Philippines 2018

Once we had arrived at Manila, we were warmly welcomed by the competition organisers Platinum fireworks who took us to the team’s hotel. After we had showered and up-packed we all headed down to the Roadhouse (local HQ) for a few drinks and to discuss the plan of action for the week.

During set up the weather was in the mid to late 30’s throughout the week so it made a pleasant change for us as before we left the UK.  The set up took us 5 days with a 24 strong crew. This display was huge at just under 4000 cues ! However, we worked tirelessly and we even had chance to double check our work the day before show day to eradicate any issues/wrong products/angles etc which is unheard of in our line of work.

On show day the crowd were sceptical on what we could pull off with us being the reigning champs. But we had a trick up our sleeve. Our show was a little bit different from what we normally do and had a hidden twist, which surprised both the audience and the judges, a Double Finale. Once the first finale had finished the crowd were cheering away but couldn’t understand why there was a heartbeat sound pounding from the speakers, 4 seconds after the last shell fired, our second finale kicked in with just the sound from the mortars being launched from the barge followed by the soundtrack kicking in again. Over 2000 shells alone were used in the second finale which was unbelievable to witness first hand. Once the second finale finished the crowd went berserk and we got a standing ovation from the judges. Plenty of beer was drank at HQ that night.

As in previous years there was a week’s gap between our show and the results night so our team had a nice week of well-deserved relaxation. Come results night we were extremely nervous but we had no need to be as we came in first place joined with Germany (Steffes-Ollig Feuerwerke) Tied on points. We came away with the title 9th Philippine International Pyromusical Competition Grand Champions 2018” and were accoladed with the title of ‘Grand Slam’ due to us winning it three times in a row. The whole team were over the moon and quite rightly so !