King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were there to watch the fireworks at the end of the 21st of July festivities, which started at around 11pm on Tuesday evening. They were in the front row of the audience for the traditional musical fireworks on the Place du Palais, organised by the Prime Minister’s Chancellery. More than 100,000 fireworks were sent into the sky from the garden of the Palais des Académies in Brussels. “We particularly made use of comet trails this year”, explained Benoît Halein, who runs the Van Cleemput firework artisanat with his father Georges. “As always, we used a mix of colours. However, we used slightly less classical music than usual”.
The fireworks started with the group Pink Floyd in the background. It then switched to songs by Shirley Bassey, Laura Pausini, Sinatra, Charles Trenet and Aznavour. Celtic music and a song from the original “Kill Bill” soundtrack were also used. “Pomp and Circumstance” by composer Edward Elgar was played during the first bouquet, as is traditional. Music by Hans Zimmer accompanied the final bouquet. 4 of the 14 bits of music used were classical, including work by composers Lully and Rachmaninov.
The Place Palais exit on the rue Ducale side remained shut until Brussels firemen had finished dealing with a non-exploded firework at 11.30pm.
(Source: Belga)
