MontanaMike
07-05-2021, 02:22 PM
We couldn't fire our own show this year, so my wife and I decided to go to the "largest fireworks display" in our state. There are three or four displays in the state that claim that title, I'm not sure which one is truly the biggest, so we went to the one nearest to us. As expected, it was pretty big. They claimed to be firing about $70,000 in 1.3 product.
Beyond the impressive quantity, sadly, they broke just about every rule in the fireworks-display book.
1. It started off well -- the show opened with a volley of shells, followed by two girls singing the National Anthem, which was very good, especially when the lyrics got to "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air", they shot three red comets followed by a burst of salutes, which I thought was VERY cool.
2. Unfortunately things went downhill from there. After the anthem, a long (at least 10 minutes) reading was played, which was hard to hear from our seats. I think it had to do with the events leading to the national anthem being written. It was probably at least 15 minutes from the time the first volley went up to the beginning of the actual main body of the fireworks.
2. From there, it got worse. The pacing was horrible. They stopped the show at least four, or maybe five times, to make announcements, ask for donations, beg for applause ("Do you want to see some more???" or "Make some noise for all of our volunteers, they're doing this for you!!!" etc.) Each break was two or three minutes long. The strangest was the fourth time they stopped, they asked for a "moment of silence" for a fireman who had died. Now I'm all for honoring the dead, that's great, but "DURING" a fireworks display? They should have had the silence BEFORE the show started, would have been way more effective and moving.
3. The music was terrible. They played slow country songs, something with bagpipes I didn't recognize, and of course "God Bless the USA" which was fine the first 10,000 times it's been used, but jeeeez I'm sick of that song. At one point they started playing a song, and it cut off and changed to a different song. There was no synchronization to the fireworks, it was just background music but I longed for some rock'n'roll.
4. There was too much sky puke. The show was way too long. For the majority of time, it seemed like they were just randomly firing stuff. The show was electronically fired, but apparently not scripted. The overall show lasted OVER AN HOUR from the time the first shells went up to the end of the finale. It is the first ever show I've seen where I was beyond ready for it to be over. I was relieved (instead of sad) when it finally WAS over. Even the freaking finale was probably at least four minutes.
This show draws about 30,000 people annually (to a town of less than 10,000 people) and as disappointed as I was in it, I suppose there were a lot of people who loved it and thought it was awesome. But, somebody needs to tell the organizers that Quantity doesn't always mean Quality. They could have done a show twice as good with half of the product. Usually upon leaving a good fireworks show I have an immediate desire to see another one, but in this case, I have about zero desire to see this particular show again, which is something I've never said about a fireworks display. Maybe I was just over-hyped about this one, because I've been hearing about it and wanting to see it for many years and this was my first time seeing it.
Beyond the impressive quantity, sadly, they broke just about every rule in the fireworks-display book.
1. It started off well -- the show opened with a volley of shells, followed by two girls singing the National Anthem, which was very good, especially when the lyrics got to "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air", they shot three red comets followed by a burst of salutes, which I thought was VERY cool.
2. Unfortunately things went downhill from there. After the anthem, a long (at least 10 minutes) reading was played, which was hard to hear from our seats. I think it had to do with the events leading to the national anthem being written. It was probably at least 15 minutes from the time the first volley went up to the beginning of the actual main body of the fireworks.
2. From there, it got worse. The pacing was horrible. They stopped the show at least four, or maybe five times, to make announcements, ask for donations, beg for applause ("Do you want to see some more???" or "Make some noise for all of our volunteers, they're doing this for you!!!" etc.) Each break was two or three minutes long. The strangest was the fourth time they stopped, they asked for a "moment of silence" for a fireman who had died. Now I'm all for honoring the dead, that's great, but "DURING" a fireworks display? They should have had the silence BEFORE the show started, would have been way more effective and moving.
3. The music was terrible. They played slow country songs, something with bagpipes I didn't recognize, and of course "God Bless the USA" which was fine the first 10,000 times it's been used, but jeeeez I'm sick of that song. At one point they started playing a song, and it cut off and changed to a different song. There was no synchronization to the fireworks, it was just background music but I longed for some rock'n'roll.
4. There was too much sky puke. The show was way too long. For the majority of time, it seemed like they were just randomly firing stuff. The show was electronically fired, but apparently not scripted. The overall show lasted OVER AN HOUR from the time the first shells went up to the end of the finale. It is the first ever show I've seen where I was beyond ready for it to be over. I was relieved (instead of sad) when it finally WAS over. Even the freaking finale was probably at least four minutes.
This show draws about 30,000 people annually (to a town of less than 10,000 people) and as disappointed as I was in it, I suppose there were a lot of people who loved it and thought it was awesome. But, somebody needs to tell the organizers that Quantity doesn't always mean Quality. They could have done a show twice as good with half of the product. Usually upon leaving a good fireworks show I have an immediate desire to see another one, but in this case, I have about zero desire to see this particular show again, which is something I've never said about a fireworks display. Maybe I was just over-hyped about this one, because I've been hearing about it and wanting to see it for many years and this was my first time seeing it.