The Boston Chapters: Boston Pops

4th July 2008 / Independence Day

Peaking my head over the shoulders of the lady in front of me, I was trying to get a glimpse of the portion of the fries that I was queueing up for. The strong scent of the fried unhealthiness was tempting to my half-filled stomach.

Loud popping sounds rang behind me as I turned around in a hurry. An array of lights filled the sky as the consequent pops and bangs thundered through the dark night sky. Shades of red and gold shone on the faces of the crowd, with heads darting hurriedly over shoulders and feet madly shuffling all in the name of getting a better view of the fabled. It had started...

Blinding sparkles of the rainbow filled the sky as the crowd watched in amazement. Streaks of light shot out from the centre of the Charles River in fan-like glory while bursts of red, green, purple and gold took their turns to outshine the moon.

Shapes were drawn against the Boston skyline as the sparkles fell in varying degrees, some in a hurry to fall upon the heads of the capacity crowd that stood along both sides of the river, and the bridges in between; while others took their time to take a graceful curtsey as they descended.

An explosive bursts of red drew a close to the 10-minute display before the deafening bangs were replaced by lukewarm cheers and claps, as some people wore expressions of admiration on their faces while others looked on, as if longing for more.

I stood firmly in place with the latter, as I have always been rather unshakable when it comes to fireworks.

"I've never really been impressed with fireworks back in Singapore," I told Prada as we stood in the field in anticipation.

She looked at me interestingly.

"I just don't get what the hoo-ha is all about. I mean, yes, its nice, but still... It's not something that I think its worth squeezing with the rest of the crowd for just to see a display of lights in the sky," I continued.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she said.

"Yeah, even those during National Day, I think they kinda look the same almost every year. I mean, yes, it's a what, 15-minute non-stop display of fireworks, and its nice. But really, its not like its not something that has really wowed me," I continued in my explanatory tone.

"I'm just here to see if the fireworks in the U.S. will be able to actually impress me," I said skeptically. "And what better time to see fireworks than during their Independence Day right?"

She nodded in agreement.

The speakers over the area were running out of patriotic songs it seemed, as they resorted to playing "Yankee Doodle", causing me to giggle to myself at how pathetic the "entertainment" during the wait was.

The almost 30-minute wait was turning out to be rather mind-numbing as I said to her, "Well, I really hope that the fireworks are worth it," I whined, as manly as I could.

"Yeah, I should be sitting back in the dorm watching this on TV instead of standing here and waiting like an idiot," she out-whined me.

Minutes after we finished our exchanged, streaks of light rose up from the center of the river once again. As if not an obvious enough cue to grab hold of our attention, bursts after bursts of colours popped over the clear sky night shortly after, causing clouds of smoke to emerge, lit against the red and gold sparks that streamed down from the sky.

Deja Vu

Patriotic music played in the background as the extravaganza proper kicked off. Precisely-coordinated bursts of sound and fury decorated the black curtain hanging overhead, spheres of glowing sparkles grew after each pop, clap and bang. Collective sounds of amazement were heard as the entire crowd kept their heads raised towards the sky.

The music change to a slow-rock piece marked the end of the previous set as a new tricks were brought to the table. Traditionally big spheres of light were accompanied by small, graceful streams of sparkles; resulting in an astoundingly good contrast between the over-the-top spheres and the small and detailed streams that tugged at one's heartstrings. The entire sky was clear momentarily, when suddenly, at a very low sky-level, all the bursts erupted at the same time, causing an illusion of jellyfish-sparkles wading through the sky in front of us.

Flying Jellyfishes

The set changed again, this time accompanied by a classical opera piece. The entire display felt well-chereographed and timed, and never once giving you the feeling that it was rushed or uncoordinated. Every single burst seemed so deliberate, as sphere after sphere of white and gold erupted in time with the high notes while the remnants streaked down in accordance to the long notes. The entire set closed with alternating white and gold bangs as the last note was held in classical opera style.

Classical Light

The vibrato transitioned into a continuous thunder of bangs, pops and roars, as the coordinators seeked to end the almost 40-minute show with a vengence. Firing off all that was left in their arsenal, lights, sound and fury rang for a continuous 5 minutes as sphere after sphere erupted, gun-fire like shots littered the sky, streams of lighted flooded down, smoke rose up against the night scene, all coming together to create an explosive finale, and after that, all was silent, as the flashes stopped and the smoke cleared.

Finale

But the silence was only momentary, as the roaring applause and cheers of the crowd soon followed, drowning out the ringing in their ears with the collective expressions of joy, amazement and admiration.

I stood amidst the drowning noise, silent. Silent and speechless, utterly speechless.