Hi guys,

Please post your reviews of the Australian display here following the display.

As a weather update, a few remaining showers are possible to occur throughout this evening, given the degree of lift and saturated atmosphere, so please have an umbrella (or head covering) handy for the evening. Otherwise, it will stay mainly cloudy.

Trav.

well, from where I was standing (Parc du Havre)- and the constant rain and the fact that there was no wind, I have to admit that this was the worse fireworks display I have been able to witness in the last 5 years - it was really so dissappointing, no unusual shells, some traditional ones getting hidden in smoke from the previous ones - at the end of the evening, the entire bridge and even the clock tower were enveloped with a thick cloud of smoke - it was very eerie to say the least to see the bridge disappear in such a way - I hope that the people who paid and saw the show at La Ronde had better viewing angles and a better show - I was not even impressed with the musical choices

I have posted the video of the Australia show here: http://www.burchcom.com/2013/index.html

I forgot to turn off the focus trackimg feature, so the raindrops played havoc with the focus at times - sorry about that.

For those who want to download your own copy, right click on this link and select "save target as" ... http://www.burchcom.com/2013/2013australia.mp4

The file size is 790 MB

Bob

It's been a long time since my last comment , i just wanna say thank you burchcom for recording every night the show and make possible to me and those who live in other countries to watch the pyromusicals. Thank you

Hey everyone!

Another year has finally begun. I would like to thank Bob for once again being kind to post the video of the displays. I greatly appreciate this, as others do too I'm sure.

Now as for the display, let me just say that I mostly heard the shells. Standing on Notre-Dame near the foot of the bridge, my viewing angle was completely killed with the lack of winds and the wall of smoke. I can only comment on what I saw. Synchronization was so-so, nothing too complex. Quality of the shells used was ok, nothing to make me go wow. Would have been nice to have some 12 inchers to get the crowd going, but nope. A lot of repetition throughout the show. Music was ok, but theme was extremely generic. Actually, I noticed they were saving shells for intense moments since they fired one shell at a time for a few seconds multiple times in the show making the display look cheapish.

Because of the weather and the general nature of the display, I did not find it to be enjoyable . I may be a bit harsh, but you see what you see and to me this display could have been much better.

Dan

Hello

That wasn't a very good first show by Fireworx. Hopefully they'll improve a lot more if they get invited back. The show was way too simple and it lacked supporting ground effects most of the time. The quality of the single shot effects were very bad, some looked like they got spoilt from the rain and the effects were very limited. Many effects on each cue was also interchanged which caused the single shots to look messy. The shells were very basic except for some nice gold kaleidoscope shells. It was great to see some rising shell attachments. Thought they'll be using more nautical shells. The music choice was ok, no one can go wrong with movie soundtracks but they are used way too much with fireworks. The finale was pretty weak. The whole show looked too basic for Montreal (or any other competitions) making the first show for this season a bit disappointing. I'm looking forward to the shows by Vulcan, Zaragozana, Mirnovec, and Scarpato!

Best Regards,
Vander

I kind of disagree with the reviews above. I thought it was a good and respectable display for a debut participant. I found it to be overall enjoyable, but a lot could've been done to improve it because at times, it felt somewhat simplistic. Soundtrack and synchronization were good. Finale was actually pretty good, too, but should've been longer!

Happy 10th anniversary to Montreal-Firework.com Forum!

I agree with Enkil. This show won't win a Jupiter, but I found it quite respectable (and I have been to over 30 shows) . Some of the sequences of one-shots and shells were, I thought, very well-choreographed, and while there may not have been lots of "Wow!" moments there were a fair number of spots (including the opening) where I did say "Nice!". In fact, my wife thought this show was particularly enjoyable (despite the rain). I note the due to smoke build-up most of the critical reviewers apparently did not get to actually SEE a lot of the show. This is unfortunate, but not the fault of the Australian team. We viewed from the bleachers where the smoke less of a problem. This may have made a huge difference. Check out the video guys and gals.

That was a good debute display from the Australian team. While Fireworx by Ian Riedel may want to improve some components for a future show, that performance was an interesting one. As explained in Paul's interview with the Australian team leaders, their strategy was pretty conservative, with a soundtrack made of movie musics and without any particular structure or special effect time-consuming during the setup. I feel that everything went as planned and that the show has not been detracted by the rain. The lack of wind wasn't really a problem from La Ronde grandstrands, as the smoke moved toward the river (it was obviously the opposite for people on Notre-Dame street and the Old Port area, as confirmed by previous posts).

While the soundtrack was not creative, the quality was very good, with a lot of care on transitions between each music segment. It also seems obvious that pyro designer has carefully crafted the mix of pyrotechnic effects, to make sure that each transition was very smooth.

Synchronization was absolutely flawless through the display. The pyro lit up and extinguished exactly with the music segments. We enjoyed several note-synchronized sequences. Many pyrotechnic effects (changing-direction comets, go-getters, tourbillons, serpents...) followed the soundtrack rhythms.

I appreciated some pieces with smaller effects bursting during the rise of the main shell, which occured twice during the show. I am not sure whether these products were cylindrical shells or another sort of device attached to the shells. It was not a new thing in the Montreal competition, but we don't see them often enough! However, it is possible that Fireworx by Ian Reidel has introduced the Montreal audience with a new sort of mines: about 13-14 minutes following the start of the show, very thin blue mines bursted with a sort of blue flare at the base of each. Can anyone confirm, or is it just me?

We also had a very good finale, on the Can-Can music (I think the music listing supplied before the show was not accurate...), with nautical shells of multicolour stars, among others.

All that being said, for a second performance in Montreal, I think the main components to improve are the diversity of pyrotechnic products along with the overall complexity and variety of the design. Widen the range of pyrotechnic products would provide opportunities to craft more diversified segments. I would have liked to see more nautical products (we didn't see any of them but during the finale). At some points, I found the show a little monotonous, as some basic patterns were repeated for too long . La Ronde firing area provides a lot of opportunities, so the challenge is to make the most of it.

Finally, I want to add, for the record, some information and impressions related to this new season:

* Michel Lacroix said few words about the tragedy which happened to BEM Feux d'artifice on June 20th, and two shells have been launched, during the opening ceremony, as a tribute to those BEM's employees who died.

* The opening ceremony was shorter than it used to be. May it be due to the poor weather condition? Nor officials, neither representatives from the sponsors. Martyne Gagnon's speech was itself shorter than usual.

* A Green Achievement Award has been announced, which is surprising since this prize has not been awarded last year. My hypothesis is that the organizers have decided that no one deserved the prize last year, but the award remained. To verify!

* While I had been abroad the past week, it seems to me this 29th season discreetly began, with a very low-level of media coverage (I watched, on Saturday, some TV programs where people from the event are usually interviewed the opening day, and I heard no one).

* The sponsorship from Canadian government being over since many years, the signs "Place du Canada" above each entrance of the grandstand area have been replaced by the original name of "Place de l'animation".

* The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), which has been the main sponsor from 2001 to 2004 (Le Mondial SAQ), then a partner of the event, is no longer involved. As a consequence, the Bistro SAQ, located near the lake and the main arcade, has been renamed "Bistro L'Étincelle" (!).

* The setup of the floating stage has been changed. The central board, featuring the name of the event, is the only one to be there, without the smaller boards, on left and right, which used to feature the stylized pictogram of each country. The flags of contestant countries are now on the back of the stage, instead of each extremity.

* Though some changes are sometime welcome, it's also great to enjoy continuity. Martyne Gagnon and Paul Csukassy still keep the event alive, Michel Lacroix performs the great countdown, and pre- and post-show musics, mostly from Vangelis, continue to add a dramatic background to the displays. And Paul M. is there, with other pyrofriends, as well as this forum!

Fred

Good points Fred.

Just a couple of points of information - we did see some nautical products earlier in the display - there were some gold glitter nautical mines as well as some nautical salutes (as well as those used in the finale).

As for the music in the finale, it is from the film Stardust and is essentially the Can Can (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c01p0eE1d7k&list=PL50941E4E40414A94) - the composer was incorrectly listed - it is, in fact, Ilan Eshkeri.

The "very thin blue mines" were, in fact "micro star" fountains - a very nice effect, I must say.

I also agree with your comments about the quality of the mixing of the soundtrack - I also noticed the sound quality itself was very good, with very powerful bass in many parts.

I was also happy to note the absence of speeches from the sponsors. In the past, these have been very repetitious and so I didn't miss these at all.

My report will be up this evening - it has been a busy few days and there are many things I have to get completed (including uploading the photos from Bob and Steve).

Paul.

Finally, my review is up: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=707

Paul

Paul, I definitely have to watch my video once again, as I strangely don't remember any other nautical effect than during the finale. Can you give me info about the timing (very approximately) of these nautical salutes?

Fred

Fred: I'll have to watch the video again later. There were several episodes of nauticals - but the salutes were very close to ramp 3 so it wasn't obvious. The gold glitter nautical mines seemed to be more towards the right hand side of ramp 3, but I don't recall exactly when they were fired.

Paul.

My review is now online, to follow the pictures I posted Tuesday.

I'm slightly late, so I don't think I'm bringing any new arguments to the table (I moved on June 15th and got Internet on Tuesday afternoon...)

I agree with the fact it was not too shabby for a first time in La Ronde, but I really hope they increase the complexity of their design should they be invited again in a few years.

Lousy weather conditions were present for the Australian debutant, and to commence the 2013 season of Montreal fireworks. Periods of rain occurred throughout the day and persisted well into the evening hours. In addition, because of very light winds, as well as unfavorable wind direction, smoke accumulation was a particular issue for many viewers outside La Ronde, largely on Notre-Dame street, the Western portion of the bridge, and for those stationed at the Old Port. As such, I later found myself referring to Bob Burch’s video footage (many thanks, Bob!) to fully see this display. Rhythme FM also managed to skip most of Michel Lacroix’s countdown!

Much like some have already stated, I, too, found this display to be quite enjoyable. The start of the performance was generally serene, with a nice arrangement of silver strobes, accompanied by a brief burst of shells to follow shortly after they had been illuminated. This opening segment was particularly fitting for the upcoming pieces of the display, as it adequately set the stage for the display’s general thematic premise. As such, the overall design was well crafted by mostly adhering to the employed theme. This was largely evident through the variety of musical selections used for representation, as well as some of the effects incorporated to symbolize the soundtrack. In particular, the manner in which the rising-tail shells were executed in order to emphasize certain key components of the music in which they were involved was very effective and memorable. The shells of silver and red glitters also reinforced certain characteristics that engendered the music. Much of the Australian display’s more interesting components, however, were found at low- to mid-levels. This was especially notable through the interesting firing angles for the sequences of gerbs, mines and candles, which nicely complimented high-level shells that often appeared above this activity. Also, the nautical shells that appeared towards the end of the display were also very inviting, though it would have been interesting to see them appear at other points of the show! Musical choices themselves were enjoyable, especially that used for the penultimate section of the display (Bettlejuice). Pink Panther was also a personal favorite. The symmetry of the display was also often maintained, perhaps aided by the very light winds present.

All that being said, my principal criticism concerning this show was centered on its rather simplistic nature. In particular, towards its midpoint, the firing patterns became somewhat similar for certain segments, making the musical representation a little reserved. At the same time, the general diversity of effects was restricted and, consequently, led to moments of redundancy, especially through some firing patterns. Also, at multiple points, glitter shells were mostly used at mid- to high-level, limiting the overall color selection. Some colors also tended to fade relatively quickly, though this may have been related to the damp weather conditions. While synchronization was very nicely demonstrated (such as during Bettlejuice), especially at low-level, there were some points where musical enforcement would have benefited from some creativity (such as during Requiem for a Dream) – it would have been great to see a more complex attempt to portray certain sections, especially since both the music and theme frequently invited it! Transitions from segment to segment were good and conveyed the right emotional feel, though there were points where they were a little too abrupt. Also, a couple of soundtracks lasted disproportionately long relative to others, and for a couple of choices, it was a little less clear as to how they related to the theme. The final segment for the finale had the correct level of intensity and build-up, but it lacked the endurance needed for a grand lasting appeal.

Overall, this was certainly a very good attempt for a first visit to Montreal. The Australian team, for me, devised a well-choreographed performance, with interesting sequences, and an equally interesting technical design. In spite of limited complexity, the display was enjoyable and offered several exciting moments, particularly during the latter half of the display. It may also be true that the weather played a role in affecting the general quality of the performance. I hope to see the Australian team amongst competitors in the future!

Trav.