I met with Mike Jones and Guy Deeker of Pains Fireworks, designers of their display entitled Mars and Venus.

Both are excited to be back in Montreal - this is the only competition they take part in - indeed, Pains was in the line up of the first competition held here back in 1985. Guy told me they have a crew of nine this year, all different from their participation in 2007 save for himself and Mike.

They started planning their display back in November, with the container being packed four weeks ago. Again,1.1g shipping was not a problem with Liverpool to Halifax used as a route. Mike noted that it seemed to be easier to ship 1.1g to Canada than across the English Channel.

As for the display itself, it promises to be "electrical" as there are many special set pieces that use electric motors for their motion. Mike explained this was so that the motion could be kept to an appropriate speed, something very difficult to do by using pyrotechnic drivers. I saw the outlines of four large "ynig/yang" pieces which will be on ramp 3. There were also rotating dragons which I believe will be on ramp 5 as well as large male/female symbols that will be on special pontoons (effectively a ramp 6).

As a display operator rather than a manufacturer, Pains will be using products from San Tai, Vicente Caballer, La Maitre, Deens and Kimbolton (the latter three manufactured in the UK). Also some Italian product sourced through IP in Germany.

The theme of the display - Venus and Mars - represents Woman and Man and will go through different aspects of the characters of each before bringing them together for the finale. Mike said not to expect an Italian-style finale and he noted that one of his pyrotechnic design mentors is Ken Clark, who is famous for his concepts that use product to its maximum rather than a maximum amount of product.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate for what promises to be a very interesting display.

Unfortunately, I omitted to take a photograph of the Pains crew - I'l rectify this on Saturday.

Paul.

Thank you very much for the information Paul. When I heard the announcement that Pains would be back this year I could not have been more excited. Their "Day and Night" themed display from 2007 remains my favourite that I have had the pleasure of witnessing.

Based on the information you've provided there seems to be many reasons to expect another fantastic show on Saturday. Until then, with this news, I don't think my excitement level will drop.

I love the philosophy of "more with less" with regard to finales by the way.

Tyler

I love it how Pains Fireworks hangs firmly onto a theme that allows for excellent transitional points, as was seen with "Day and Night" in 2007. It's interesting to see how the team will concoct their display around the theme of "Venus and Mars". This current theme also does invite some curiosity as to whether the performance will be divided into two main parts, as was seen in 2007. We'll see what happens!

As Tyler stated, the information provided is much appreciated, Paul.

Still watching the weather for Saturday, but in the meantime, we could see some rather powerful t-storms developing randomly tomorrow (Thursday), particularly anywhere between Quebec City Southwest all the way down to Michigan as a cold front moves Eastward and clashes with this hot and humid airmass.

I'll have more details later tomorrow regarding Saturday.

Trav.

This current theme also does invite some curiosity as to whether the performance will be divided into two main parts, as was seen in 2007. We'll see what happens!

There will be three parts - see the soundtrack I just posted. This is a display where there's a big advantage to viewing it from La Ronde as many of the low-level and special effects will not be visible from Notre Dame nor very well from many places on the bridge (as they will be edge-on).

Paul.

Here's the blog article :
Mylene et Artifice

including the one in the Metro :
L'Angleterre nous parlera d'amour