Le Mondial SAQ 2003
Montréal International Fireworks Competition Report
Canada The Sky Cannot Wait July 23rd, 2003
Royal Pyrotechnie. Designed by Yannick Roy and Serge Péloquin. Pyrodigital firing; Show Director choreography
Firmly entrenched in Québec for more than 30 years, Royal Pyrotechnie
has made a name for itself with its state-of-the-art firing equipment and the
artistic quality of its pyrotechnics and pyromusical shows. With a foothold now
in Québec, Ontario and New Brunswick, Royal Pyrotechnie has carved a niche
as one of the major players in the Canadian pyrotechnics industry. For its first
appearance at Le Mondial SAQ, Royal Pyrotechnie's master technicians
will pull out all the stops and go full force with their bedazzling pyromusical
show The Sky Cannot Wait. Cascading falls, wheels, fountains candles and
volcanoes [editor mines] in a myriad of colours will bombard the Montréal
skyline, pulsing to the music of great cinematic success stories, including
Gladiator, Forrest Gump, Cocoon and The Man in the Iron Mask
Click here for the official press release from the public relations team at La Ronde.
An overly pessimistic, well, just plain wrong, weather forecast said that rain would be a certainty, as has been the misfortune for Canadian displays in the past. Thankfully it was a picture perfect evening, with clear skies and wind in just the right direction to clear the smoke for this very complex debut display from the local team. Using only high quality product from Vicente Caballer and Panzera, this promised to be a strong performance.
Thematically reminiscent of Eric Tucker's Gold Jupiter winning Cinema display from 1998, a seamless flow of music from films was used. Then, as now, it was difficult to take notes due to the complexity and continuous flow. This performance's title of The Sky Cannot Wait became a very appropriate moniker.
Part 1 to the music Canyon of Mazes by James Horner. The display began with a powerful barrage of colour and comet shells and then a short period of narration whilst flares lit up at the back. After the, thankfully short, narration was over, shells of multiple bursts of photoflash fired [though, despite the press release, these have been used several times in Montreal before]. Below these, crossed mines of glitter as the photoflash shells continued. These were followed by fans of glitter comets on ramp 4 with shells of the same above and then crossed mines and fans of glitter comets as the glitter shells continued. These were followed by shells of deep red stars and more comet shells. A line of pairs of white strobes lit up with fast shooting bursts of blue stars angled in at the extreme left and right. Then blue stars in the centre and blue-headed meteor comets. The blue theme continued with the angled star shots at the left and right with blue shells above in the centre and then shells of gold glitter comets with blue stars above. Next, pastel headed gold meteor comets and mines of gold to bot blue and bright blue shells above followed be large gold glitter shells. These were followed by gold kamuros with glitter comet shots below moving this segment seamlessly to
Part 2 to the music The Last Car by Trevor Rabin. Volleys of large shells of orange photoflash bursts fired above fans of salute candles. These were followed by tourbillon candles in the centre with salute candles left and right. Next, huge dazzling lemon yellow headed magnesium meteor comets with shells of lemon yellow stars above and then mines below and more comets. These were followed by shells of purple with glitter comets and candles of salute terminated orange stars with shells of bright falling leaves above and more barrages of the salute terminated colour star candles as the music moved to
Part 3 to the music Leaving Port by James Horner. Much more serene now as a fan of glitter comets was followed by a flight of gold double ascension girandolas. These were followed by a flight of silver and then a flight of a different type of gold girandolas, to cheers from the crowd. These were followed by fans of gold strobing comets with shells of blue stars and gold comets above. This theme continued and then was followed by fans of bright silver stars with multi-break stutata comet shells above. Almost horizontally firing comets from poles at the extreme left and right met just above the middle of ramp 4 in star headed charcoal. These continued and were augmented by the same in shells above. Next fans of silver stars and the same in shells above followed by barrages of colour and comet shells. Then 180° fans of comets in the centre with long comets firing over these from the left and right were followed by bombettes and whistling serpents with titanium salute volleys and shells of colour and comets above. Then fast synchronized mines at the left and right as the shells continued above. These were followed by large shells of bright lemon yellow crossette stars with bright meteor comet shots below. These continued and in mines and then a move to contrasting cool colours. Next crossed candles of dazzling pink stars followed by the same in shells. These continued until there were pink stars at every level, low from candles, medium height from smaller shells and high from large shells as the music moved to
Part 4 to the music Old Bagdad by Jerry Goldsmith. Large fans of meteor comets were followed by barrages of go-getters and then followed by pastel headed comets with bombettes above these and then angled mines followed by comet fronts at the left and then the right. Above these, shells of pastel comets and go-getters and then a fan of bombettes on ramp 4. This was followed by steeply angled comet shots first to the right, then to the left with pastel comet shells above and more fans of bombettes and star mines as the music moved to
Part 5 to the music On Earth as it is in Heaven by Ennio Morricone. A ring of fountains lit up on the roof of ramp 4 with shells of serpents above. Then two sets of two bright suns (a ring of many fountains on a pole) lit up at the left and right as the shells of serpents continued and were augmented by salute terminations. Then a move to a sequence of weeping willow bombettes, then augmented by shells, then larger and larger shells, then star terminated willow comet shells. This continued for a while and then a barrage of salutes and salute terminated glitter comets with shells of salute-terminated tourbillons above. As this continued, very bright fans of crossed glitter left and right with a move to silver kamuro bombettes and in shells too with barrage after barrage of these then back to salute terminated tourbillon shells bringing this segment to a climax as the music moved to
Part 6 to the music Epilogue (Dinosaur) by James Newton Howard. Barrages of large nautical shells of aqua stars (to cheers from the audience) were augmented by fans of bombettes followed by volleys of shells of electric comets as the bombettes of tourbillons continued below. Then shells of rings followed by multi-break shell-of-shells in red and blue and then shells of gold glitter comets and shells of multi colour-changing stars and fronts of mines as the music moved to
Part 7 to the music The River by John Williams Shells of colour and comets above were followed by mines of glitter below as the music became more serene. Then shells of crossettes and fans of colour stars on ramp 4. These continued and were augmented by low angled shots of stars on ramp three as the music moved to
Part 8 to the music Progeny by Hans Zimmer / Lisa Gerrard. Bright purple mines exactly on the notes continued for a while and were then augmented by shells as the note synchronized mines continued. Then shells of delayed firing comets followed by shells of double concentric rings, shells of multiple linked rings. These were followed by fantastic multi-break shells of clusters of red stars, filling the sky with bunches of flowers. Then a mix of red and white and then all white, continuing for a while as the music moved to
Part 9 to the music The Wheat by Hans Zimmer / Lisa Gerrard. A sequence of fast comets was followed by three floating boxes of glittering kamuro comets in the lake, forming the impression of sheaves of wheat. These were augmented by a larger fan of the same comets behind and then barrages of kamuro shells above. Next, candles of very bright silver stars with big shells of stars and comets above followed by pairs of mines left and right and shells of gold glitter above as the music moved to
Part 10 to the music The Ascension by Nick Glennie-Smith. Very fat white comets rose into the air and were followed by multi-break shell-of-shells and stutatas of pale glitter followed by fans of salute terminated comet candles. Barrages of shells of serpents and tourbillons fired above and then shells of stars with whistling serpents followed by a sequence of colour star and white comet shells as the music moved to
Part 11 to the music Tryouts by Jerry Goldsmith. A fast sequence of comets in fans followed by a bright blast of bright comets and mines from ramp 4. Then a line of wheels started to rotate as shells and candles fired fast spinning tourbillons. These were followed by high rising crossing stars in dazzling magnesium in candles. Next, fans of glitter comets and something unreadable due to being dazzled by the magnesium as the music moved to
Part 12 to the music Returning Home by James Horner. Huge shells of rings and colour and comets were followed by shells of charcoal turning to silver. Then shells of comets and colour followed by kamuros with a couple of white shells thrown in by error. These were followed by large multi colour-changing shells and then barrage after barrage of nautic kamuros and then the same but with colour terminated comets. As these continued to cheers from the crowd, fans of tourbillons as the music moved to
Part 13 to the music Run Forrest Run by Alan Silvestri. Fantastic barrages of shells of rings of tourbillons with colour pistils (farfalle shells), some with deep blue, some with red continued for a while and then pattern shells in the shape of double concentric five pointed stars followed by smiley face shells and double concentric ring shells. Next, candles of crossed crackling comets and the same in bombettes with shells of electric comets above, larger and larger. These continued and included the same in shaped bursts of six clusters of crackling electric comets and then titanium salutes. Below these, fans of crossette stars and then huge shells of silver crossette comets followed by shells of bright silver with the same in fans of candles below. A return to electric comet shells and then dazzling mines as the music moved to
Part 14 to the music Tapestry of Nations by Gavin Greenaway. The pace was such that it was difficult to take notes. Fans of bright salute-terminated star candles at a low level, above these, bombettes and barrages of huge shells above in dazzling comets and colours, then a colour change to blue and then back to dazzling barrages. The pace was terrific with salute barrages and enormous sky filling shells. I couldn't take any more notes but simply wrote WOW in big letters as the display came to an end with thunderous barrages of salutes from candles and all manner of big shells above, to enormous cheers from the large crowd.
The pyrotechnicians of Feux Royal received a rapturous standing ovation
from the audience and a visiting pyrotechnician was seen to fall to the
ground to kiss the feet of Yannick Roy, the talented young designer of
this fabulous show. Action-packed throughout with extremely high quality
material, this was very reminiscent of the style used by Eric Tucker in
his Gold Jupiter winning display entitled Cinema in 1998.
Except in Feux Royal's case, the action was even more dramatic with
lots of great nautical shells and the use of lots of different
angles for firing comets. Synchronization was excellent, particularly
in the second half of the display where it was more evident due to the
nature of the music. The title of The Sky Cannot Wait was
entirely appropriate as the only period of dark sky was during the
narration at the beginning, and even then flare were firing. A real
challenge for me to write my notes and I hope I managed to segment the
report correctly. A lot of my notes were very hard to read and I missed
writing about a line of poles with bright star cakes firing criss-cross
in front of the lake - it was in there somewhere. A couple of small
pieces of criticism, there was an instance where bright shells were
fired with willow/kamuros, though I was told this was by accident
and not design and perhaps in a couple of place a bit more time
could have been given between transitions, to give the audience a chance
to catch their breath. That all said though, this absolutely has to be amongst
the winners. As always, I think the final determinant will be the music, but this display
is right up there. The level of the competition this year is extremely high, with at
least five displays now deserving of a prize. Canada, Australia,
Italy, Hong Kong and the United States are all of a level which would
have won the Gold Jupiter only a couple of years ago and all five of
these deserve to be on the winner's podium this year.
Thanks to the public relations people of La Ronde for the official
press release material, shown in white.
