My 2023 4th Show

[Birdman]

I'm really happy with my show this year considering I didn't use any pro and all of the product was purchased around memorial day with no intention of scripting to music. I just grabbed some of my favorites and whatever I thought seemed nice at the Badaboom demo day weekend sale. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible this year. When some of my usual audience found out I wasn't scripting to music they talked me into whipping up a soundtrack. I scripted the first song in a few hours and then I had product left so I added the second song. My wife basically scripted the intro but forgot to start filming the show until after the intro. I added my concept video clip to fill in where she wasn't filming. The actual show starts at about 33 seconds in.

The first song we heard on the way to the shoot site over memorial day and it stuck in our heads. So when I decided to add music it just seemed to be the perfect fit. It just so happened that my son, who just got sworn into US Army and reports to MEPS in couple weeks, saw the video for the first song on my youtube history and was like "that's been my jam!. He had no idea that I used that song for my show (talk about happy accidents). We almost cancelled the 4th because the weather was looking horrible. We ended leaving for my shoot site a day later then expected after the forecast changed for the better. I missed a day of prep but since it was such a simple show to setup it didn't matter. Then we almost moved the show to 5th because there was good chance of storms on the 4th. I decided to take my chances on the 4th and it payed off. All we got was a couple of drops of rain late in the afternoon.

Considering how hastily the show was put together, with no pro, using only about 2/3 of the cues I had available, not modifying any cakes (poke and place), etc., I think it turned out better then expected. Everything fired on time as could be expected from unmodified consumer cakes.

Special thanks to Ed for turning me on to bump bear bricks and Engineer Cat for acquiring a case of them for me after two years of not being able to get them.

Again, the actual show starts at 33 seconds into the video:

https://youtu.be/X8VJIiuEqvo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8VJIiuEqvo

[displayfireworks1]

We call this music accompaniment in the Pro Display arena. Curious what fireworks firing system did you use on this display? I see you are from Pennsylvania , we have to get you ATF licensed to add some boom in that display in the finale. Thanks for posting the video.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Very nice show! Love the effects. Some really nice product in there. Can't go wrong with REO either!

[Jay_]

That was killer man!! High energy and as always looked beautiful over the water. You really made that stuff work for you!

At 5:44 that hit is right on time. Did you poke a single tube on a noab for that shot? Was really cool

Every year when I watch your vid, it makes me want to drag my boat up to the northeast, tie up, and drink a corona with you :). Looks like ya'll have a large time out there.

Congrats to your son on being sworn in to the Army and his love and service to this country.

Great show, thank you for sharing!

[Engineer Cat]

Great Job Kev. So glad everything worked out! Speedwagon man. Roll with the changes is such an awesome song. So much for not wanting to script to music this year. ;)

[Birdman]

We call this music accompaniment in the Pro Display arena. Curious what fireworks firing system did you use on this display? I see you are from Pennsylvania , we have to get you ATF licensed to add some boom in that display in the finale. Thanks for posting the video.

I've been using a Cobra system for the past several years. If I shot my shows in PA I would seriously think about getting my ATF license but my 4th show is in upstate NY (why I choose Breaking the Law as one of my songs).


Very nice show! Love the effects. Some really nice product in there. Can't go wrong with REO either!

Thanks Rick for the kind words! You always deserve a special thanks too for sharing your wisdom. It may not show but there's a little piece of you in every show I shoot.Just wish we could have seen what you might have had up your sleeve this year.


That was killer man!! High energy and as always looked beautiful over the water. You really made that stuff work for you!

At 5:44 that hit is right on time. Did you poke a single tube on a noab for that shot? Was really cool

Every year when I watch your vid, it makes me want to drag my boat up to the northeast, tie up, and drink a corona with you :). Looks like ya'll have a large time out there.

Congrats to your son on being sworn in to the Army and his love and service to this country.

Great show, thank you for sharing!

Glad you enjoyed it. I was going for high energy this year so thanks for confirming I delivered. We have a good time on the lake! I can't really join in on the fun on the 4th until after the show is over though. But I did stay up with my son till 3 AM mostly talking pyro, so I made up for lost time. Unfortunately I may only have one more year left to shoot there. That's one of the reasons I tried to keep the show simple. My family wanted me to spend more time with them and less on prep and setup since this will likely be my sons last year at the lake and one of the last years the property will be in the family. That shell at 5:44 was a poked Nishiki Blast canister shell. You can't even see all of them in that volley in the video. Again, thanks for noticing the timing on that one because I was really hoping that first one would break on cue. When it did I was stoked!


Great Job Kev. So glad everything worked out! Speedwagon man. Roll with the changes is such an awesome song. So much for not wanting to script to music this year. ;)

Thanks EC! I'm amazed how quickly it all came together and fired. I didn't even use any scripting software this year. I just used my concept video and manually entered everything into the Excel csv. Everyone was very pleased and that's all I can ask for.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Thanks Rick for the kind words! You always deserve a special thanks too for sharing your wisdom. It may not show but there's a little piece of you in every show I shoot. Just wish we could have seen what you might have had up your sleeve this year.

Thank you Sir. You are too kind. I enjoy the hell out of what you guys do, and if I can help in a small way by paying forward the help I was given, all the better!

[PyroFL]

Yaa I guess the show was ok?

Joking, that was awesome. I even had to watch a few parts in the middle a couple of times to maybe borrow a couple ideas. ;-) love all the music picks too, good pace of music to put the show to.

Always look forward to seeing your show each year. It’s to bad your son had to miss it but his reasons are respectable!!

Let me know when you have time and we can meet up halfway to talk pyro on a Thursday.

Looking forward to seeing what you have planned next year. As always great job.

[Birdman]

Yaa I guess the show was ok?

Joking, that was awesome. I even had to watch a few parts in the middle a couple of times to maybe borrow a couple ideas. ;-) love all the music picks too, good pace of music to put the show to.

Always look forward to seeing your show each year. It’s to bad your son had to miss it but his reasons are respectable!!

Let me know when you have time and we can meet up halfway to talk pyro on a Thursday.

Looking forward to seeing what you have planned next year. As always great job.

Glad you enjoyed the show. Imitation is always the sincerest form of flattery!

My son made it to this year's show. He's the one you can hear" hooting" during the show. But this will probably be his last, at the lake anyway. He starts boot camp on the 19th....on his birthday! I'm already starting to look for another site to shoot at. I think maybe I have one more year at the lake but I hope I can find somewhere with much more area and a lot closer to home. I think I finally learned how to work with the limited space at the lake. It will be a whole new learning processes if I find a site with much more space.

I'll ping you on the side to make plans to get together. I just got back home from the lake yesterday and I have to prep a small gender reveal for my nephew that I'm shooting tomorrow.

[Engineer Cat]

Glad you enjoyed the show. Imitation is always the sincerest form of flattery!

My son made it to this year's show. He's the one you can hear" hooting" during the show. But this will probably be his last, at the lake anyway. He starts boot camp on the 19th....on his birthday! I'm already starting to look for another site to shoot at. I think maybe I have one more year at the lake but I hope I can find somewhere with much more area and a lot closer to home. I think I finally learned how to work with the limited space at the lake. It will be a whole new learning processes if I find a site with much more space.

I'll ping you on the side to make plans to get together. I just got back home from the lake yesterday and I have to prep a small gender reveal for my nephew that I'm shooting tomorrow.

I feel like I'm outgrowing my shoot site. There's things I just can't do with the limited space, like parabolic curves. One of the pyros in the club actually rents a house in PA for the 4th of July weekend via VRBO that has a huge field and they let him shoot his show there. I'm seriously considering this option. I'll have to pick his brain a bit on the logistics. Would be pretty cool if a couple of us pyros pitched in and rented a place and get to shoot all our shows there. Currently in pipe dream phase. :rolleyes:

[jtfannin]

I have used the bump bears in the past and love them. Martin bombers are very similar if you ever need an alternative.