Please post your reviews of the German/opening display here!

Trav.

Just a few quick thoughts while the show is still fresh in my mind - overall, I would say that it was a fantastic, diverse display. As Paul mentioned, this was definitely a show that was best viewed from the park grounds; those of us watching from across the river lost a lot of the abundant low-level effects, so I'm looking forward to the videos to see what Weco did with them. The product used was almost uniformly high quality, and some of the choreography was just stunning. Being a real sucker for girandolas, I was quite pleased to see so many of them throughout the display - perhaps more than I've ever seen in a single show since I began watching them in 2009.

It was great to see the 360 degree ring concept make a re-appearance after Pyroemotions' dazzling use of it last year. Likewise, the helium balloon (kudos to Weco for tethering it so as to not create unnecessary floating litter) and pyrotechnic sun were great additions to the show.

But that brings me to what I suspect with be many peoples' principal critique of the show - the finale. As the "sun began to rise" at the end of the show, I was thrilled with it's gradual expansion in the visual field, and it set the stage for a huge climax that, in my opinion, never arrived. I may be mis-remembering, but I don't recall even a final barrage of salutes (though the mid-show volley certainly packed a punch). Combined with the Ferris wheel staying dark after the last sequence, this was probably the most confused I've seen the audience at the end of a display since the Vulcan tragedy of last year. Makes me wonder if a bunch of stuff didn't fire.

I suppose I could also mention my growing irritation with shows that open with narration, rather than some form of pyrotechnic "attention-grabber". I understand the utility of narration in crafting a, well, narrative, but I feel like it best enters after it's already been established that the show merits attention... I'm probably overthinking this.

Regardless, even outside of competition, it undoubtedly sets the bar high for a huge season of shows. In any other year, I'd say this definitely would have been in contention for a Jupiter, but that wasn't what this display was about. Most of all, I'm just glad that the shows are happening again, because the wait for this season was killing me!

On s'était dit rendez-vous dans 10 ans, même jour, même heure, même parc...
On se verra quand on aura 30 ans, sur les marches de la Terre des Hommes...
C'est fou ce qu'un crépuscule de printemps, rappelle le même crépuscule qu'il y a 10 ans...

I attended the opening of the 30th edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition with these slightly modified verses of the Patrick Bruel's song "La Place des grands hommes" in mind. I became a loyal on-site viewer of the competition in 1996, the year of Weco's debut display. Visit in a Dance School, which allowed Weco to win the Gold Jupiter in 2000, is still one of the best displays I have ever seen. Four years later, they won the Platinum Jupiter as I was a member of the jury. I remember the frantic atmosphere of that evening: who else would have brought a 40-musician orchestra to perform the musics, which about half were composed for that specific display? Then, Weco has disappeared and I had lost hope to see them once again... until last summer, as Weco designer Georg Alef attended a couple of shows at La Ronde during his "vacation". The rumor spread that Weco would be back for the 30th anniversary.

Tonight, I couldn't resist to wear the 2004 jury member sweater, with "Le Mondial SAQ" logo and line-up, Weco being the ultimate one, just above the Panzera S.A.S. closing show. That was the display I was looking for since a decade. I wasn't disappointed!

While the novice Quebec Transport minister does some power trip and believes that the Montreal International Fireworks Competition can be held in another location, Weco provided tonight a powerful answer: NO! Weco's theatrical style gives meaning to the statement that La Ronde has a custom-made amphitheater for fireworks. The setup looked highly complex and it was obvious that we were going to experience an outstanding extravaganza.

It is very difficult to find where to start. I thought that some pictures of the setup may help.


The third ramp (on the left) was filled with low-level effects, including several nautical products. Thick carpets of nautical flares appeared several times during the show. I suppose that so many low products contribute to explain that about 20 small fires erupted across the ramps during the display and continued to burn after the show ! Close to the third ramp, you can see a large screen on a floating platform which has been moved just before the show and faced the audience, on the left side of the lake. Performers created shadows on this screen during the display. Behind the fourth (circular) ramp, two balloons are ready to take off, with a small pyrotechnic device attached below. A lift charge was also located on the second ramp (on the right), reminding me the slices in Pyroemotions & Pyrodigit display in 2013.



A close-up of the sun set up on the fourth ramp and which came into life during the finale.



A fifth ramp was made of additional floating platforms with different sets of pyrotechnic effects which appeared throughout the show.


When I entered the grandstands, I was intrigued by these tubes which covered fences in front of the audience... They lit up to make real a thunderstorm effect!

All these particular pieces produced several special effects throughout the show, many never seen in Montreal, like the balloon and the lighting tubes (which would have been more effective above the audience). Long duration heart-shape lances and flames projectors were also used. Separately, many of these things were not so spectacular, but together, they contributed to create an outstanding theatrical piece. Once again, Weco pushed away the limits and achieved a great visual performance.

The dreamcatcher theme was introduced by performers (actually designer Georg Alef and his wife) whose shadows appeared in different sizes, as the effective narrative was between a father and his son. This sort of performance occured a couple of times with narrative, and once as romantic songs were played, while similar size shadows illustrated a dance between the father and the mother. While the screen prevented to bring the floating platform in the centre of the area (the low-level pyrotechnic effects would have been hidden), I found the idea effective and it didn’t detract the pace of the display.

The soundtrack was excellent, with two segments written by Günter Hässy who designed one half of the Weco’s music in 2004. I assume these segments are original. The various kinds of dreams (child-friendly stories, nightmares, adult fantasies...) were a very original way to bring different sorts of musics together, without sacrificing consistency. The sound system worked well during the show, which was a relieved as we heard unusual interruptions just before the countdown.

Excellent products were used during the display, beginning with large shells of which stars turned off in sequences. Countless cakes filled the area during several segments. Colours were especially vivid, for instance with the carpets of multicolour nautical flares. As Duncan_S wrote, fans of girandolas were pleased with several flights.

Synchronization was sometimes very precise, but other times it was more atmospheric. Here I have to do a small criticism : the intensity of the pyros didn’t always follow the musics. Whereas I found shells too numerous and loud during Céline Dion’s song, I thought the "I feel good" segment, which featured an effective build-up, lacked of momentum for the ultimate seconds. Some parts of the show were more intense than the finale, which may have caused a moderate enthusiasm in the audience at the end of the display. In my opinion, Weco would have deserved a more sustained ovation.

Michel Lacroix is still the official voice of the event. Prior to the show, competition director Martyne Gagnon acknowledged nothing less than 12 public service organizations of the Montreal area which are involved in the event each fireworks night. She added some figures about the 29 editions of the competition: 87 contestants, from 27 countries, a total of 265 displays.

At the end of the night, I was lucky enough to acknowledge Georg Alef for this fantastic display, which would have been a contender for a Jupiter whether it wasn’t off-competition. Hopefully, we will not wait another decade to see the next Weco’s performance in Montreal !

Here is the link for the 2014 videos.
I will post another URL soon for those who want to download their own mp4 file.

http://www.burchcom.com/2014/index.html

To download your own copy, right click on this link and select "save target as" ... the file is 1.2 GB

http://www.burchcom.com/2014/2014germany.mp4

Thanks for the video! I'm glad you are still uploading the shows on your website

Weco's show did not present anything new but it was very entertaining. It's perfect as an opening exhibition as i'd prefer competition shows to be a bit more technical. There were some interesting shells through out the show such as the falling star shells which only had one big and bright star falling near the ground. A bit more variety in effects would have been welcomed, it looked like 60% of their effects were push effects (falling leaves, falling stars, windbells, horsetails, waterfalls). Too bad about the few mistakes they had in the show. My favorite segments were i feel good, the ones with cremoras and the river flows in you. The finale was pretty weak maybe it was part of the story.

Nice to finally have the competition back! Hope we see more entertaining shows this year

Best Regards,
Vander

That was a great opening show by Weco.

The low-level aspect was very well prepared, with the numerous flame projectors, the tethered balloon and intriguing sequences of nautical flares and shots from ramp 5.

Unfortunately, there were many "self-ignitings" throughout the show (maybe from falling or flaming debris), like two heart set pieces that lit 5 minutes before their proper time, which lead us to appreciate the very long burning lances although not in the correct segment.

The shadows performance added considerably to the narrative of the display. I especially liked the part where the father explains to his son how he was able to fight off a nightmare by steering his dreams to *ahem* love sweet love, and his deadpan delivery of the phrase "it was good" when his son asks him the next morning how his night turned out. That particular sequence had me laughing out loud.

The finale was on the brief side, but at least the designer assumed he was doing a gold finale and carpet-bombed the sky with golden shells instead of shooting them sparsely like some like to do in these circumstances. I understand that the many high quality 12" shells may have made a big hole in the budget, and maybe it affected how the finale could be constructed.

All in all, this was an excellent display that could have been a part of the regular line-up in my opinion. Although the synchronization might not have been as tight as some other shows we saw before, the sheer amount of special effects and the highly successful artistic concept compensates for that in my opinion.

This was the first show I saw from Weco, and I surely hope it's not the last one !

STL

My report of this fantastic opening display: http://montreal-fireworks.com/ReportBlog/?p=847

Paul.

Very suitable weather conditions were present for Germany’s display to open the 30th edition of Montreal fireworks. Moderate humidity, a few high-level clouds (mostly clear), and temperatures near 25 C during the late-evening invited a very large audience. Fortunately, wind speeds (from the South to SSW) were adequate to blow the smoke quickly enough to the right of the audience at La Ronde.

This was a very well choreographed and generally artistic opening display by the infamous German team (Weco Feuerwerk) that delivered much to cheer for to commence the special 30th edition of Montreal fireworks. Although the entire performance told a tale of an adventure between a father and son, I thought that each segment provided its own story to tell while accurately portraying a dreamland, or enchanted world. The theme, to me, generally gave the impression that every person has the ability to muster the confidence necessary to conquer their greatest fears, and I felt that this sort of approach set the stage for some particularly good transitions between many segments, and the various effects that were used truly brought out the essence of the Dreamcatcher theme even further.

The effects were excellent and had great diversity and quality. Some notable effects that captivated the audience were the helium balloon appearing near the end of the opening narration, the pyrotechnic sun to introduce the closing piece, and the small mounted ring structure. There were many special effects that were used in a combination, especially at low-level, that led to numerous moments of astonishment. Ramp 5 was particularly effectively utilized and infused much vibrancy when combined with other low-level effects on each side of it. Of course, the single- and double-ascension girandolas are always crowd pleasers, as were the farfalle shells, and the occasional fireballs near low-level. The colors were also very diverse throughout much of the show, and the firing sequences and firing angles were very intriguing, and this often made the music enjoyable, particularly those more fast-paced selections. Given these attributes, I very much enjoyed those segments, “Neodammerung”, “I Can’t Get No Sleep” and “I Feel Good”. All of musical tracks themselves were relevant and mostly enjoyable.

My criticisms are generally few and minor. First, although synchronization was very good for much of the display, I thought that were sections where it could have been much tighter. For me, this was mostly evident in some of the more fast-paced segments. At times, there was also a sense of asymmetry near low-level, although this may have been related to some minor technical problems. I was also expecting a little more with respect to the “thunderstorm” scene. The narration, although relevant, was much too enduring for my taste, mostly the first two pieces of it - at the opening, as with previous displays, it left a feeling of an anti-climax following the countdown. Finally, the conclusion was probably the most disappointing aspect of the show for me, especially since previous segments offered a fair amount more intensity, build-up and pace than the conclusion itself, and it, thus, provided again a sense of an anti-climax to open the 30th edition. The thematic premise also seemed to have been inviting for a larger finish, as well.

All that being said, though, the overall appeal and structure of the display was simply fabulous, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the (large) crowd, along with the accompanying clement weather conditions. I hope to see Weco Feuerwerk of Germany return as a competitor in the near future!

Trav.