This display sounds excellent

La Ronde is gonna rock!
Montréal, Tuesday July 29, 2008 — Fans of rock and fireworks will be served up a feast on Wednesday at L'International des Feux Loto-Québec presented by TELUS, when these two explosive forms of expression will join forces in an extravagant pyromusical rock opera. The United States will dazzle you with a totally overwhelming display requiring six additional structures built on the launch ramps, including three 10-m-high towers!

The show, entitled Rock Loves is built around five themes often closely associated with this type of musical and this particular production is no exception.

In the first, rock and the realm of dreams merge into a perfect union with classics such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles and Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. Then, the sounds of rock bring colors to auditory life, such as in Yellow by Coldplay and Mr. Blue Sky by ELO. Rock becomes an eloquent messenger of peace, especially when sung by someone like Lennon, as illustrated in the third act. And rock can also convey love, even with really power guitar riffs such as performed by Guns N' Roses. Lastly, since rock has its own penchant for excess and knows how to fuel it, rock loves shows and being the center of attraction. In other words, as stated by Pyrotecnico, Rock Loves…Tonight!, which is the closing act of the rock opera.

Pyrotecnico's life has been like a roller coaster, especially as July 4 rolls around each year, since the firm organizes 600 to 700 fireworks shows for Independence Day celebrations in the United States. There's every reason to believe that the headquarters in New Castle, Pennsylvania, pulls out all the stops for this American holiday. In point of fact, New Castle is considered the fireworks' capital in the United States, if only because there were no fewer than seven pyrotechnical firms active there in the 1920s.
The firm's "normal" business, however, did not prevent the designers of Rock Loves from investing nine months of work into this original show, according to Ralph Piacquadio and Rocco Vitale. Vitale, who heads up Pyrotechnico with his brother, has fireworks in his blood: four generations have preceded him in the business since his great-great-grandfather founded the firm in 1889…some 60 years before rock was born!

(Full soundtrack should be released soon)

Soundtrack

Title
Interpret

Karn Evil #9: 1st Impression, Pt. 2
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer

Tonight, Tonight
Smashing Pumpkins

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
The Beatles

Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd

Yellow
Cold Play

Mr. Blue Sky
ELO

Give Peace A Chance
John Lennon

War
Edwin Starr

Imagine
John Lennon

Sweet Child O' Mine
Guns & Roses

One
U2 & Mary J. Blige
(Used by Australia for their finale)

Love Reign O'er Me
The Who

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
George Harrison

Look good - I'm meeting with Team USA down on the firing ramps early this afternoon. I'll report here when I get back.

Paul.

Well, I just got back from visiting the firing ramps. What a setup! Huge ramp 1 (extra 8, 10 and 12" positions were added). Three 10m (30 foot) towers on ramp 3, a huge semicircular structure on ramp 4 and two similiar but smaller ones on ramp 3. Lots of 4" and 5" mines on ramp 3 too. All in all, I think there will be effectively 160 firing positions using a total of 460 FM-16 PyroDigital firing modules which will require ten field controllers to fire (total of around 6600 cues). They're also using ramp 5 five platforms) as well as a decent number of nautical shells. Rocco said they wanted to use every aspect of the site (as the judging rules now stipulate separate marks for just this).

It was very interesting talking to Rocco Vitale about the show. It will be the largest one of the year for them and, in terms of complexity, the largest one they've ever done. I asked if he was having fun and he said that it has been a blast working on the design of the show for the past nine months and that they were having a great time in Montreal, even though there's a lot of hard work.

It was great to talk with someone with such passion. If even a fraction of it rubs off on the audience, everyone is going to have a blast!

Paul.

ok, this is it. Can't sleep tonite !!!
God i'm excited !

Thanks Paul !

Thank you kindly for the enticing news on this display, Paul - it definitely seems like quite the powerful and creative kind of display that will be put on by the Americans for tomorrow evening.

Just curious, but is the semi-circular structure on ramp 4 going to be mounted horizontally as during the Portuguese display, or upright onto the vertical? The orientation for the two smaller ones on ramp 3 will be identical to that on ramp 4?

As for the weather, the day, although unsettled, is in relatively good shape, but as we march into the evening, things become a little more tricky. More details in a bit.

Trav.

Just curious, but is the semi-circular structure on ramp 4 going to be mounted horizontally as during the Portuguese display, or upright onto the vertical?

It will be mounted vertically - if I remember correctly from what Rocco told me, there are 29 firing positions on the structure on ramp 4!

The arcs on ramp 3 are a little bit smaller - though I think they have the same number of positions. I forget how many positions on the vertical towers - there were so many statistics that they have become a blur!

Paul.

which is why you need a little recorder

Did you talk about the China issue with Rocco ? In April, he was saying : 'We're working hard and planning now to ensure that our 2009 shows will not be affected. We're talking with our suppliers in China and Europe to diversify our risk. '

Did they get everything they wanted ?

Did they get everything they wanted ?


Yes, they did get everything they wanted, as well as a lot of product from Europe (such as shells from Panzera, Parente and La Rosa - which is good news for anyone who's been to the recent Symposia where we saw some great product demos from the latter two, especially their studatas).

Ramp 1, in particular, was very full with extra positions of 8, 10 and 12" shells over and above what's normally available. And now it looks like the weather will cooperate too!

Paul.

Thanks.

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) by George Harrison for the finale ? Intriguing...

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) by George Harrison for the finale ? Intriguing...

That's because it's not the finale ... you'll see what I mean tonight!

Paul.

Paul,

Does that mean we can expect a convincing faux finale?

Trav.

Does that mean we can expect a convincing faux finale?

It's not going to be quite as you expect. The final song is a "play out song", not the finale. The finale will be to "Love Reign O'er Me" by The Who. As to whether the U2 "One" will be the faux finale, I wouldn't be surprised since Rocco said the display would build in intensity throughout. But the George Harrison song is not the finale, that's for sure. One other thing I learned as well is that the display will be just over 32 minutes

Paul.

Paul,

Thank you for the information in what we can expect for the last part(s) of the performance - it really does sound quite promising.

One other thing I learned as well is that the display will be just over 32 minutes

Would there be any penalty for that?

Trav.

One other thing I learned as well is that the display will be just over 32 minutes

Would there be any penalty for that?


No, not at all. The rules just stipulate 30 minutes minimum Etienne Lacroix did a 40 minute show in 1994

Paul.