1996 l'International Benson & Hedges Montréal Pyromusical Competition Report

China Yellow River Symphony Thursday June 20^th, 1996

Sunny International

After ominous-looking clouds cleared away right on cue, the 2nd display in this year's competition began under very humid conditions.

This was an incredibly display. There were so many effects that it would actually be easier to report on those which weren't used rather than those which were. I don't think my report can begin to express how good this show was!

It began with a long line of strobe pots with a large volley of titanium salutes overhead. Above these were a great number of silver comet shells. There were also multi-break shells, really bright firefly stars, shells of tourbillons. One particularly nice effect was the use of orange charcoal comet stars together with bright colour stars all in the same shell. A variation on this were stars which started out as charcoal comets but turned into colour stars at the end of their burn. And all of this in the first three minutes!

The next segment included a barrage of large mines and several groups of closely packed rockets (with probably 30 or more rockets in each group) which exploded loudly into masses of bright yellowish stars. More firefly star shells with a different colour and flash rate than those in the first segment. There were also a lot of shells of crackling comets.

A more serene start to the next segment with shells of small red stars which were in close groups and fell very slowly through the air. Then the same thing with green stars. Now it starts to be difficult to remember where one segment ended and another began, such was the pace of the display.

There were some really huge shells with multi-colour changes and also some huge shells which produced slow-falling glittering fronds. A variation on this produced long glittering fronds which flared to bright white at the end of their fall.

There were many many huge flower shells with a huge outer sphere of colour stars with a smaller core sphere of differently coloured stars. Some of these large shells contained many different colours, including some really excellent blue and orange stars. Other shells were packed instead with golden glitter comets. And yet other shells with very fast flashing fireflies.

Many of the shells used were simply enormous and expoded at great altitude filling virtually the whole field of view with perfectly symetrical bursts. Some shells which stand out in my mind were those with orange charcoal comets combined with bright blue.

There was a segment which started with large fountains in front of the lake. Then really bright comets fired from the ground to form cross patterns. Then high above these some remarkable shaped burst shells which produced the effect of an asterisk in the sky - each of the six lines of the asterisk being formed of something like 30 or 40 small comet stars.

There was a segment with vivid purple stars fired from the ground and then shells of purple stars fired above these. There were many multi-break bursts which produced the effect of large boquets of flowers in the sky.

Many times there were shells composed of go-getters. These ranged from very small delicate blue stars which sort of wandered across the sky to much large tailed comet stars which formed criss-cross patterns in the sky.

One particularly amazing segment was composed of many different types of shaped-burst shells. There were a huge variety of shapes produced: simple rings; double rings; saturn effects; five-pointed stars; rings with half of the stars of one colour and half of another; there must have been several hundred shells in this segment alone.

The synchronization to the music was pretty good, though probably not quite as good as Japan. However, there was one segment which was excellent. The music consisted of scales running up and down the piano keyboard with trills at the top. The fireworks aped this to great effect with lines of comets fired from the ground which went from one side of the display area to the other, following the notes on the keyboard. When there was a trill, a bright white mine would be fired!

There were some particularly interesting noise making devices. The most dramatic of these were, for want of a better expression, screaming tourbillons. There were also shells packed with hundreds of whistle stars fired at the same time and then, high above, shaped-burst shells producing bows in circles. Then the screaming tourbillons were fired from the ground from which they rose wiggling and screaming into the air!

The finale was incredibly. There were some simply enormous silver comet shells fired which were the brightest I have ever seen. Enormous flower shells; enormous charcoal-comet-to-colour shells; enormous multi-breaks. Everything was on a grand scale and the climax was a huge barrage of giant titanium salutes. The crowd roared their approval for what was a most amazing display!

I'm sure there are things which I have missed out from this report; there were just so many shells fired and so much to see that it really was hard to take it all in. This display has certainly set the standard for the other competitors to beat!