1999 l'International Benson & Hedges Montréal Pyromusical Competition Report
France Notre-Dame de Paris Wednesday July 21st, 1999
Société Étienne Lacroix
Once again, a perfect warm summer evening was the setting for the sixth display in the competition. With the purchase of Ruggieri, Lacroix-Ruggieri is now the oldest and largest pyrotechnics company in Europe, with a history dating back to 1739. Tonight's display was the first joint Lacroix-Ruggieri venture put on in Montréal with shells from Spain, Italy and France. Fired using the Pyrodigital system, the seven part display promised to be exciting.
Part 1 to music from Notre-Dame de Paris.
Ouverture. Rocket cones bursting to blue stars opened this display.
Then barrages of weeping willow shells in threes and fours, followed by
multi-breaks bursting to blue balls as the music moved seamlessly to
Belle. Charcoal comet with small fireflies candles with
firefly shells above were followed by green comet shells and then
more volleys of firefly shells. This alternating theme of green comet
shells, charcoal firefly comet candles and fireflies shells was repeated.
These were followed by silver comet dahlia shells, then more
firefly shells, slow falling silver comet shells, going back to the
repeating sequence of green comets, firefly charcoal comet candles,
and firefly shells. Next, large shells of silver comets turning to
red, with candles of the same below. The segment was brought to a close with
rocket cones bursting to red stars and a shell of tourbillons.
Part 2 to music from Starmania.
Needing Love. This segment opened with palm-tree shells, followed by
mines of blue stars and glitter, with bombettes of blue stars and
gold glittery fireflies above. This theme repeated several times
and was followed by beautiful blue mines moving from left to right in perfect
note synchrony. Then mines of comets in the centre, with blue mines moving
from right to left. Finally a large gold comet to blue ball shell as the music
moved seamlessly to
Business Man Blues. A line of gold fountains opened up with fans of gold
comets in the centre. Then a flight of palm-tree shells, followed by gold
glitter comet candles with colour bombettes above in red, then blue
and then green. Next, weeping willow shells followed by pink ball candles.
Then a line of brighter fountains followed by white ball candles. A grove of
weeping willows and then nautic mines of green stars with the same in shells
above. Next, orange ball candles, then green, then silver balls and fine gold
glitter comets. This sections was brought to a close with a really large
multi-break of balls and comets as the music moved to
One against the others. Bright yellow-headed comet candles opened up
with shells of really great colour balls above. Then red glitter mines followed
by really bright comet candles criss-crossing left and right. Above these,
comet and ball shells in pale green, then red and blue, then really bright
red comet candles. Above these, ball and comet shells as the music moved seamlessly
to
Ziggy's Song. Pale gold bombettes with rising tail shells
behind and then mines of crossettes in pale gold glitter with red
ball shells above. Then tourbillon candles and really deep blue mines followed
by wobbling ball with comet shells above. More tourbillon candles and then
more blue mines and bombettes with large double-petalled flower tourbillon
shells above bringing this segment to a close.
Part 3 to music from Notre-Dame de Paris.
Asile. The segment opened with silver comet shells above and
glitter mines below followed by crackly bombettes, sounding
like applause, followed by the same in shells above. Really thick gold
comet candles opened up with thin gold comet shells above followed by
bright palm trees. Then a barrage of palm-tree candles followed by
glittering palm-tree shells with blue stars at the ends. These were
followed by the same, but with red stars at the end. This segment was
brought to a close with a huge weeping willow shell with the stars reaching
to the ground, to cheers from the audience.
Part 4 to music from Les Misérables.
Tombé par Terre. A line of silver fountains opened up followed
by barrages of salute candles to the fast rhythmic music. Red mines in note
synchrony left and right, with small silver glitter mines. Above these,
silver dahlia shells and then crossed bombette candles
below. Volleys of large ball and comet shells followed by more salutes and mines.
The section was brought to a close with three huge palm-tree to blue shells.
La Premièe attaque
Nautic gold fountains fired up in the lake with pastel coloured crossed ball
candles behind, each shot a different colour. Then small palm-tree shells,
then brighter and larger ones with blue note synchronized mines moving left
and right. Barrages of palm-trees were fired as the music moved seamlessly to
Final with double-petalled flower tourbillon shells and some
really bright yellow cluster shells, with mines below and more tourbillon
shells above as the music moved to
Mon Histoire
Candle of clusters of stars and the same in very large mines were followed by five
silver girandolas, rising gracefully into the air. Then shells of fireflies
and silver mines in the centre as the music moved to
Intro as slow spinning tourbillon shells were followed by shells
of very slow falling red stars, with fireflies from bombettes below.
Then another flight of five girandolas followed by more firefly shells.
The segment was brought to a close with two rocket cones bursting to gold stars with slow
spinning tourbillon shells above.
Part 5 to music from Révolution Française.
Ouverture. Silver strobe pots and fountains opened up at the back of the display
with shells of bright red and blue balls above. The shells were split half and half in the
two colours and were followed by a barrage of multi-break blue ball shells as the music
moved to
Retour de la Bastille. Fans of bombettes in silver and blue were followed
by palm-trees turning to blue, with glitter comets below and then more double colour shells.
Large blue mine bursts were followed by a large weeping glitter shell, with the stars
reaching to the ground, bringing the segment to a close.
Part 6 to music from Notre-Dame de Paris.
Le Temps des Cathédrales. A period of dark sky, longer than was artisicaly
feasible indicated a technical problem. Then bursts of bright mines were followed by another
period of darkness. Things got going again with bright headed comet candles and silvery
comet palm-trees. These were repeated and followed by shell bursts of very small and vivid
blue stars and shells of silver crossette comets. The pace of these increased until
the sky was filled, bringing the segment to a close.
Part 7 to music from Hair.
Let the Sun Shine
This final segment began with vast numbers of small palm-trees coming from candles.
Then large glitter palm shells behind followed by ball and comet shells. Larger numbers
of glitter palm shells were followed by some titanium salute barrages and then multi-break
ball shells. The pace increased somewhat with large numbers of glitter palm shells, some
more titanium salutes and a final really large weeping willow shell with stars reaching
all the way to the ground.
This was a very well co-ordinated and artistically designed display. It turned out that
the dark sky was caused by a very large mine which knocked over a firing rack, burning
some cables. There were some nice shells and good use was made of the synchronization
capabilities of the Pyrodigital system. However, the finale was rather short and my
overall feeling of the display was that, whilst it was very enjoyable, at no point
did it really excite me. I still think Canada is the one to beat.