Hi everyone,
Well, I think this is my first post on this forum, I come regulary to check if there’re some shows announcements, but my knowledges in dutch are not good enough to participate to the discussions (moreover, I don’t have a lot of time). So, sorry but my post will be in english ! Warning : it’s long ! (If you don’t want to read all, go to the end, there’re some links with pictures and videos !
Actually, I just wanted to give you some informations about the fireworks in Annecy. To begin, let me introduce myself : I’m Nicolas, 28 years old, I live in south of Belgium, and I go to Annecy each year since 2003 to see this big fireworks display (yes, it's far... !). As fan of fireworks, I know your website, and the one of FreakPyromaniacs since several years, and I was always quite surprised that nobody seemed to know this show, as I never found any pictures or videos, or even any discussion, while it's actually one of the biggest annual fireworks display in Europe, together with the fireworks of Geneva, at the same period.
I love this fireworks display, I love the city and all its region, so let me tell you some facts about this show :
So it is called "Fête du Lac" and it takes place each year in Annecy, on the first saturday of august. This year it was exceptionnaly on the second saturday, because there was the Tour de France in the city only a few days before. The show is not free : you have to pay if you want a good place (from 6 to 34€). You can also watch the fireworks for free from the lake if you have a boat, or watch it from the lakeshore but you will be further and you won’t have the music. It is necessary to reserve very early (in the 2 first week generally in april) if you want a good place !
The city of Annecy is very touristic (the old town is very beautiful), it is located at the gates of the Alps. The lake is surrounded by the mountains, it's a wonderful backdrop ! The fireworks are placed on several platforms in the bay of the Annecy lake. The total length of the display is about 500m, which is quite huge ! (I think it's larger than at the Nuits de Feu of Chantilly). The number of shot positions is different every year, but it's always between 20 and 40 ! The whole show lasts about 80 minutes. Generally it is composed of several acts, with some little pauses between them, with an off-screen voice.
The company who realizes the show is not always the same, which is good as we can see different things each year. However, there's always (I think) the same artistic director each year, Jean-Eric Ougier, who works for Fetes & Feux and who is also the artistic director of Nuits de Feu at Chantilly.
In 2002 I know that the company was Groupe F, but I didn't was there. The first time I came in 2003, it was Lacroix-Ruggieri. It was the first time I saw a so huge fireworks display. I remember when I arrived in the front of the lake, I saw all that pyro stuff, but as I only began to become a fan of fireworks, I could not imagine how big would be the show. When it began, in the first seconds of the show, it was ... "waouww !!!" . I was completely amazed ! However, there had been a real fire on one of the platform, and the show had been interrupted for about one hour...
In 2004 and 2005 the show had been designed by Armin Lukasser. It was very big, very powerful, but not especially original as the show was mainly composed of big shells almost all the time. There was a little lack of diversity in the pyro products.
In 2006, it was Fêtes&Feux together with Parente. A good show, even if I didn't have a very good place that year. It was maybie a little bit shorter than the previous years (“only” 65-70 minutes).
In 2007 and 2008, it was the return of Lacroix-Ruggieri again. Altough the show of 2007 had begun with a 10 minutes light show with several lazers and skytracers, without any fireworks, I think that it was probably the best show that I saw in Annecy. A lot of original products, a very good synchro on some sequences, a very coloured display, and an awesome finale of more than 2 minutes ! For that edition, the shot positions formed 2 very big circles of 12 platforms each, with a very big one in the middle, and there was also a long right line of smaller platforms in the front.
In 2008, the disposition of platforms had the form of a long "$", which allowed to design some very interesting sequences. The bad point of the 2008 edition was the use of several fountains in addition of the fireworks, which were a little boring. A few sequences were composed only by fountains and lights. Nevertheless, the fireworks display was beautiful, and as in 2007, we had an amazing finale of more than 2 minutes, with a growing intensity !
Now let's speak about this 2009 edition. This year, it was the italian company Panzera who had been chosen. I had already seen some videos of their performances, so I was quite confident in the quality of the show. But in the official announcement, the city of Annecy had announced that this 2009 edition would be composed of « spectacular » fountains, in addition of the fireworks. Even if the event in itself is a fireworks show before all, it seems that the accent was put on this aquatic show. As I had been already a little disappointed with the fountains of the previous year, I was a little afraid for this year.
Saturday 8 august : I was in Mulhouse, still about 400km until Annecy. A few hours of road, under a very heavy rain… I was already afraid about a possible cancellation of the show, as the rain and thunderstorms had been announced for the whole week-end…. A few hours later, I finally arrived in Annecy, almost under the sun !
A quick look to the display : 16 platforms, and 6 big ones. 22 in total, I think it’s the first time I see so few platforms for the show. Anyway, the most important is the quantity of products on it. 21h50, showtime ! The show begins with the Requiem of Verdi, which is quite powerful for an introduction ! The fireworks follow the music, it’s a very good start !
Then after this introduction, we have a little pause where we hear the voice of Marco-Polo, who briefly describes his journey, which will be the theme of the show. Unfortunately, my fears became true when the second act began. A complete act of 2-3 minutes with only fountains, and also some water screens on which some giant images were projected.
Well, the fountains are not bad, but the problem is that it’s always the same think !!! There isn’t a lot of diversity in their choregraphy. It’s ok for 3 minutes, but after that, it becomes quite boring. Moreover, it’s not very “spectacular”. The official announcement highlighted the fact that they would be 12m high. This is probably high when you’re just beside, but in such a large-scale show, it was not impressive at all. I had one of the best place, but I think a lot of people couldn’t see anything.
The whole show alternated fireworks and fountains. Even if the pictures that have been posted here seem to show that it was a very big fireworks display, I can say that on the 80 minutes of the complete show, there was only 45 of fireworks !!! Like a lot of people, I was very disappointed about that. For a show that claims to be the biggest fireworks display in Europe, I think this year, it was completely wrong ! I saw some videos of the Geneva display (that occurred unfortunately the same evening this year), and it was longer (55’), and it seemed to be much more powerful !
Well, nevertheless, Annecy remains a very big fireworks display, and I think we’ll never see a similar show one day in Belgium or in the Netherlands ! But this year, it was just quite disappointing compared to previous years. It seemed that the budget had been reduced of half ! The fountains always broke the rhythm of fireworks, and some fireworks sequences were very short. Moreover, the pyro products lack of originality compared to the 2 previous editions with Lacroix-Ruggieri.
Some quick facts : there were some big shells that exploded at a very low altitude, which was quite strange. One bomb has exploded in it’s mortar ! And there was also a real fire on one of the platform, which (I think) caused a few damages because it was clear that a few products were missing at 2 or 3 moments of the show (it was very remarkable since the show was symmetric). Anyway, it’s an accident !
The finale was a little disappointing too. The fireworks seemed to grow in intensity first, and then there was like a “hole”, with only a few big shells, exploding by pairs, before the very last sequence which lasted about 30 seconds and was quite powerful, all in white ! When I say that it was a bit disappointing, it’s mainly because it was much shorter than in 2007 and 2008. But after a quick comparison with videos from previous years, finally it was quite “standard”. I think the finales of 2007 and 2008 with Lacroix-Ruggieri were definitely much bigger than all other editions actually !
Well, anyway, even if it was not so good than the previous years, I’m sure it will be better next year and I will be there ! If some people from Pyroworld could come and make a HD movie, it would be wonderful !!
Indeed, I never found any good video of the complete show, of any year.
Well, I hope my post was not too long !!!
Last but not least, here are a few links to some pages from my personal website. Sorry, it’s all in French, but you’ll find a lot of pictures and videos. If you understand French, I invite you to visit my website, there’re also other pages with other fireworks displays :
www.purplemonster.be
2005 edition :
www.purplemonster.be/annecy_2005.html
2006 edition :
www.purplemonster.be/annecy_2006.html
2007 edition :
www.purplemonster.be/annecy_2007.html
2008 edition (with a lot of close-up pictures of the display, and a lot of video extracts, look at the finale, it’s awesome !!!)
www.purplemonster.be/annecy_2008_1.html
2009 edition (with a lot of video extracts covering almost the whole fireworks display)
www.purplemonster.be/annecy_2009.html
