Very suitable weather conditions prevailed for the evening of the American display. The late-evening temperature, including during display time, was about 24-25 C, and the humidity was moderate under mostly clear skies (some distant high-level cirrus). Isolated thunderstorms also managed to develop during the early- to mid-afternoon period, especially immediately NE of the island, and just West of the West Island. Fortunately, these did not affect the firing site! The winds were in the form of Northeasterlies (at 12-16 km/h), and so the smoke was moving at a reasonable pace to the left of the La Ronde audience, and away at the same time. However, as specified in the weather thread, this meant that the smoke would push towards those on the bridge closest to the river and Notre-Dame Street. Indeed, throughout much of the display, especially the latter half, those portions of the bridge were engulfed in smoke, although the smoke was not particularly thick, owing to lower humidity levels. Those stationed there, thus, likely experienced very poor viewing for this display. For the same reason, it was a good decision to move farther NE on Notre-Dame Street for viewing, away from the bridge, to avoid smoke interception.
This was a thoroughly enjoyed display by the American team! As promised by the thematic framework of this display, we were presented with a mixture of largely familiar jungle- and savannah-related music, adding to the July-like feel already present for the evening! The songs were quite entertaining and were organized quite well in the order in which they were presented. The display also had a fairly wide appearance (although not quite as much as the Italian show), and there were numerous large-calibre shells, to everyone’s delight. The repeated heart shapes that emerged from the center during “You’ll Be in My Heart” really dazzled the audience, especially during the first two attempts. This was really reminiscent of Switzerland’s display, in 2016! The finale was rather intense and lasted for precisely 90 seconds, although it felt longer due to the faux finale just prior! It would have been nice, though, if the pace increased after the shells of salutes, as opposed to slowing down, but at least there was still activity during this slowing!
While the display was certainly enjoyable, there were some notably negative aspects that I wanted to outline. In general, I found a fair portion of the performance to rely on a rather rudimentary firing style to represent signature aspects that characterized the selected soundtrack. This was a little disappointing, as the music often exuded so much passion, and so there was plenty of room for more elaborate representation! Like in the South Korean display, there were some segments here that also left us with the impression of cliff-hangers towards their termination. For example, at the end of the “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” segment, it ended merely with very little as the music faded and prepared to transition to the following piece. Other segments similarly concluded with a small number of horsetails (horsetails and drooping effects, in general, becoming quite common this year as choice-effects, near-similar to 2008!). As a big fan of the original Lion King (I practically know the entire movie by heart), I personally preferred the original “Circle of Life”, by Elton John, to be present, as it seemingly had more of a commanding feel to it as compared to this rendition. However, this still worked quite well with the associated segment, and I loved how the shells really burst sequentially to reinforce some of the soundtrack elements. I further was engaged with the “stampede chase” segment from the Lion King, but I still felt like the pyrotechnics were not always doing it justice in really bringing out the background of the soundtrack. There simply needed to be more of a careful mix between all altitudes, as well as a better selection of effects for depiction. In other cases, the segment being portrayed would conversely have a very convincing opening piece, but then it would begin to fall flat as it went on. It might have also been beneficial to reduce slightly the length of some of the soundtrack to potentially evoke a more tenacious emotional feel from one segment to the other. As a result, while the thematic connection with the display was good, it was more obvious through the music.
With respect to the central tower, it also was interesting in its intended role. However, for me, it did not seem to add a great deal of substance to the display. Again, during the “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” segment, its sequences, while visually appealing in some of the patterns unleashed, were not necessarily always stealing the spotlight, as compared to what was seen in the South Korean display with its tower implementation. Still, I would have preferred seeing more its use at other points of the show. Finally, the color diversity was additionally a little more reserved in this display, and the product variety was similarly limited – in this case, it would probably have been more beneficial to increase the arsenal of effects to add substance to some of the segments.
Overall, this was a fantastic display, and it was one of the most enjoyable for me because of the frequent high-altitude activity observed relative to the other displays so far this year. That said, I was still hoping for a more complex technical and pyromusical design, as the soundtrack and, thus, thematic representation was lacking. Definitely a contender for a Jupiter award, though this would depend on the next and final two entrants.
Trav.
