This penultimate entrant of the 2010 lineup did an outstanding show. A vibrant example of the pyromusical art at its best and a convincing demonstration of Göteborgs FyrverkeriFabrik’s ability to make the most of a wide range of pyrotechnic products. To those who have wondered in the past few weeks, following some criticisms written in this forum and elsewhere on the web, what is required to meet the Montreal standards, I suggest to watch the full video of this one.
Interviewed by Paul and Mylène last week, the designer Martin Hilderberg said that he had learnt a lot of things from his previous and first appearance in this competition in 2005. For sure, one of them was about the importance to deliver a climactic start at the end of the countdown and to avoid the empty sky effect which sometimes happen with narrative segments. The storyline of the 2005 show was a nice visit though the city of Göteborgs with Ingrid who welcomed her friend Jacques from Montreal. The journey began at the airport, then moved to a concert, Liseberg amusement park, a movie theater, a pub, and a night club. This time, the anticlimactic sound of the airplane with discrete nautical flares were changed for a strong introduction to the « DJ’s Memories » with ABBA’s « Dancing Queen ». The theme of the 2010 show was less sophisticated, but much more engaging and clearer than in all previous on-competition displays this year.
The choice of music was safe and really met audience’s tastes. Travis reports in this thread that some people danced on Notre-Dame street. (One of my friends just told me the same thing about passengers on the cruising boat he was on last night.) We can claim that people actually dance in the street when Göteborgs comes in Montreal. Many viewers – including the author of this post – moved on their seat at La Ronde. I welcomed two more serene segments (« I’ll Find My Way Home » and « True Colors »), which allowed other types of effects. But what should be emphasized here is the quality of the soundtrack, which was similar to the set of Céline Dion’s songs heard during the mid-term off-competition display and the one of Fireworks Spectaculars Canada (FSC). The songs were perfectly mixed, with only some pauses strategically located. Moreover, some transitions were augmented with sounds creating a dramatic background, like the beginning of Michael Jackson’s « Thriller » (more on this below), or the scratching effect before the finale.
Back to the pyro. To say that synchronization was « flawless » through the show is an understatement. As soon as the fireworks began with « Dancing Queen », I was delighted with a quality demonstrated by Göteborgs in 2005 and which I evoked last week as a challenging component for FSC : the incredibly tight synchronization between ALL musical and vocal components of the soundtrack and the fireworks. (Even the smallest percussions from « Dancing Queen » were pictured with fast gerb effects.) Furthermore, the choice of almost all pyrotechnic devices fired during the display perfectly matched the rhythm of the music. The note-synchronized effects were countless since they appeared to be standard, even for very fast sequences (i.e. : the one-shot strobes on the beginning of « Sandstorm »). The selection of pyrotechnic pieces and their position through the display were far to be random : for sure, they were the result of a long designing process.
Early this week, we learnt from Paul’s/Mylène’s interviews with the designer that he had a surprise in store for the YMCA song. I have hypothesized on this forum that it was related to the YMCA letters, which might be made of lances on four setup pieces (which would haven’t allow to lit up the letters only when the letters are pronounced, though), of letter-shape mines (a special effect successfully introduced in Montreal by Pyromagic in 2009), or letter-shape shells. I crossed my fingers for a well-done effect as this segment of the song was coming! I was surprised and delighted to see these letters made of white gerbs attached on columns located on the third ramp (three gerbs for Y, six gerbs for M, three gerbs for C, five gerbs for A, this sequence appearing four times). The audience became very vocal at this time, and it was not the last. A spectacular barrage of double-ascension girandolas, the last flight ending with bursting stars, caused enthusiastic reactions from the viewers. Whereas these girandolas are not unusual, I was more impressed by two pairs of shells of comets (whose heads lit up after a moment) which embedded smiley faces. This product comes from China and I don’t remember having seen them in Montreal since the smiley faces are usually made from shells without any other effect. (The first of these two pairs of shells appeared exactly at 4:53 following the start of the show, the second pair a couple of seconds later.)
I wrote last week that Brad Dezotel made the most of the firing site. Martin Hilderberg did the same thing. Though the barrages of nautical shells were a little less dramatic than those in the Canadian show, we saw two of them (the first with rare nautical shells of red go-getters, the second with regular shells at the most intense point of the finale), nautical flares and rotating nautical fountains. Like Dezotel, Hilderberg fired huge effects from the fifth ramp, with some mines of tourbillons and three awesome z-cakes of green and purple stars.
The full use of the firing site obviously impacted the complexity of the design. For instance, the serene music of Vangelis’ « I’ll Finds My Way Home » began with nautical green flares turning to silver strobes, with candles of meteor-headed comets shot with a small angle just above the water. Once these strobes turned off and the candles ended, the segment continued with the aforementioned flights of double-ascension girandolas, led to a sequence of rising comets bursting in horsetails (or Niagara falls) effects, followed with candles of electric comets augmented with shells of strobes, and ended with larger shells of twinkling stars. After this serene segment, the more dynamic rhythm resumed with a sequence of three Michael Jackson’s songs, which also exemplified the complexity of the show. « Thriller » was introduced with red flares on the fifth ramp on the sound of thunders, a short sequence of note-synchronized comets from ramps 3 and 4 and of gerbs from ramp 5, blue flares on ramps 3 and 4, then small vertical and angled red gerbs and fountains (the whole setup thus creating a depth effect), leading to the beginning of the song with higher and more dynamic pyrotechnic devices, with the addition of red strobes along the third, fourth and fifth ramps synchronized on some percussions.
The quality and the wide range of pyrotechnic products were impressive. In addition to the rare nautical go-getters and the original shells of comets with embedded smiley faces, we seldom see the shells and mines of comets which behave at different speeds like go-getters, but whose direction changes, as we saw on the music of « Play that Funky Music ». Diversity was clear with the introduction of different effects as the show goes on and came close to the end : cakes of stars bursting in tourbillons and different sorts of shells of farfalles on the music of « Suerte », several kinds of effects which slowly fell (horsetails, falling leaves, and falling clusters of thiner stars) on « True Colors », shells of triple rings on « Sing Hallelujah », and candles of comets bursting in blue stars and white bees, and other bursting in crackling pistils during the finale.
Despite this diversity, the show was more repetitive than the Canadian one, especially with the regular use of gerbs, flares, strobes, flames, and one-shot comets. I’m sure that they were often displayed because they are the pyrotechnic devices whose effects are the shortest and most appropriate for note-synchronization. In addition, I believe that this show had potential for a more obvious faux finale, since there was a very strong penultimate music segment (Sandstorm) and already massive barrages. I am not sure what the perception of other viewers was, but I felt a lack of reaction from the audience at the end of Sandstorm as it should have at the end of a faux finale. I think that a complete pause in the soundtrack (it featured voices of people between Sandstorm and Ella elle l’a) and insertion of some barrages of salutes (which are typical of a finale) would have stressed this faux finale effect. I really can’t see what other criticisms I can address to this fabulous display.
In 2005, I and other members of the forum were very confident in Göteborgs’ chance to jump on the podium. I have written it several times as the 2005 season progressed. At the end of the competition, most of us were surprised and disappointed to not see the Swedish team among the winners. A couple of days later, Martin Hilderberg wrote in this forum how he became himself more confident as our claims about Göteborgs’ chance became more numerous. I felt very bad at this time. As a consequence, I’m reluctant to claim that Göteborgs will be among the winners “for sure”. More safely, I say that Göteborgs FyrverkeriFabrik will « likely » be among the winners : the show was better than in 2005, scheduled later in the competition, and one of the two best displays this year. I think that Göteborgs may be, with FSC and, potentially, Brézac Artifices, a proud member of the « ultimate trio » I have talked about since a couple of weeks.
FSC did an excellent display last week. I feel that the diversity of pyrotechnic material was a little wider with FSC. I think the great use of the site and the quality of the soundtrack were similar in both shows. But it is obvious that the synchronization and the whole harmony between the music and the fireworks were better in the Swedish display, and I believe that the theme was a bit more obvious than in the FSC’s one. For these reasons, I update my ranking in this way :
1. Sweden
2. Canada
3. Poland
4. Italy
5. Portugal
6/7. Taïwan/United States (in no specific order)
Travis’ weather forecast was almost as precise as Göteborgs synchronization. The wind was dangerously weak, pushing some smoke toward Notre-Dame street. The on-site audience could see the whole show without any problem, but smoke accumulation became more important at the end of the display. As people exited the Place du Canada, we saw the light smoke above us. Other than that, it was a perfect weather for a fireworks, much more better than in 2005. As it seems to happen every two weeks since the beginning of the 2010 competition, Michel Lacroix was missing last night. And I missed the official ceremony, being jammed in the Goliath’s queue line.
Fred
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