Hi guys,

Well, I'll be heading out in roughly less than 3 hours, but you guys can post your reviews here when you get back, or perhaps tomorrow.

In any case, as I said in the weather thread, be sure to keep an eye on the sky and to bring your umbrellas. We still have a shot at one more round of storms this evening, so be careful.

In other news, though of little relevance, for some time now, I've noticed that the time system on the forum has switched to EDT rather than Pacific time, so I figure the the site is no longer hosted in California?

Enjoy the show/weather (if not too nefarious). I'll have some brief comments, as always, tonight.

Trav.

I have seen all the fireworks this year... I have to say that this was the worst ending EVER!! Nobody ... and I mean NOBODY claped their hands in aproval at then end.

Everyone just stood there and sayd: "Was that the end?!?!"

I expected a LOT more from Canada. I thought this was a competition!

Hi guys,

This display was truly a remarkable show while I feel that the artistry really brought out the creativty quite brilliantly. Even the symmetry of the display was widened to what we're used to at mid to high levels. I personally loved the red nautical effects that were used frequently throughout the show as well as the low level flashing to accompany the flares at times.

However, I think the most important part of this display was the impeccable sequencing with the mines and lower effects since they well went with the music entirely. Synchronization was fabulous for the most part, especially at ground level. The gold dust from some of the mines really made things interesting while I truly enjoyed the extensive use of the glitters and the, less often, go-getters (I think). The candles were also delicately presented while the fountains and flares well accompanied the variations of girandolas at one piece.

In all, this was a truly remarkable, creative and especially aritistic, display and I enjoyed it fully with the music while I did find some parts in the press release a little misleading with the actual balance of the show. It was really enjoyable and I'm sure they may make a place on the podium somehow, especially with the design of this display.

I particularly loved the choice of music considering that it went in perfect harmony with the low effects. The rhythmic flow was also perfect between pieces, so it helped between pace transitions. Furthermore, there was a lot of variations between music, so it allowed for ideal fluctuations in exploitation.

As for the finale, well, yes, it was very disappointing, as expected, but it still had a dramatic finish to it, but definitely not the type to make you feel good inside. I also thought that the final barrage of salutes at mid level were fired a little too late after the main part, but that's just me.

Trav.

I must say that I thought tonight's show was so far the best one in this competition. Throughout the show, everything was so well organized and balanced!

I think you had to be in a "calm" state to really feel the emotions in the sky. It was probably one of the most emotional and successful shows I've ever seen.

It really had nothing to do with excitement. It was all about emotions and being dramatic, which I thought was very well done!

The quality of the pieces were once again rich and excellent. I really loved how they used the whole place of the ramps. There were a couple of little shells that had exploded beyond the ramps' limits I think. Anyway, the pieces were big and spacious, which is something I admire a lot.

And wow, excellent song selections! They might not have been Canadian music, but they sure went pretty good with the fireworks. It was also probably the best song selections this year so far. I personally enjoyed almost every song and the synchronization was nearly flawless in my opinion.

My only very minor criticism would be the redundancy of couple of segments and of course the finale, which wasn't a colorful one. However, we should remember that in the press release they did say it was not going to be a "happy" (colorful) ending, and I think we all knew they were going to shoot a bunch of kamuros. Although, I must admit, I wasn't mad at all when it finished that way because I thought it had to end like that and considering the excellent display, it really suited the show perfectly.

However, don't get me wrong, I'm not praising them just because it's a Canadian show, nor am I being "patriotic" because I honestly and truly was impressed by their performance throughout the show!

My ratings so far:

1. Canada
2. South Africa
3. Portugal
4. Italy
5. Switzerland
6. Argentina

Rated from Notre-Dame street and may not be debatable with those who watched the displays from elsewhere without recognizing that my viewpoint is different from theirs.

I thought Canada really did some remarkable things - the artistry of this display is of the likes I have never seen before (I am a bit of a fireworks n00b, but still...). The music and fireworks were really impeccably synchronised, and fit each other so well, that it really was about the overall experience and the emotional response. That said, fireworks, at least to me, are supposed to be stunning, spectacular, and definitely supposed to overwhelm the senses at times, and Fiatlux didn't even attempt to do this (and if they did attempt, they failed miserably). A very Canadian display actually...it was thoughtful, underwhelming, modest, intelligent, and nice to watch and enjoy...but it lacked "oomph", power and brashness. There is a balance, and I think this could have been a more balanced concept.

Photos:

http://eps.mcgill.ca/~devries/fireworks4.htm

I also am posting photos in the other threads, for South Africa, Argentina and Portugal...I missed Italy and Switzerland

Well i think this was one of those shows that if you didn't see it from laronde you would think it was terrible. I had my seats at laronde for the first time and i thought the show was really good. Canada had the best music i have heard for a show in years. It was really really well chosen music. There syncro for the most part also was really well done. I did notice a few errors here and there but overall they did a good job. It was problably the most "dark" feeling show i have ever scene. Most shows don't really cause me to feel much, but this one really did. One thing that annoyed me though was there over use of the flares i think they are called. Once or twice would have been fine, but i think it got up to like 6 times. It was very redundant. Overall a very good show. I rank them 2nd behind south africa.

On the basis of previous shows produced by Concept Fiatlux in Montreal, my expectations were pretty low for this Canadian display. I have to admit that it was better than what I thought and that display has some interesting features for the audience at La Ronde. Fiatlux has chosen an original soundtrack, mixed in a such way that it was difficult to made a difference between all of the 18 segments.

For once, the addition of a fifth ramp produced a very interesting result. The setup was made of thirteen floating platforms across the lake: one half in front of the audience, and other were dispatched to create a semi-circle. It is often difficult to really see a difference between pieces launched from the fifth ramp and the permanent other ones. However, Fiatlux successfully provided the feeling to be very close to the show since several huge mines bursted on these platforms. I especially enjoyed the note-synchronized effect of angled-mines. Some of them crossed together at the center of the area. At the end of the show, a depth effect has been produced with mines on the fifth ramp and comet candles launched from the second or third ramp, just behind.

Another way to bring firework close to the public is using nautical effects. Fiatlux exhibited several kind of water pieces, including flares, shells and, for the first time this year, fountains which shot comets into the air. Among other pyrotechnic pieces, I have to underline some multi-break shell-of-shells, which did fill the sky very quickly. That is always spectacular.

However, the show has some weakness in my opinion. First, flares along the second and/or third ramps appeared too often and were alone for too long time. Second, many small technical problems occured during this performance: I think that most of the pieces located on one of the front floating platforms didn't come to life, some parts were asymmetrical and many wheels didn't work appropriately. Third, and this is the most serious point, I believe that the show lacked of large shells. It is very interesting to use low-effect products and, as I wrote early, Fiatlux was successful to bring the firework as close as possible to the audience. Nevertheless, I believe that most people expect in every display at least one crescendo leading to a strong and spectacular segment.

Fiatlux's concept was risky and I think that the wide range of views expressed in this forum reflect a divide in the public opinion about the Canadian display.

Fred

The interview with Michel Rioux, designer of the Canadian show, is now online on PyroPlanet with some pictures of the firing ramps:

http://www.pyroplanet.com/Article308.html

Fred

no more videos? huhuhu!!

I will try to have more up soon. They take time to process, title, shrink, etc.

Bill
------
PyroPlanet.com team
www.pyroplanet.com

oh ok!!

Hi guys and Happy Birthday, Travis!

I don't have much to say about Canada's performance, except that I was very disappointed after the display! Maybe I was expecting too much from my country? I thought it lacked action, intensity, specially during the very "calm" finale! The salutes at the very end were appreciated, but like Travis said, they were too late.....thank God, I have recorded them, but I almost turned off my camera just before they happened, thinking that the show was over! Woof! One thing that I noticed during the first five minutes of the display, were rockets that were sent over the St.Lawrence towards Notre-Dame Street.......I don't know the name of those shells, but when they explode, they fill the sky pretty quickly and go in all directions, making a lot of noise....kind of comet shaped! Can someone tell me what they are? I just love them. Next time I see some, I will note the time on the Molson clock and tell you when they happened. Anyway, here is how I rank the countries so far:

1. South Africa
2. Italy
3. Switzerland
4. Argentina
5. Canada

(I did not attend the Portugal display)

I hope you are enjoying your Birthday, Travis!

Pierre

Just for fun, where were you to watch the show Salutes Lover? And I'll try to get you the name and description of the rockets you talked about !

ciao!

Hi Kamuro,

I was on the bridge close to La Ronde.......the rockets exploded to my left, above the St. Lawrence River close to the metal structure above the bridge. If I see other rockets like that in future displays, I will let you know. Thanks Kamuro!

Pierre

Here are my rankings for Canada:

Travis' personal rankings and display criteria rankings:

-Synchronization: 9/10-Very nice coordination for the most part while a lot of the effects at ground level were in total harmony with the music. The synchronization was also very elegant and worked well with the artistry being displayed, especially with the inspiring unique way of using the sequences of mines and candles.
-Color: 8.5/10-A delicate selection of colors used all the way through, though some a touch repetitive, but still beautifully used.
-Creativity/Originality/Concept: 9/10-A truly remakable effort considering that this was the most artistic display this season while the conceptual flow was always noticeable and very strongly connected. The creativity was well reinforced, especially the way some of those nautical flares were integrated with the mines and candles as well as the silver fountains. However, I found the red flares too repetitive for my tastes as well as some other forms of firing with effects. On the other hand, it still worked well with overall theme, which was rather strong.
-Choice of music: 8.8/10-I personally loved the wide variety of soundtrack used while I found it to be entirely unique. However, I just found some songs not as enjoyable as some others since I felt that they deviated somewhat by contrast to other songs that corresponded better.
-Finale/Overall Appreciation: 8.5/10-Though the finale was disappointing, the lasting appeal was excellent and I still gained a distinctived appreciation for this show.
-Overall: 8.8/10

This was a fabulous display and has the ability to be a winner, but also doing battle with others, such as Portugal. Being the most artistic display, I think this gives them a serious advantage in the ending results and I suspect that they may hit either 2nd or 3rd place if others of my choice don't make it. Though most found it more boring, I took the opportunity to admire what was being delivered to us, especially with relevance to the theme and especially the concept. Personally, I enjoyed the show since it looked at a different side of firing scheme took advantage of a wider range of sky area and symmetry as well while the attempt at a more fulfilling design. I also loved the mine sequencing in particular, especially the way the would conclude in and out at the middle by exploiting at an angle (with differing colors) and intersecting with each other.

And thank you, Pierre, for your kind remarks regarding my birthday. Indeed, I had an excellent time like you did with your own b-day. Once again, thank you for the good wishes and the impeccable acknowledgements! You really are a kind friend, Pierre.

Trav.