Well it wasn't the best I've seen from Igual. From what Paul told me to be celebrating the 25th with blast. It just didn't 'blow my skirt up'. I was expecting alot more increase of power in the ending. And since I've seen 2 Igual shows, those two really made my day, especially the 2004 one. That was really something! But it is a shame. It was like there was technical difficulties, even though I doubt there was. From where I was, which was closer to the Esso gas station part under me on the Jacques-Cartier bridge. I didn't expect to see something like that. It wasn't too powerful at all. I know they could have done better. But still it wasn't bad for the first competitor. Next is England with Pains. I have seen some good shows by them when I visited England. Aren't they the same firm who does the fireworks at New Years in London? Because I know, if it's them, lots of salutes will be fired. A video on YouTube could pratically speak for itself. Not bad Igual, not bad at all.

Pat

The Igual video is uploading as I write this - should be completed at 2:00 EDT. Unfortunately, it's a little bit out of focus

Paul.

Great video Paul. I was on Rue Notre-Dame, so I didn't see many effects in the front. So I did miss alot

Greetings,

Though some brief periods of very light drizzle seen just around 8:30 p.m., the skies, as expected, remained predominantly overcast, though partly cloudy conditions eventually prevailed during the display. The winds were blowing in the direction I expected (towards the bridge), though a little more in the way of speed would have been appreciated during some parts of the show (the smoke was rapidly building near the bridge and towards the Southern part of the park). Funny enough, winds were measured at 19 km/h (within the expected range) at around 9-10 p.m. and then became variable between 7-15 km/h from 10-10:30. Temperatures stayed steady between 19-20 C and moderate humidity present (dewpoint 16-17 C). All that said, the weather pattern pretty much followed closely to what I had stated earlier and thus set the stage for near-ideal conditions for the Spanish display. The crowds on Notre-Dame and De Lorimier were a little bit smaller this time around (likely weather-related) but still good attendance, nevertheless.

Not a bad start to the 2009 competition with Igual's performance tonight. I must say that the display really had a mystical feel to it and was obviously very cultural due to the framework of the selected theme - it was pretty interesting in the way the team took the Montreal audience to different parts of the world through the fireworks before arriving at their destination - the narration at the beginning, then, was good in providing an overview of what was expected from the performance. Much of the display was well balanced from top to bottom and was rather wide on some occasions as well towards low level, particularly when the candles were involved. In its entirety, the display possessed a reasonable number of sections that had a good deal of power, especially when the salutes were made several appearances. The show also started off dramatically during "Barcelona".

The overall music choice was actually quite enjoyable to me since it worked really well with what Igual was attempting to portray with respect to their overall theme. I sort of have an idea as to why they may have assigned an Avril Lavigne song for the closing part of the show, but I still thought the soundtrack was irrelevant because it deviated from the main flow seen from the rest of the show in terms of feel. As Rovira mentioned before, I, too, don't really care for pop-related songs to be incorporated to a pyromusical. This is a minor criticism, however.

The effects were fairly diverse with plenty of farfalles, go-getters, loads of salutes (right, Pierre?), photoflashes, pounding shells, single ring shells, fireflies, saturn shells, screaming serpents, heart shells at one point, flares, z-cakes at one point (I think), horsetails, kamuros, silver-double ascension girandolas, and even just couple of those tail ring shells making an appearance at one brief moment, similar to what we had seen in the American and Australian performances last year. With respect to the structures, I particularly liked the way the pyramid was sparkling when it was in effect, though I couldn't really appreciate it in its entirety since it was obscured by some trees that were blocking my view.

Synchronization was, in general, nicely done, but there were some brief moments where I found things a little slack in terms of connection. In addition, there were 2 or 3 moments where the music was going and nothing was being fired to support it (an example at the beginning of my video). Again, the selected tracks, in general, were nicely chosen for this display and worked well for transitional points in both rhythm and pace.

To conclude, this was a great effort from team Spain, but it didn't feel too much like a typical Spanish-like performance to me somehow (I got the same impression in 2007) - perhaps this is simply because of the approach taken. The display was generally clear and many of the transitional attempts were nicely implemented, some better than others, of course. There were many points in the show that were successful in delivering various emotions through the trip, and I thought that Igual did a good job exposing the audience briefly to the various cultures of the different lands that were touched on. In this sense, the pyramid structure, for example, was relevant and pretty creative when supporting the associated track(s), as was that tower to my left when it was present for some time, though that probably didn't stand out as much as it could have. The choice of music was good, but since the show involved a large number of soundtrack to work with, there were times where I felt the display was being a little bit rushed due to some songs terminating rather quickly, which kind of took away the fluidity of the display at those points. Music-fireworks connection was well done, though there were some occasions where it felt a little too simple or too general altogether. Again, to me, there were a couple of noticeable points that felt a little bit empty, so to speak, since, at those particular times, there were no fireworks occurring for about 3 seconds while the music was playing. Attempts at sequencing were one of the most strongest points of this display, especially with the mines and z-cakes when those were present - the firing patterns during the Indian or Egyptian soundtrack were good examples of the sequences I am referring to. The quality of the products was good. Colors were often in a nice delicate mix and used accordingly. The effects themselves, once more, were fairly diverse and were also used when most appropriate, although I found the go-getters a little too large in number for my tastes near the beginning. Music selection was good, suitable and convenient in a number of respects, particularly for transitions, but some ended way too quickly to have a lasting appeal or to flow into following segments successfully - of course, this was compensated for in other parts of the show.

As for the finale, I thought it was going to be way bigger than that - I actually had that finale invisioned as the faux finale in my mind, especially coming from Igual! The finale had excellent crescendo, but it ended way too abruptly. The final set of salutes were cool (reminded me of 2004), but not enough for a sufficient finish! It wasn't too bad, overall, but comparing it to what they did in 2001...Btw, did anyone hear "Bad Reputation" at the end?

Overall, an enjoyable performance from Pirotecnia Igual, and I liked many points of the show, not only because of the innovative ideas and sequencing, but also due to the fact that a fair portion of the show was powerful and on the wild side!

I think I'll hold back my scoring for a change this year until the end of the competition. Seems more appropriate to do that, anyway. Obviously, it's way too early to say where exactly to place this display (I thought it was a fairly good performance in its entirety, especially to get things started), but we'll see as time progresses. It looks like 2009, though, is already on "fire".

By the way, guys, it's officially Summer now - it arrived at 1:45 a.m. EDT.

EDIT: I find it pretty interesting to see that both Pirotecnia Igual and Pains Fireworks (England) started the competition back to back in the same order on the same days as in 2007.

Trav.

I agree 100% Trav. Just didn't feel it. Father's day is today. How fun, because I forgot to get my dad something.

I also invisioned something too. Because lots of people have agreed with me that throughout the years, Igual has brought a really good display. Last night wasn't good at all. I think the beginning and the middle of the display best suited me. Pierre is always a great fan of salutes, and we all know that !

From Trav's explanation, I read

[/i]pounding shells[i]

Do you mean just chest thumping salutes? Cause I sure did see plenty of those including titanium salutes. I find it odd, that only titanium salutes are being used more often than any other salute. I don't about everyone else, maybe Pierre might agree with me on this, but I think the good ol' bright flash and bang in a violent volley would be enough to bring me to my feet like an Ipon finale. But Ipon uses majority titanium salutes as well. The only well known firm this year that's used plenty of salutes was Panzera so far...shame.:

I think that about sums it up for this weekend, certainly expecting more powerful finales this year and expecting much more pleasant weather. I love rain, but after awhile 'Ça tombe sur le coeur'. Mother nature, bring us good weather for the summer just started!

Enjoy your weekend guys! Till next week!
Pat

I must say that I very much enjoyed Igual’s “Odyssey” last night at La Ronde. In the days leading up to the display I had voiced concerns that the theme of a journey from Barcelona to Montreal lacked urgency, lacked a means of making the spectators care for what they were witnessing. Concern and speculation aside, what Igual presented was a pleasing, stimulating display that gave the Montreal audience cultural tastes from around the planet throughout a third-person narrative from which both storyteller and audience were generally distanced.

The display got off to a rousing start, as Travis mentioned, with “Barcelona” and the outstanding voice of Freddie Mercury. The narration was short and to the point with suitable nautical pyrotechnical accompaniment. From that point until the 17 minute mark, approximately, I found that the display proceeded really well. I was highly impressed. It was moderately fast paced with enough time given to situate yourself in the Odyssey and feel like each country or region was getting its due respect. Music was highly representative of the places being navigated through. Musical and pyrotechnic transitions were just about seamless with there never being a moment where the eyes or mind could drift from the journey taking place in front of us. The quality of the fireworks was outstanding with an array of different types being used, as also pointed out by Travis. Some of the colours achieved by Igual in their mines and shells were absolutely sensational; there were blues, pinks, oranges (among others) of a quality that I rarely see. To me, over these first 17 minutes nothing felt repetitive despite some slower, less “active” segments that often risk allowing the audience’s attention to wane. Synchronization was pretty much spot on.

One of the few criticisms that I would make about the first 17 minutes was Igual’s use of set pieces. Now, I love seeing unique elements, specially fabricated for Montreal displays, but given that not all firms use them, the ones that do should be certain to make great use of them. The ‘pyramid’ and ‘whatever-you-want-to-call-them’ (white stop sign-like posts with red circles in the middle) and ‘spinning wheels’ didn’t seem to add anything to the display. The 15 meter pole worked great as part of the sail during the ‘pirate attack’ sequence but thinking back to the United States’ display from 2008, there is so much more that it could have been used for.

At this point I should mention one of the more memorable sequences from the display, that being the “storm.” Igual achieved something of a synchronized piece here in what I would call “controlled chaos.” It was intense, uneven, menacing and also beautiful, just as I would imagine a storm at sea. Kudos to Igual on their artistic achievement here.

However, once the ‘storm’ ended and the ‘ship’ reached land in South America and traveled north through the Caribbean I found the firing became repetitive with the exception of the very enjoyable Brazilian segment.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of creativity for the South American, and even North American, portion of the Odyssey I felt that the display severely began to, pardon the pun, go ‘off course.’ There were also a few brief moments during songs where there were no fireworks. Paul, was there a technical problem at any of these points or was it intentional on the part of Igual?

Like the ‘storm’ sequence, I would also like to point out my appreciation for the thoroughly entertaining ‘pirate attack’ piece in the display. It was amusingly reminiscent of Austria’s display last year with the burning crosses! During the ‘pirate’ segment there was great use of the firing site, including the Lac des Dauphins. There was a great build up in intensity as things were concentrated at low-level for a period before the battle intensified and carried itself into the upper reaches of the Montreal skyline. Masterful.

In the end I very much appreciated and enjoyed the display. I only wish that Igual had better weighted the display – not allowing the first two thirds to be so great while lackadaisically making their way through the final 10 minutes. After the display, in speaking with Enkil and another two friends of mine, I found myself thinking in the same vein as I had been prior to the display. As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, I questioned whether there would be a sense of urgency in the display, within the Odyssey. Now I wonder why anyone would embark on such an Odyssey in the first place. Barcelona, Egypt, the Middle East, India, China… they were all portrayed so well. Why leave any of those places for Montreal, Brian Adams and Avril Lavigne?

Tyler

This was overall an enjoyable and professional display, but I can't say that it was a perfect one. As everyone else pointed out, some parts were not as well done as other parts and should've been improved. Personally, I didn't like the mixture of all different type of songs (kinda like Panzera's display) because they just didn't always match each other. But the transition between the songs was well done. Synchronization was pretty good in general, and the theme was ok. The finale was of course medicore and disappointing!

Oh yeah, since I love everything that is Egyptian, I have to mention that it would've made more sense if they had presented all three pyramids, as everyone is used to seeing pictures of all three of them together. Also, the songs weren't Egyptian enough, hehe.

Just an update of my last week's post, Fort Edmonton is back to what it used to look like last year. They removed last week's fence and extra cabins. So now people who don't have a seat in the grandstands can enjoy a clear view of the fireworks!

I've just uploaded a fabulous set of photos from Bob and Steve.

Report to follow tomorrow.

Paul.

Uhmmm... I don't know what to think about this show.

After seeing the video I thought it was a bit poor... however, after seeing some videos on youtbe where the quality is better I have a different opinion.

I think people who were inside la Ronde enjoyed the show, and people who were in the city or the bridge were more dissapointed because the lack of large shells. The show was a bit "epileptic", let me explain: some parts were very well done, with taste and creativity. Some other were more simple and repetitive. The colors and effects used were awesome.


I didn't like the finale neither the opening. Both were very poor. The first song Barcelona was good but it should have been more powerfull, with more effects. And the finale, what to say about the finale.... "Only" 40 seconds more building the finale and it would have been fantastic.


For me... 7'5/10.


I leave you the entier show on youtube:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCHb-LX52A0

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kEh5ZZ-DM

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6szkp_MEMXc

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-NaX15s0zA

Finale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7KIma4D-cM

I think that the show had more fun parts than boring parts... My favorite part of the show's the one at about 10:57 of the video i think it was indian... the sequences were well done.. and quite creative too.. i also liked the brazilian part with the photoflashes.. I think that the song choices were really enjoyable, each segments had a different feel/mood just like when you arrive in airports of different countries or seaports i guess...

I was disappointed with their ending, i'm sure they could have done much better than that I'm not sure but it looked like they ran out of time setting up for the segment right after what the world needs now.. since there were a few dead skies there Over all i think this was a non boring show.. While watching the video, it felt really short xD

Vander

Hello all !
I'm the guy who uploaded the videos linked from this post

Thanks to that I just discovered this site ! Wouhouu lol

So my thoughts on Igual's...
Well, first, I'm a bit disappointed.
For what I heard so far about them, I was expecting a lot more, but it wasn't that bad ^^

I loved the argentinian, brazilian and the "storm" part with all the quite "messy" display.
But with all those wonderful soundtrack (even if some transitions imo were rough) I wasn't convinced at all with the choices for the final part...

We'll see what the other firms can do ^^

Il me semblait que les plus récentes prestations de Pirotécnia Igual à Montréal n'étaient pas à la hauteur des performances livrées par cette firme lors de ses passages antérieurs, dans les années 1990 de même qu'en 2001, alors qu'elle remportait le 1er prix. J'ai été agréablement surpris par le spectacle présenté cette année. On y retrouvait une conception artistique très créative et des tableaux dont la construction était infiniment plus complexe que dans le feu d'ouverture de Panzera, qui souffrait encore plus de la comparaison.

La créativité, d'abord, dans le concept d'ensemble. Tout le feu était articulé autour de ce périple marin de Barcelone à Montréal, clairement suivi par la sélection des pièces musicales (qui s'enchaînaient en continu, sans répit), admirablement rappelé par l'ajout de divers bruits (sirène du bateau, orages, cris des mouettes...) à la bande sonore, et illustré par les petits voiliers sur la rampe 5 et un autre bateau, plus grand, installé sur la rampe 2 et au sommet duquel jaillissait une fontaine en guise de cheminée. J'ai adoré l'usage des "titanium salutes" en synchronisation avec le tonnerre à quelques reprises au cours du spectacle, en particulier sur la musique "Lights & Shadow" de Vangelis (1492) que nous entendons chaque soir de feu au moment où le maître de cérémonie Michel Lacroix (qui semblait avoir oublié son smoking, samedi, et qui portait plutôt un simple complet... hum) présente les artificiers aux spectateurs.

La créativité, ensuite, dans la conception de plusieurs tableaux. Le 15e tableau, sur la musique "Ritmo do Brasil", était un véritable bijou. Sur une musique très saccadée, les séquences successives de bruits étaient accompagnées d'effets pyrotechniques différents d'une fois à l'autre, tenant les spectateurs en haleine. Un segment particulièrement étonnant et divertissant. Dans plusieurs tableaux, les artificiers présentaient des pièces un peu partout, faisant feu dans toutes les directions, mais toujours de façon harmonieuse. Les couleurs étaient bien coordonnées: au 11e tableau, par exemple, des étoiles jaunes et roses éjectées de gâteaux étaient accompagnées par l'éclosion, plus haut, de comètes de mêmes couleurs.

La synchronsation était excellente. Elle a atteint son zénith peu de temps après le début du spectacle (tableau 6) alors que des séquences très rapides d'étoiles étaient en parfaite synchronisation avec des bruits vocaux très saccadés.

La diversité du matériel pyrotechnique est aussi une autre force de ce spectacle. Le vocabulaire employé par Paul dans son rapport témoigne de cette diversité. Cela nous permet de nous remémorer tous ces termes grâce à un seul et unique feu! Il faut souligner la quantité et la diversité des effets nautiques, une force certaine d'Igual.

Seules lacunes de ce spectacle: un choix musical un peu curieux pour les trois derniers tableaux, un peu moins de créativité dans ceux-ci et quelques secondes de noirceur non désirée. De plus, sur une note plus personnelle, je n'ai pas bien perçu la transition entre les deux derniers tableaux, si bien que j'ai pensé que la finale réelle en était une fausse et qu'un ultime bombardement nous attendait, jusqu'à ce que la Grande Roue soit réallumée.

En conclusion, un excellent spectacle à mon avis, qui m'a diverti et beaucoup plu.

Pièces pyrotechniques (variété, qualité, couleurs): 9,5/10.

Conception pyromusicale (originalité des produits ou de leur utilisation; dynamique rythmique, incluant la relation entre la conception pyrotechnique, la musique et le thème): 9,25/10.

Conception technique (usage de l'espace disponible, incluant le lac; densité et constance): 8,5/10.

Bande sonore (choix musical et enchaînements): 9,5/10.

Synchronisation: 9,0/10.

Total: 45,75/50 (91,5%).


Fred

Very good show given by Spain! It was lively throughout the display and yes, I do agree with you 100% Pat.....volley of violent and thunderous salutes ALWAYS bring me to my feet while I try desperately not to scream my emotions......you know me so well, Pat!

Trav my friend, you are so right.....Spain did send loads of salutes during the finale and that in itself was worth the 30 minute trip to the Jacques-Cartier bridge. The finale was way too short and I will have to agree with Rovira in that regard, that 40 seconds more of build up and it would have been fantastic. By the way, I watched the finale on You Tube that Rovira (or is it Taige?) posted and it is quite nice to see....thank you so much!

See you later, guys and gals!

Pierre