It is again hard to believe that another edition of the Montreal Fireworks Competition is coming to a close. Year after year, I feel increasingly grateful to see the competition endure, although the more precarious scheduling since 2023 has negatively impacted attendance, at least on Notre-Dame Street. The wildfire smoke also presented some challenges this year, with fears of some repeats from 2023's Quebec wildfire situation. Thankfully, air quality stayed good throughout the fireworks period, despite poorer air during a brief visit of wildfire smoke just prior to the French show. Despite a shift towards shorter durations with more appearances, I also feel that the laser segments continue to represent sometimes strong disruptions in the fluidity of the shows, often serving to damage momentum and what could be significant transitional moments.
Nevertheless, I take this moment to say many thanks to Paul and Mylene for kindly taking the time to share with us such thorough and insightful information following conducted interviews, and to Paul for keeping this website alive altogether! Also, a big thanks to this competition's organizers and setup crews for tirelessly making each and every display possible to begin with. And a big thanks to everyone for sharing their reviews, thoughts and comments – always a pleasure and thrill to read everyone's posts concerning each display, among other discussions held here!
It was an interesting but also an unusual year, notably with respect to the weather. All displays except the closing had some opportunity for convective rainfall in this general area, and ultimately, rainfall did appear in isolated to scattered fashion for these days. Nevertheless, all showtimes remained completely dry, though with a strong thunderstorm affecting the firing site during the Swiss display day (mid-afternoon). As a deep enthusiast of high heat and very high humidity, this year featured many enjoyable display days for me, but of course, it is important to be mindful that smoke accumulation grows more concerning under such environments, as well as improving the chance for severe weather. On that note, it was also unusual that the on-site audience managed to evade direct smoke interception until July 17th (if not including left-hand sections of the audience receiving smoke during the Italian show). Given the wind fields for the closing show, this represented a very lucky year for the La Ronde audience in terms of being able to so often maximizing display visibility. That said, the extensive low-cloud ceiling still managed to obscure upper limits of the Japanese display despite a favorable wind velocity. On the flip side, a pair of display days, including display times, faced gusty winds, with the Swiss display having 40-45 km/h gusts faithfully present, making this the windiest display day and time, and the only one to send smoke accumulation so directly towards the on-site audience. A week later, wind gusts were keeping pace with 30-35 km/h for the American display.
Presented here are my summaries of each show:
Country: Italy
Company: PyroItaly
Date of presentation: July 3rd, 2025
Weather conditions for this display were the coolest among display times this year, on par with the opening show's situation (19-20 C). The breezy NW wind flow added an apparent chill to the air and so guided the smoke to reach the La Ronde audience for the first time this year (via its left-hand section), and humidity was low enough to permit light smoke accumulation. This was the first of five consecutive display days to have a Severe Thunderstorm Watch.
For a first in-competition show, this Italian team already raised the bar quite high for this year's edition. The product quality was indeed excellent, and the choice of effects was gracefully interlaced from one segment to the next to reinforce the technical design. The sequencing was really well executed, overall, offering some nice changes in rhythm and pace for some portions of the show. That said, the complexity was less than it could have been due to the overall quieter nature of its first 33%, its limited coloring scheme early, and a reliance on drooping effects to conclude numerous segments throughout the show. I also think that more rigorous soundtrack editing might have helped improve the fluidity of the early-portion of the show. The theme, much like almost all themes this year, was further difficult to follow. In terms of the finale, it was the second best one for me, not too far from the Canadian one.
Country: Japan
Company: Great Art Sky
Date of presentation: July 6th, 2025
Again, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch appeared in the area for this display day. Indeed, strong thunderstorms appeared fairly closely to the North of the island during the morning, some of which carried vigorous lightning. Tied with the United States for narrowly the second most humid fireworks display time this year, this also contributed to a low-cloud ceiling in the area that promoted some visibility issues with upper-portions of the Japanese display. NE winds also sent the rapidly accumulating smoke towards sections of the bridge nearest to the river, and the Old Port.
Japan carried with it an interesting arrangement of soundtrack for their thematic premise. Great product quality and often a spectacular color richness led to a very engaging display. Some songs did not really fit in with the overall flow of the display, but most of them were appealing. I felt most drawn to this display among all in-competition shows this year because of some familiar anime theme songs used, and the Super Mario Bros. segment was a nice touch. Unfortunately, the lack of a finale eliminated a lasting appeal for this display – that feeling of emptiness resonated with many spectators as they walked away at the end. Nevertheless, a display that is a contender for a Jupiter, and I think the Soundtrack Award.
Country: Canada
Company: Blue Sky Pyrotechnics
Date of presentation: July 10th, 2025
Following yet another Severe Thunderstorm Watch, a highly humid evening allowed for a situation fostering vast smoke accumulation. Canada's show also met with light NNE winds and high humidity, leading to smoke advancing to the bridge nearest to the river, near-similar to Japan.
The Canadian show had one of the better-represented themes among competitors this year with respect to its theme, keeping obvious through most of the show. It also had one of the best opening segments following the countdown. While probably among the more limited shows with respect to color diversity, the color richness was nevertheless good. Fantastic demonstration of jellyfish effects and nautical shells, too, especially during the finale – the finale itself was the best one this year in my mind, with Italy's closely trailing. I think the principal issues with the show, however, were the repetition in firing style, sometimes slacker connectivity with the music, and the abrupt/sloppy transitions at times. These were nothing major but appearing enough individually or in combination to likely keep Canada from the Gold Jupiter — I envision a Bronze at best, although like Enkil, this display was overall my personal favorite.
Country: Switzerland
Company: SUGYP SA
Date of presentation: July 17th, 2025
The Swiss display day was the only one to encounter thunderstorms, with a mid-afternoon event raising concerns of potential technical issues during the display later on. Thankfully, any issues observed were kept at a minimum. At the same time, with the strongest wind speeds of all shows this year, there were further worries of start-time delays for this show due to winds faithfully holding onto gusts of slightly over 40 km/h — even worse, blowing directly towards the on-site audience (for the first and only time this year). Despite the threshold slightly exceeded consistently in the area, and despite the wind direction, the display was given the go-ahead.
The Swiss display by SUGYP was excellent, although representing a decreased complexity from their previous appearances in 2012 and notably 2016. That said, the show featured an excellent blend of effects, a really good palette of color, and often with the correct choices to represent soundtrack. The music respected the comedic style that engendered the thematic framework, leading to one of the better conceptual designs this year, but there were moments where it was less clear. During a couple of tracks, limited pyrotechnics were present during the fading of those songs, such as «Aquarius/let the Sunshine», but the strobing stars matching important components of Christina Aguilera's «Show Me How You Burlesque» was one of the most memorable moments not only in this display but also this year. Definitely a top finale this year (despite the monochrome approach), and the bursts of nautical shells were outstanding.
Country: United States
Company: Pyro Spectaculars
Date of presentation: July 24th, 2025
After a gusty evening a week prior, the American display also had a rather gusty evening, though unlike during the Swiss show, wind gusts were slightly below the 40 km/h threshold (flirting with 30-35 km/h) and blowing rapid smoke accumulation towards right-hand sections of the on-site audience. This was also the second-most humid display time (tied with Japan), and it was the warmest one (29 C during the display).
While the American performance was the weakest this year for its technical design, owing to very limited use of the available space and a strongly repetitive firing style, the show was still appealing in the sense that it carried a powerful nature. Indeed, the crowd was appreciative of the reliance on the sequences of shells, despite the periods of emptiness that it often consequently led to at lower altitudes. The show was also, in my mind, the most consistent with the employed thematic premise, feeling obvious throughout with its soundtrack, but it evidently suffered from being unable to properly represent it technically. The finale, too, was cut short (often the case this year) despite such a promising build-up at the start!
Country: France
Company: Lux Factory
Date of presentation: July 27th, 2025
Yet another fireworks day of convective rainfall and thunderstorm potential materialized, though this was the most generous of all affected display days in terms of rainfall distribution (sparse). Still, a strong thunderstorm family led to a Severe Thunderstorm Warning just NE of the island, managing to pass closely during the mid- to late-afternoon. The most humid and tied for warmest display time with the United States (29 C) further appeared for the French show. Fortunately, the winds were strong enough to push the smoke to the right of the La Ronde audience, though upper-level smoke was moving towards the right-hand and partially central sections of the audience.
The newcomer French team produced a very enjoyable display, with the tightest sequencing attempts and choreography seen this year. That said, the low-level firing style was a bit overdone at times, and it led to several emptier moments above. As such, there were times of imbalance in this display. The palette of color was also one of the most limited this year. The French finale was additionally the most sustained (nearly enduring a full minute before letting go). The «Connection» theme was progressively becoming weaker beyond the early part of the show, and so the conceptual design of the show was less.
As such, my jury predictions and personal choices for the winners look like the following:
Trav's jury prediction:
1st: Italy
2nd: France
3rd: Switzerland
Trav's personal choice:
1st: Canada
2nd: Italy
3rd: France
Green Achievement Award: ?
Best choice of music:
1. Japan
2. Switzerland
3. Canada
Most intriguing effects:
1. Japan
2. France
3. Switzerland
Best quality products:
1. Japan
2. France
3. Canada
Highest color richness:
1. Japan
2. Switzerland
3. Canada
Best devised and represented theme:
1. Canada
2. Japan
3. Switzerland
Best sequences:
1. France
2. Japan
3. Switzerland
Most powerful/energetic displays:
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Switzerland
Best opening segment:
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Japan
Best laser usage:
1. Canada
2. Switzerland
3. France
Top finales:
1. Canada
2. Italy
3. France
Trav. |
