Fireworks in Mechelen

Wedding planning, work, a dinner with colleagues on Thursday, a birthday party in The Hague on Friday, a lazy morning with friends in The Hague, dive training on Saturday afternoon, ...

Yes I have a lot on my plate so when my friend sent me a text message asking if we wanted to join her in Mechelen at a city festival my first response was "oh gosh no, I just wanna be home for an evening".

But it was such a lovely date on the first day of spring and city festivals are so fun and the program made me think of 'Leuven in scène' last year which was really good. So I hesitated. And we went and it was great.

The big concert on the Vismarkt didn't have much atmosphere when we arrived. The stage was placed across the river and the sound didn't come across well so people on the square were talking and chatting and making it even harder to listen to the music. But there were bands marching through other streets which was fun.
By 9.30 PM we joined the crowd on the big market square to watch the music/light/fireworks show. Oh man that was good.

More than half an hour we watched "Les commandos percus" : a team of musicians-pyrotechnists looking like a bunch of welders in a STOMP show, delivered a music show perfectly synchronised with their original and spectacular fireworks. To see such a show in front of the ancient historical buildings....wow.
Aparently they were the closing act of Leuven in Scène last year.

After that next to us some colorful hoses were blown up in the air. We had seen the installations and had figured it'd be some of those hoses or men that you sometimes see at sportsevents. Only these were huge. Very huge, ...10 to 15 stories high and the technicians kept waiving them over the crowd into a fascinating abstract ballet on top of our heads.

source: by verbisthans

The entire show ended with some more fireworks lit from the cathedral tower as if it was set ablaze.

source: by Jawel!