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Mar 17, 2015
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Williamsburg
I just got out of the show. It rained during it so they presented the "modified" version of the show as announced beforehand due to the inclement weather so I don't want to give my full opinion on the until I've seen the full thing. Essentially, it was just a bunch of dance remixes of popular songs with a pretty cool laser light show. Additionally, the video screen on the stage was really fascinating I thought. Also to note, the front sections in front of the walkway across the middle are the "party zone" for people who want to stand up and dance. The back section was the "viewing area" which is for people who would rather sit and watch the show. There's no standing allowed in the back section.
 
'Spark' is essentially a BGW small scale, family friendly, version of a European style EDM music festival. For the 30 minutes between when the gates open, until the show starts, a DJ in a booth to the side plays a mix of modern dance music and classic wedding dance remixes. At the show last night, there was lots of crowd participation, despite the rain. Once the show starts, the lasers kick in and the crowd mostly just watches. I love EDM, so I loved the show, and thought the laser show was awesome, especially in the rain. The rain did cause the suspension of a number of special effects, such as the pyrotechnics. Overall, I thought it was a great show, and will be even better with a packed house, and lots of people dancing.
 
Spark was a pretty neat show. Before the show under the DJ there was a waterfall of bubble foam that kids were covered head to toe in. Literally a bubble bath. The Pyro park was really good. I loved the flames, CO2 blasts, and a decent amount of fireworks. The theater was packed. There were a ton of people dancing through out the laser show. They did make everyone leave the RPT after the show and wouldn't allow people to stay for the fireworks.
 
This show was interesting...

We actually enjoyed the pre show slightly more than the actual show. My mom was like "It's just a giant wedding reception". I mean if you're into that sort of thing. The main show was very reminiscent of the old laser light shows they use to have in the RPT in the 90's, I don't know what I expected but the whole show seemed very kid forward. I saw a lot of adults leave during the show. I didn't mind it and the energy was fun. I didn't think the timing of the effects matched super well with the music, the most impressive sync was actually a coke bottle at the beginning mixed with a firework. I don't know if it's a show i'd want to see over and over but I'm glad I got to check it out.
 
This passage from the park's website is incredibly misleading: "a custom soundtrack created by award-winning musicians." I understood this to mean an original score, which I didn't hear at all. Instead, the show is the radio hits music that used to blare over the speakers throughout the park last year.

I enjoyed the show somewhat, but aside from the music, I think it feels like something from the 90's. It is a very elaborate commercial, but that's all it is: a Coca-Cola commercial in the guise of an EDM dance-party. I really miss having live performers, and I feel like this show is a cheap placeholder until Busch Gardens can afford to do something better with their own money. It's still worth at least one viewing.
 
Here is the controversial opinion: I was bored.

It felt like an early 90s rave, not a show designed for an outdoor theater. A rave with bad music.

I think it would have been fun, if it were exclusively a dance party, but as a show it stopped being interesting in the first minute. The effects were nice, but not visually arresting or cutting edge enough to entertain by themselves. The 2D video reminded me of my Atari. (To be fair, my 80s era video games never featured topless men doing the same dance move over and over, so I guess it wasn't entirely old school.)

Essentially, I would have enjoyed the lasers and video, fire, and whatnot as atmospherics to enhance something else. On their own, they seemed less cool than the bubble-glowy-stick- thing they were selling.
 
Now after thinking about Spark a bit more with more viewings and my own critical thought: even though I like Spark quite a bit, it still isn't anywhere close to how I felt about All For One. Sure many can say all they want about the flaws of that show, but to me at least, All For One felt like a magnificent event that took advantage of the theater it was playing with it's well designed costumes, sets, action scenes, and themed well to Old Country France etc. Spark is more like a flashy distraction with really good lasers and pyro, All For One was a full fledged SHOW in every sense of the word.

One personal viewing of Spark is on my list, but it won't be the 5 or 6 times I saw All For One last year. No way.
 
Here's three daylight pictures of the RPT before the show. I left to go do something else after taking these and didn't go back for the show and based on a hunch I had and now reading some of the above comments it seems like I didn't miss that much.
 

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It's too bad the neon geometric set aren't as good as the pyro and lasers are.
 
I went with my friend and people were getting up and leaving, the pyro and effects were there but the music was half-baked. It definitely seemed like it wasn't a good fit for RPT. Like Jamming a car radio that's on fire into an arena.
 
I would think that's one of the downsides to not having an original score. They probably have less control now over how the music sounds in the RPT. To me, it gave the music a more genuine DJ sound: for better or for worse.

The one thing that I dislike the most about this show is that I craved a Coke the next day. Lol. At least I didn't give in. ;)
 
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I would think that's one of the downsides to not having an original score. They probably have less control now over how the music sounds in the RPT. To me, it gave the music a more genuine DJ sound: for better or for worse.

The one thing that I dislike the most about this show is that I craved a Coke the next day. Lol. At least I didn't give in. ;)

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Went last night with my sister and 7 year old niece. We loved it! Big group of all ages down at the front dancing during the 'foam party'. Even more up doing the Cupid Shuffle and dancing to Dynamite. It was just a great, entertaining time. Loved the lasers, fireworks, energy and outfits on the BG dancers too.
 
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I finally saw Spark in person and it was nice seeing the pyro and lasers in person but once was enough for me. I will miss All For One, but at least the videos are here to watch over and over again. :)
 
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After watching the video a few more times and I can safely say that I really miss the ambitiousness of All For One and Spark is just one big, loud, ginormous...

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So Spark has been confirmed for a 2019 return and all I can say is this: they better improve to make the show better because if they don't... Well, prepare to have a flashy but boring Coca-Cola ad all over again.
 
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I noticed that they switched out the pyro effects for Spark.

The first 2 weeks they were running with fireworks that were launched on the stage and off the roof along with 5 stations on the stage that were doing fireballs.

Today they had no fireworks and had 3 directional flamethrowers on the roof instead along with the 5 fireball stations on the stage.

I assume the flamethrowers are cheaper than shooting off an extra set of fireworks every night.

Either was pretty nice looking and they use the flamethrowers more than they did the fireworks, so it's not necessarily a downgrade.


Edit: I just read in the Summer Nights thread that they had a fire due to fireworks bouncing off the roof onto the stage. I guess they replaced the fireworks with the flamethrowers to avoid that issue in future.
 
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