Hi everyone,

Please post here your reviews and/or comments for the Canadian display!

Trav.

What a great display! For once we had perfect weather conditions at La Ronde so we could see everything without interference from smoke or humidity-induced low clouds!

Report to come soon — the bar is really high this year! Have we seen the top-3 already? Still three strong companies left to compete!

Paul.

I was intrigued by the debut show Blue Star Pyrotechnics was going to put on. The Canadian entrant had reportedly not participated in any other international pyrotechnic competitions, and this display was one of their most complex, if not the most complex, ever undertaken. The outcome was a VERY GOOD show that the audience, once again fairly modest on this Thursday evening, was able to enjoy without the rain that had been forecast for several days spoiling the experience.

Film music is commonplace in pyromusical shows. This time, the designer took a slightly different approach by selecting excerpts heard in trailers for blockbuster movies, hence the title Coming Soon: A Fireworks Blockbuster. In many cases, these were remixes that echoed familiar tunes but in a slightly different light. The soundtrack included 15 segments, some of which were quite short. The display did not suffer from being overly long in this regard. In addition, several transitions were very well edited, promoting a certain fluidity throughout the show. The Canadian team is a possible contender for the Best Soundtrack award, but there are still three competitors to come.

However, the quality of the pyrotechnics was slightly lower compared to the Italian and Japanese displays. We had been told about a few hundred small «jellyfish,» which appeared at the beginning of the ultimate segment, to the slow start of the Star Wars music. I don't remember seeing this effect before. Single- and double-ascension girandolas, which are more common, made their first appearance this season, but their flight was laborious: they remained fairly low, they had low luminosity, and their trajectory did not always seem to be what was intended. We saw a few multi-break shells, and other pyrotechnics that looked like small sets of rockets (cones of rockets?) ending in very thin stars. Fans of nautical shells, like me, were treated to shells of stars and, later, shells of comets on the lake. I think two others were planned during the finale, but they seem to have been submerged and exploded underwater. A few pieces featured one- or two-color changes, but the color palette was somewhat narrower than in the previous two shows.

Walking near the lake and looking down from the Ferris wheel, the fireworks setup seemed to feature a fairly elaborate technical design to optimize the use of the available space. There was material on all the launch ramps, with several products facing the lake: in addition to the nautical shells of stars and comets mentioned above, there were rotating nautical fountains, as well as a successful arrangement of candles or mines propelling stars in multiple directions across the surface of the lake (from ramp 3 towards the audience, and from ramp 5 towards the opposite end of the lake). Two waterfall effects located on either side of ramp 4 worked well at the beginning of Madonna's Like a Prayer. On the other hand, the installation of four scaffolds on ramp 2 did not add any real value to the show. For most of the display, the tableaux featured a good density of products — the finale was very strong — but some passages were a little lacking, notably on Believer by Imagine Dragons and Like a Prayer, just as the nautical fountains only really covered the left half of the «stage» that constitutes the lake.

With a spectacular start (an impressive barrage of fans of crackles and salutes), a theme that took a different approach to movies, a pyrotechnic performance that matched the rhythm of the music, a fairly continuous sequence between the tableaux, and a climactic finale, the pyromusical design proved to be successful overall. There were a few weaknesses here and there in the design or execution. For example, a few nautical shells that had characterized the first segment burst once the second segment began. In the penultimate part, sequences of five mines appearing repeatedly on each of the platforms on ramp 5 consisted of monochrome mines on the first four platforms, but a multicolored mine on the last. One might also wonder why the show began with such a powerful sequence when the music of Blue Monday started off fairly quietly. However, these shortcomings are minor. As for synchronization, it was very good throughout the show.

The integration of lasers was different in this show compared to the first three. On the one hand, on a few occasions, these lights seemed to be truly synchronized with the music. On the other hand, and to my surprise, there were several passages during which the lasers were accompanied by pyrotechnics. I timed 5 minutes of lasers: four segments totaling 4 minutes and 10 seconds of lasers alone; and three segments totaling 50 seconds during which they were integrated with pyrotechnics. I am surprised by this disparity compared to the previous three shows. I wonder what it will be like in the next ones.

For its first participation, Blue Star Pyrotechnics delivered and the team can be proud of its performance. The show featured several interesting ideas. Its execution suffered from a few weaknesses, but they were all relatively minor.

My personal ranking so far:

1. PyroItaly (Italy)
2. Great Sky Art (Japan)
3. Blue Star Pyrotechnics (Canada)

Note about this ranking: Currently, I feel a lack of consensus among loyal attendants of the competition. In my own view, these three are very close. The shows presented so far likely make a more competitive start to the event than in recent years, and everyone's rankings differ significantly. If this situation continues until the end, the situation will be truly complicated for the judges! I also remind everyone that the show I ultimately ranked in the sixth position in 2024 won the Bronze Jupiter! That being said, the best may be coming. Sugyp won the Bronze Jupiter in 2016 and certainly wants a most prestigious award this year, especially following their Vestale d'or won in Cannes in 2023. Then, Pyro Spectaculars by Souza, also winner of a Bronze Jupiter (2007), has an opportunity to get a higher position on the podium. And Lux Factory won in other competitions, including a Vestale d'argent in Cannes. The forthcoming weeks shall be exciting!

Fred

It was Canada's turn to light Montreal's sky with a show related to movie trailers music. No Pop Corn needed! Just eyes and ears opened. There was good creativity in many sequences and I'm pretty sure people watching at LaRonde were happy with the result.

I liked :
— The first minute and a half was well executed and suggested something really special was taking place (though it didn't quite happen).
— Combined effects on the lake between ramp 3 and 5 during Def Con was a pure delight! Very creative.
— Spinning nautical shells during Secret Key.
— Good soundtrack.
— Intense Star Wars Finale.

I noticed :
— Elevated positions didn't bring much to the show, except the perfectly executed wall during Like a Prayer.
— Middle of ramp 3 was empty several times.
— Fireworks didn't follow the intensity and emotions of the music.
— Nautical exploding shells at the same time with effects on ramp 3 were pretty confusing.
— Design without great complexity.
— Jellyfish effects were super nice, but only 3 positions used, so far away one from the other.
— A lot of shells/effects didn't go as expected (direction, height).

Personal thoughts
Canadian show was entertaining in many points. The soundtrack was interesting. A great start and Finale. Unfortunately, a feeling of inconstancy was present during the whole show. It sometimes felt incomplete, unbalanced, and the lack of effects often created emptiness. That said, there are always beautiful moments during a show and this is what makes fireworks special every time.

After 3 shows :
1) Italy
2) Japan
3) Canada

Best soundtrack : Japan.

Dan

My report on this excellent display: https://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/2025/07/13/canada-july-10-2025-blue-star-pyrotechnics/

Some weaknesses of course, but my overall feeling lead me to put it just ahead of Japan. As I wrote at the end of my report:

''The bar is very high at this half way point with three very strong contenders still to fire. Have we seen the best yet? It's hard to say – all three so far deserve to be on the podium, but it's possible that none of them will make it! What a year this is!''

Paul.

I asked the designer about this — he said he had to put them on the 3 access ramps to ramp 3 instead of along the front of ramp 3 (as I suggested) because he was fearful sparks from the other effects would have ignited these before their allotted time in the show. If you look at the picture of the product in my interview, you can see they're mounted on card — so it's impossible to cover them with foil for protection as they wouldn't be able to break through it when fired.

Paul

Interesting information Paul.

...I still can't help but imagine how awesome 10-15 simultaneous Jellyfish positions would have been!

Dan

The third consecutive Severe Thunderstorm Watch meant that this was the first time in this competition's history that severe weather threatened a fireworks day under such a long succession. That said, also for a third straight time, display time, and the day itself in this case, managed to stay dry on the island. Still, a warning was released just South to account for a strong mid-afternoon thunderstorm family located in the Napierville-Saint-Michel corridor that produced torrential rainfall and golf ball-sized hail. Other thunderstorms were located well to the North, lining up well with the envisioned initiation zones. By evening, the humidity remained very high under 24 C and a light NNE flow, allowing the thicker smoke accumulation to eject slowly towards that portion of the bridge nearest to the river and Western Notre-Dame Street.

The Canadian show came quite strong in my humble opinion, especially conceptually. The display carried many splendid sequences that were often so energetic that it managed to keep pace in capturing the (large) audience's interest consistently. The musical selection was largely appropriate (while being mostly enjoyable) and maintained a solid reminder of the purpose of the display – as such, thematic representation was, for me, tightest and most faithful with this display so far this year. The display also did not waste time hinting the audience at the extent of energy and excitement that would ensue, and so the Canadian opening piece came strongest and least anti-climactic so far for the 2025 season.

While not the greatest diversity of color and color vibrancy, the show carried with it a reasonable palette of color that helped regularly showcase a generally fabulous choreography. Nevertheless, the show did suffer from some rudimentary firing styles that did take something away from elements of creativity, but the patterns were fairly explorative with respect to notably the mines which largely worked well with the soundtrack. Having more nautical shells incorporated into this show also added to its scope and depth, and so it was really woven in well with the intended design (despite some asymmetry). We were treated to some interesting jellyfish effects, as everyone mentioned already, which led to a few gasps of delight from the audience. The musical selection was seemingly appropriate and was linked well with the thematic premise, though a couple of songs were a little less obvious relative to the rest of the set.

That said, although not substantial, I found the technical design to be somewhat more reserved through the pyrotechnics in this show with a limited choice of effects and firing style. In addition to the repetition aspect pointed out previously, I suspect that this may also stem from the sometimes abrupt transitions between segments (e.g. at the end of «Believer»), as well as material minorly still igniting during either transitional points or cutting into a next segment. There were some periods of asymmetry, too, such as with respect to the fans of comets, large shells, and sometimes the massive nautical shells. Moments of tranquility, too, were probably a bit too tranquil and therefore less harmonious with the music. One notable example was in Madonna's «Like A Prayer». In this segment, there was a tendency to rely on colorful surface flares to elicit signature components of that song. It would have then been instead made more sense to yield more energy at mid- to high-altitudes of the display in an attempt to complement the flares and thereby better articulate that soundtrack. I think the display also would have further benefitted from a larger arrangement of pyrotechnic material to further illustrate some of the songs, even though product quality itself excelled. To that end, the double-ascension girandolas, while nice to see for the first time this year, seemed to be overpowered somehow and thus did not add too much to the presentation of that particular segment.

The finale itself was probably the best so far this year in my mind (slightly ahead of Italy's), and it carried a convincing faux finale!

Overall, this was an enjoyable display filled with many moments of energy that kept the audience engaged most of the way. Although the level of competition is unusually high this year, Canada could very well collect a Jupiter this year.

Trav.