I shoot raw with NR on and push the blacks a lot in lightroom to 'hide' the smoke which I hate the look of.. it all depends on how you like fireworks pics to look... The shots below were shot in I think 2-3 seconds exposures, f10 or so and I keep my ISO pretty low to avoid noise.. I used the Tamron 17-50 as it was more versatile (though of course it depends how near you are to them).. You really just need to use manual exposure (or bulb) and experiment a little as depending on your position, surrounding lights, how big the fireworks are... every show will be slightly different...
And yes I think a tripod and remote shutter cable is needed (well the cable is just usefull the tripod is needed)..
