safety area on both sides of the firing ramps. That show began at 10:28pm according to this report:

http://montreal-fireworks.com/forum/index.php?action=vthread&forum=10& topic=577

Speaking only of delays due to technical problems, this one was longer than the delay experienced by Fireworks Spectaculars Canada in 2007 (19 minutes according to what I wrote at time for PyroPlanet and in this forum, but 17min 17sec according to my personal video*; 22 minutes according to your report), with the only difference that the Canadian display actually began for a short time, then stopped due to this technical problem.

Fred

*I have two video files. On the first one, I recorded 15min 7sec past the last shells bursted. On the second file, I hear myself saying that 2min 10sec had elapsed between both segments. I don't remember the reason I wrote 19 minutes. So the actual interruption was likely 17-19 minutes. The 22-minute stated in Paul's report may include the beginning of the display, prior to the interruption (3min 27sec). In addition to that, the show didn't start at 10:00pm, causing the "real" start (once the technical problem has been fixed) only few minutes before 10:30pm according to a Trav's post.

Near-perfect weather conditions were present for the American entrant. Temperatures were hovering around 22 C during the late-evening hours, humidity was borderline low-moderate, and winds were slightly breezy, enough to promote a slight chill in the air.

In spite of the 27-minute delay, due to technical problems, this was an enjoyable (and often powerful) display by the American team! The display offered a fair selection of effects, including gold glitter double-ascension girandolas, shells of crackling pistils, falling leaf-shells, heart shells, go-getters, and a fair number of salutes. Like Spain, many large calibre shells were incorporated into the American display, which were largely appreciated by those outside the park. Colors were often vibrant (though not to the same level as Spain’s), and product quality was high. The display also featured some very intricate and fairly wide low-level sequences of mines, candles and gerbs, which had been facilitated by the wide firing angles. The musical selection was also mostly enjoyable, relevant, and worked well with the scope of the display.

My main criticisms are largely related to repetition in firing patterns and, thus, pyromusical design. It quickly became evident that the display was showing a tendency for similar firing patterns in several segments, principally through the use of mid- to high-level shells. As much as I enjoyed these, they simultaneously gave the impression of a more restricted design in its entirety and, therefore, reducing the potential for a more effective representation for the tracks that were used. Also, I did not fully understand the overall thematic framework, although the musical concept highlighted its general essence and feel. The transitions in pace were apparent, but in spite of the entertaining low-level sequences, to me, they sometimes did not fully lock onto the key signatures of some musical beats – in multiple cases, the precision of the one-shot sequences did not appear to always be completely in synchronization with the elements of the music. At several points, there had been a nice harmony between these sequences and the music, but at other moments, the timing seemed a little off course in delivery. Also, a few more nautical devices would have been appreciated, especially occurring in conjunction with other low-level effects. As mentioned in my previous post in this thread, I thought that the symmetry of the display was good, though this was mostly apparent at mid- to high-altitudes. At low-levels, possibly due to technical problems, there were times where activity was occurring to my left, with no support towards the middle and right. The faux finale was somewhat convincing, but the actual conclusion was much less than expected, unfortunately.

In spite of these negative points, the display was enjoyable and offered many exciting/engaging moments. Overall, in my mind, the American team is in fair standing to collect an award this year.

Trav.

My report on this excellent debut display by the young Croatian team: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=786

Paul.

^^^ Psst, you're posting that in the wrong review thread, Paul.

Ooops! Thanks for pointing that out! Fixed now! Trying to do too many things at once!

This one was another show that could have been a very good show but unfortunately, technical problems was all over the show. The first few minutes of the show was clearly not synchronized to the music with the single shots firing a lot earlier than when they're supposed to fire. The shells' synchronization looked much better in these few minutes. The products used were average except for some san tai shells but it seemed that they mostly used chinese shells. I found the use of ramp 5 pretty interest specially with the single shots in V that had a mine on one side and comet on the other. Unfortunately i dont really remember much from this show, the finale could have been bigger.

Vander

Just curious, but what was the (likely) cause of the major technical problem that occurred with this show? Has that information been disclosed?

Trav.