Photo: Orange Crowd

The Auckland Festival is a biannual festival of music, theatre, film, dance and visual arts. In 2007, the opening event was a pyrotechnics show by French performers Groupe F. The performance was held in the Auckland Domain - New Zealand's answer to Central Park. We were lucky to be there early: Over 200,000 spectators turned up with blankets, cameras, glow sticks and hampers overflowing with wine, bread, cheese, salads and barbecued meat. As darkness fell, Groupe F lit up the night with music, fireworks and a selection of bizarre, fire-spitting contraptions. The performance was fantastic, and was received with a standing ovation. If you can't quite make out all 200,000 spectators in this photo, that's because the air was thick with smoke and petrol fumes from the grand finale.