This pre-opening night of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition was definitely not a standard evening. Nearly two years and 10 months after the closing show of the 35th edition (July 27, 2019), I was particularly excited to return at La Ronde for a competition which, at some points since the start of the pandemic, I wasn’t sure we were going to experience again. I don’t want to offend the designers and other pyros who had worked on this inaugural show, but the very fact to get the event back was, for me, the highlight of this emotional night.
In Québec, the rare fireworks events held in the past two years were basically in closets : organizers were required to keep their specific locations secret to avoid mass gathering, so only larger perimeters or districts could be disclosed in advance. So was the International des Feux Loto-Québec “Préludes” series, held in July and August 2021 in eight districts on the Montreal Island. These short pyromusical impromptu (about 5 minutes) were supposed to lead to a larger event in early September 2021 at La Ronde, advertised as a tribute to essential workers. Unfortunately, as the public health officials have not greenlighted that special event, it didn’t happen.
This background helps to explain the particular schedule of this 2022 edition of the competition, which starts with two off-competition shows. Basically, the organizers have decided to keep the structure of six competition shows preceded and followed by off-competition opening and closing displays, and to move the performance scheduled in September 2021 as a pre-opening event this year. From
his interview with the designer, Paul Marriott reported it had been “reworked a little bit to coincide with the Québec Fête Nationale celebrations.”
With the Québec motto
Je me souviens as a title, a soundtrack entirely made of songs performed by Québec singers, and a descriptive stressing the collective efforts made during the pandemic, I anticipated a pretty patriotic show (conveniently performed three months before a provincial election where nationalism is a value mobilized by some parties more than others). It turned out not to be the case. The songs emphasized the human side of the hardship of life. The titles spoke themselves :
Comme avant and
Comme dans l’temps;
Rester forts,
Rester debout and
Never Surrender;
Où sera le monde,
Courage and
Hallelujah, to name a few. Some of them were parts of the various soundtracks of last year “Préludes” series. In this pandemic context, where basically everyone has suffered in various ways and lost relatives, I found some of the lyrics particularly meaningful, and I am sure many viewers shed a few tears. I did.
I didn’t really watch the show with the competition criteria in mind. It started with a rare confusion surrounding the countdown performed live my Michel Lacroix, back in his role of master of ceremony. Following an initial countdown stopped at “6” (but continued by the enthusiastic audience!), he apologized and the Ferris Wheel was lighted again. With the second try, the fireworks suddenly came into life around “5.” Several times during the display, pyrotechnic sequences began about two seconds before their corresponding song. I wonder to what extent the synchronization has actually been disrupted because the pyromusical design was somewhat atmospheric in my opinion. The flow featured a series of serene and more active parts, which I appreciated. A number of fans of comets erupted on the fifth ramp, the closest to the audience. I also liked the nautical mines on Yann Perreau’s
J’aime les oiseaux, a segment appropriately opened with whistles. However, the pyrotechnic material was somewhat repetitive. For instance, some bicolour shells producing red and green stars appeared into, at least, three segments. The soundtrack included a number of songs nicely assembled to keep only the most appropriate verses and choruses. It was yet a bold choice to close it with a fade out, and so the finale ended in a way I felt somewhat anti-climactic. Nevertheless, in a surprising twist, the wind suddenly turned into Westerlies in perfect synchronization with the end of the display, so we were treated with a delightful smell of sulfur that many fireworks aficionados like! GFA Pyros will also present next week opening show, with a soundtrack designed by the show designer himself, which wasn’t the case this week. I am looking forward to see it as Paul reported that it is going to reach a higher level of complexity.
Je me souviens was an overarching theme also applied to the pre-show, a choreography reportedly made with a set of 150 drones. The fireworks have been preceded by diverse sorts of performances in special occasions, but a such drone show was apparently the first of its kind in the Montreal area. It started around 9:49pm and it lasted 10 minutes, with a combination of narratives, musics and one song (Claude Léveillé’s
Mon pays). That performance was really designed for La Ronde audience (as well as the one facing the park on the other side of the river) as most sequences appeared to be 2D. Aside one or two rotating figures, viewers with more lateral angles had certainly a hard time to figure out what was illustrated. A set of music instruments, a microphone and musical notes (including a treble clef) appeared shortly after the beginning. Some simple bodies (apparently) in walking or dancing positions have transformed into two more refined people holding each others. A number of heart-, star-, butterfly-, and fireworks-shaped clusters of lights appeared in various sequences. This exhibition ended with a sequence of “Je me” and “souviens” letters. It was a very enjoyable addition.
While Michel Lacroix was there, the typical official ceremony was replaced by a more sober presentation around 9:30pm, including a tribute to music composer Vangelis who passed away in May. For about 10 minutes, about four Vangelis’ compositions were played, including
Chariots of Fire which always announces the introduction of the show, and
Conquest of Paradise selected by many contestants over the years.
Despite perfect weather conditions, the size of the attendance appeared to be modest. While people populated all areas of the grandstands, it was not a compact crowd by any standard. The attendance is something to monitor this year as La Ronde has increased its prices and has made the structure of its tickets and season passes very complex, in addition of many other rule changes (e.g., folding chairs are now forbidden) and operating hours cuts (e.g., on fireworks days, the park still closes at 11:30pm but it opens only at 2pm). The number of seats in the grandstands is reduced as many front rows in Silver sections 301 and 302 have been removed. Furthermore, some central loudspeakers have been relocated further left and right, providing in Silver sections a wider view unobstructed by those black boxes. The quality of the sound was as good to my ears as it used to be.
(Note : I set myself the goal to write shorter reviews this year. This one is certainly not a success!)
Fred
