montreal-fireworks.com 2025 Schedule Report Blog

Montreal Fireworks Forum

 | Home | Register | Search | Statistics |
2025 Display Reviews Montreal Fireworks Forum / 2025 Display Reviews /  
 

2025 Jupiter predictions

 
Author Smoke
Member 
#1 | Posted: 27 Jul 2025 20:48 
Hello everyone,

Please feel free to post your predictions and/or personal choices for the winners! Some reasoning would always be interesting to accompany your choices, but it is totally not necessary!

Trav.

Author Norandois
Member 
#2 | Posted: 28 Jul 2025 02:30 
Its gonna be a real short review, can't heard any of the sountrack on every show, my review is based on the effect, the sequence and finale of course. The casual crowd eye 😁

Really liked Canada finale, its give me a overwhelming reaction for sure but rest of show wasn't that nice. But rarely seen a massive finale like that before. Its been a long time in my memory.

Italy really liked the vast italian effect and of course the way they do their show, but almost same white strobe finale as france but with pretty loud salute.

France was really good, pretty nice effect, some of it I never see in 27 years, isn't redundant and really nice willow and kamuro effect as well, pretty impressed of that huge Kamuro at the pre-finale!

USA I can't really say much, short finale, liked those ghost mine, really bright, but barely heard the sountrack, from a guy having problem with his streaming radio..

The not see the rest of the competition, living at Victoriaville and rouyn-noranda, quite busy life! But still do my best to see every show as possible but sometime I have also show to do πŸ˜πŸ˜…

I'm stuck with France and Italy for the 1st position seriously.

Jerome

Author fireworksforum
Admin 
#3 | Posted: 28 Jul 2025 15:48 
It's quite a tough year to judge this year. For me there were two standouts, one in first place and one not. For the rest, it's very difficult and I'll have to think some more.

Gold: Lux Factory (France)

Any of Italy, Japan, Canada and Switzerland: all were good, each one had a different weakness

Not on the podium: USA.

Soundtrack: could be any from the list of winners (though this isn't always the case as we saw in previous years).

Paul.

Author fredbastien
Member 
#4 | Posted: 28 Jul 2025 20:07 
As indicated at the end of my review on the last competition show here, my personal ranking for this edition is as follows:

1. Lux Factory (France)
2. PyroItaly (Italy)
3. Sugyp (Switzerland)
4. Great Sky Art (Japan)
5. Blue Star Pyrotechnics (Canada)
6. Pyro Spectaculars (United States)

In my comments on each of the entrants in this year's competition, I rated PyroItaly and Lux Factory, the first and last on the calendar, as «excellent.» I rated Great Sky Art, Blue Star Pyrotechnics, and Sugyp as «very good,» and I thought that Pyro Spectaculars did a «good» display, but nothing more. (There were no «outstanding» ratings this year.)

I anticipate that Lux Factory and PyroItaly will be the top two, in a very close race. As for the Bronze, I believe it could go to Japan, Canada, or Switzerland. Their performances were all very good, and it was difficult to rank them in any order. However, past outcomes of the jury lead me to predict that the Bronze Jupiter will go to Switzerland. Here are some descriptive statistics from 1992, when the popular jury formula was introduced, until 2024:

- 4 of the 31 competitors who were the first to compete (12.9%) won a Jupiter;
- 19 of the 93 competitors who were the first three to compete (20.4%) won a Jupiter;
- 57 of the 93 competitors who were the last three to compete (60.9%) won a Jupiter*;
- 23 of the 31 competitors who were the last to compete (74.2%) won a Jupiter.

* In addition to the Platinum Jupiter, the only award given in 2004, I am including the two competitors that were finalists that year in this calculation.

Furthermore, only one time have two competitors of the first three to compete managed to reach the podium (this occurred in 2022 with NUVU from Hungary and Orion from Canada). This could happen again this year, but I think the opposite is more likely.

So my prediction for the jury's ranking is as follows:

Gold Jupiter β€” Lux Factory (France)
Silver Jupiter β€” PyroItaly (Italy)
Bronze Jupiter β€” Sugyp (Switzerland)

I will not make any predictions for the awards for Best Soundtrack or the Green Achievement award because these awards are not selected by the jury, but rather by the competition organizers based on criteria with which I am not familiar or unable to assess.

Fred

Author Enkil
Member 
#5 | Posted: 28 Jul 2025 22:33 
My personal ranking:

1. Canada
2. United States
3. France
4. Switzerland
5. Italy
6. Japan

Jury prediction (even though I always get it wrong):

1. France
2. Canada
3. Switzerland

The Canadian show was the one that kept me entertained and captivated from beginning to end, despite its flaws. They had the best theme and it fit well with the display. The US show had a fun and most unique soundtrack, but the theme would not be popular among the jury. France started very good, but then the theme got lost.

The US had the best laser show, but that's not saying much. On this point, I still don't understand why we have to have a laser component to this competition. It really adds nothing special, and its capabilities/features are very limited. It is more of a distraction than anything else. I think it has no place in this competition, and I thought the organizers would have understood this after the first season...

Although nearly all the displays were very good, I don't think we had one excellent/flawless show. Almost all of them could have been improved or had segments that were better than others. I also think this season lacked a bit of creativity. For some reason, it felt like the design of the shows was rushed, as though they were too busy with other projects...

Author ArtiDan
Member 
#6 | Posted: 30 Jul 2025 14:41 
All of my reviews are from quick notes taken right after each show at LaRonde. To make sure of my final ranking, I decided to rewatch all shows on video. I also tried to create a «best of the best 2025 song selection» amongst all competitors. I ended up selecting 4 songs for Italy, France and Japan, while 2 selections were made for the three others. That pretty much confirmed my choices.

Here is my ranking :

1) Italy
2) France
3) Japan

Best soundtrack : Japan.

I personally think positions 1 and 2 belong to Italy and France. But they are so close that it's very hard to say which one will win the Gold Jupiter.

While France had a very solid first half, the second part lost its rhythm and had too many weaknesses. I think Italy was a bit more consistent overall, and their finale was clearly the best this year. One thing I can think of is the more confusing theming on Italy's side that could deprive them from a gold Jupiter.

As for the bronze, Japan had the most entertaining and creative show amongst the four other competitors. They also had the best soundtrack as far as I'm concerned.

Dan

Author fireworksforum
Admin 
#7 | Posted: 30 Jul 2025 15:01 
Just a bit of inside information that has now been made public by Arnaud Fouriau of Lux Factory. They had a problem with their shipping — one of eight pallets was not loaded into the container in Europe and they only discovered this when they started working on the montage for their show here in Montreal. I believe they were able to replace some of the missing products, but not all. Arnaud had commented on a Facebook post that had stated the 2nd half of the show was weaker and he stated that the missing products were largely in the last 12 minutes of the show.

Of course, from a jury perspective, they can only judge what they saw — but this might at least explain the apparent imbalance people noticed.

Paul.

Author fireworksforum
Admin 
#8 | Posted: 30 Jul 2025 20:12 
It's time to make my predictions.

Gold Jupiter: Lux Factory (France)
Silver Jupiter: Great Sky Art (Japan)
Bronze Jupiter: PiroItaly (Italy)
Soundtrack: Lux Factory

Now my personal choices:
#1: Lux Factory
#2: Great Sky Art
#3: Blue Star Pyrotechnics
#4: PiroItaly
#5: Sugyp
#6: Pyro Spectaculars

Honestly, positions 3, 4 and 5 are pretty much interchangeable for me and are currently how I feel after re-watching the videos. These were all worthy of at least a Bronze Jupiter and all of them had some kind of minor design flaw ( in my humble opinion). Great Sky Art had a relatively smaller finale than these three, but I believe the strong soundtrack and good design helped, though there were no nauticals used. This was made up for by the amazing shells which, due to the weather, we couldn't fully appreciate.

For the soundtrack, Great Sky Art really surprised me and I enjoyed it much more than I expected but I think, at the end, Lux Factory was the best overall for me. This year, though, all the soundtracks were good and all very different.

Paul.

Author ryguy2008
Member 
#9 | Posted: 30 Jul 2025 23:29 
This year, I was able to attend 3 shows -- France, Japan and Switzerland. I'd like to see more, but the awkward choice of dates on mostly Thursdays and two Sundays makes the process exceptionally difficult with my work. I truly hope that La Ronde will bring back Saturday shows in the future. It may also drive better attendance early in the season.

Some highlights from my notes:

Japan
β€” Exceptional synchronization.
β€” Weak/non-existent finale.
β€” Interesting soundtrack.
β€” Very bright and interesting shapes/colours on the shells.
β€” Well conceived theme.

Switzerland
β€” More basic pyromusical design than Japan.
β€” Some numbers (like All That Jazz) could have had expanded designs.
β€” Excellent use of the lake β€” a rarity seemingly.
β€” Vibrant shells with interesting effects.
β€” Excellent finale.

France
β€” Most creative firing positions.
β€” Soundtrack/theme didn't resonate as much with me.
β€” Numerous large shells with good effects.
β€” Very good finale (though lacked colour).

With this in mind, my personal ranking:

1) Japan
2) France
3) Switzerland

However, as I wrote in the France thread, I expect France to win the gold.

Finally, my favourite soundtrack of the 3 is Japan.

This was still a very strong year overall and the park clearly Β«reboundedΒ» since COVID on attendance, with a good strategy on the Β«family zoneΒ» (what was formerly bronze seats) and a clear last-minute ticket strategy β€” unlike last year, which had ad hoc lines just past the park entrance.

Looking forward to seeing what the 40th year of the competition brings next year!

Author Smoke
Member 
#10 | Posted: 30 Jul 2025 23:49 
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 β€” 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 β€” 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.

Author PyroDan
Member 
#11 | Posted: 31 Jul 2025 16:33 
Unfortunately, due to this year's schedule, I wasn't able to attend any of the displays. But I'm so thankful that we have the Internet to watch them on replay!
This was an interesting year, too short in my opinion, but at least we got some great displays.

Jury prediction:
1 — France (though very similar to last year's winners)
2 — Italy
3 — Switzerland

My top 4:
1 — Italy
2 — Switzerland
3 — Japan
4 — France

Most disappointing:
β€” USA

2025 Display Reviews Montreal Fireworks Forum / 2025 Display Reviews /
 2025 Jupiter predictions

Your Reply Click this icon to move up to the quoted message

 

  ?
Only registered users are allowed to post here. Please, enter your username/password details upon posting a message, or register first.

 

 
Montreal Fireworks Forum Powered by Simple Bulletin Board miniBB ®


  ⇑