Updated: The article originally had the Calling Country Live Performance happening after the Calling Country Fireworks, as per previous years. This year, the Calling Country Live Performance happens 3minutes before the Calling Country Fireworks at 9pm. The Welcome To Country also, as a result, happens 3 minutes earlier than originally stated.
An appearance from the world’s favourite Heelers, Bluey and Bingo, will feature on the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections at 8:50pm on the night of Sydney NYE2023.
It will be known as The Bluey & Bingo Moment, celebrating the iconic Australian preschool children’s animated television series that the characters star in, Bluey, that has garnered fans worldwide & has been deemed one of the best television shows ever made. It recently celebrated its 5th anniversary after 3 seasons.
The City Of Sydney are also advising guests that City restaurants & private functions require a booking & therefore, you need to have a ticket or reservation before you come into the City.
Photograph: City Of Sydney/Abril Felman
At 7pm on NYE, the Fire Tug returns as the opening act after an absence of 4 editions (last appearance being NYE2018 – The Pulse Of Sydney)
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television/Internet broadcast will begin after at 8:30pm, live from the Northern Broadwalk of the Sydney Opera House & will be co-hosted by Triple J Breakfast host, Concetta Caristo. It will begin with the televised video version of Welcome To Country (more details below) followed by a preview of season 2 of Muster Dogs & a segment on how the Sydney NYE2023 fireworks displays are put together.
Throughout the night, both the Sydney Harbour Bridge light & pylon projections show will also be themed to the revolutions of the Sun & the Moon. The Sydney Harbour Bridge light show will also be artificial intelligence (AI)-created for the 1st time with the help of Sydney NYE2023 Lighting Director, Ziggy Ziegler.
This year is so exciting. It’s all about the sun this year. It’s based around revolving around for a whole year. It’s, it’s warmth. It’s colour. It’s, uh, the essence of life itself in Sydney.
We’re moving forward this year. Uh, it’s got a very warm feel as opposed to just a party feel, it really is about life this year.
Well apart from the thousands of kilometres of cable & lights that we always use, we are adding in a AI component this year so we are going to feed AI streams directly into the lights this year.
Literally, the entire world looks at Sydney first & it’s always just fun. Sydney is a fun city.
Ziggy Ziegler, Sydney NYE2023 Lighting Director
At 8:54pm, a Welcome To Country pylon projection show will begin of an Elder and child celebrating the past, present & future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people & will showcase how stories handed down from generation to generation keep Indigenous culture and identity alive. The pylon projections are designed by R/GA (supported by VANDAL) using illustrations by Noongar artist, Janelle Burger.
Photograph: Janelle Burger/City Of Sydney
In creating designs, she draws on elements of pop culture while developing her work in Paris, France. Her images have appeared in publications like InStyle magazine, Frankie & Nala.
Janelle Burger’s illustrations for the pylons include iconic First Nations figures including Cathy Freeman, Anita Heiss, Adam Goodes, Patty Mills & BARKAA.
The Welcome To Country will be televised in video form at 8:30pm – 24 minutes prior.
When creating these images for the Sydney New Year’s Eve pylons, I tried to capture the essence & spirit of the First Nations peoples. To integrate the timeless connection to the land into the very fabric of the images, this is a tribute to warriors whose footsteps echoed through time, leaving an indelible mark on Australia’s history.
Janelle Burger, Noongar Artist
Image: R/GA, We Are Warriors & City Of Sydney
At 8:57pm, the Calling Country Live Performance will begin & this year, along with the following fireworks display, will be themed Buried Country. It will feature 3-man hip hop supergroup 3% performing their debut single, Our People, which uses the instrumentation & chorus from The Presets‘ iconic pro-refugee electronic track of similar name – My People – the only time The Presets have let their iconic work be used for sampling. The group name 3% refers to the proportion of the Australian population that is Indigenous:
Photograph: 3%/City Of Sydney
The Calling Country Live Performance will also feature Woorabinda artist Jada Weazel, the Muggera dancers & other special guests as well as a Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projection of an Elder from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council before, once again, concluding with an Aboriginal message stick being presented to the City Of Sydney Lord Mayor by an Elder as a gift to the people. It will acknowledge Sydney for recognising the lands & the First Peoples of the City.
At 9pm, the Calling Country Fireworks begin & will tell the story of Pemulwuy, one of the most famous Aboriginal resistance fighters in the colonial era & a Bidjigal man. The Calling Country projections will celebrate his spirit of resistance and resilience, revealing the warrior spirit within all First Nations people & reinforces the message that you are always on Country even in the big cities’ urban landscapes.
The soundtrack of the Calling Country Fireworks are by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Award winner, Grammy nominee & Bunuba musician, 18YOMAN (Vincent Goodyear) & rapper Nooky, who forms a 1/3rd of 3%.
Nooky is also a vital voice in the Australian music landscape, being also a Yuin artist & Triple J Blak Out radio host. He’s known for his no-holds-barred, hyperactive rap brand & has worked with brands from G-Shock to Geedup while also making beats & producing. He is also the founder & creative director of We Are Warriors, the creative directors of Calling Country.
18YOMAN specialises in bespoke instrumentals and intricate sound beds & combined with Nooky, their fireworks soundtrack brings an anthemic hip hop sound to the Harbour with elements of traditional First Nations audio weaved throughout.
At the end of the year we’ve had, we want to let our people know they’re loved, they’re seen & they’re heard. That they are Warriors. It’s time to reflect on & awaken the stories of this country that have been buried by the history we didn’t write.
We’re going to share stories of great warriors like Pemulwuy & warriors of the past, present and today. We are going all out-projecting images onto the Harbour Bridge putting Blak excellence on full display for the world to see.
From the visuals to the music, we pursued to reflect what a calling to country is. We are calling to our old people for strength in this moment & to also celebrate their achievements and the knowledge they have passed down. I hope to create a memorable event for everyone to take part in. This platform allows us to share our truth, our stories, our voice with the world.
Nooky, ‘We Are Warriors’ Founder & Creative Director
This year’s talented artists have created music, visual art & performances that both champion Indigenous culture and storytelling & highlight the challenges and resilience of both young & old First Nations peoples.
Clover Moore, City Of Sydney Lord Mayor
After Calling Country, the ABC concert begins. It will also be broadcast on local ABC Radio nationwide so you can listen down on the Harbour (702 AM) as the Sydney Harbour Bridge light show is synced to the music. Artists include:
- Genesis Owusu,
- Angie McMahon,
- Mark Seymour,
- Grentperez &
- the NYE queen, Casey Donovan!
NYE is one of our favourite nights of the year! We love working with our partners City of Sydney on our show-stopping NYE broadcast. Always a night to remember, we can’t wait to celebrate with people all around the world showcasing a wonderful night of Australian music, entertainment & of course, fireworks.
Kath Earle, ABC Arts, Music & Events Head
At 10pm, the official charity partner, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, will have a Pink Moment, which would feature the Sydney Harbour Bridge light & pylon projection show.
The Australian not-for-profit organisation is represented by the pink ribbon & raises money to fund world-class research towards its vision of 0 deaths from breast cancer. Research that saves lives through a better understanding of how to prevent and detect breast cancer early, stop progression and recurrence of breast cancer & effectively treat hard-to-treat and metastatic breast cancers.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation is thrilled to be the official charity partner of the City of Sydney’s 2023 Sydney New Year’s Eve.
We are excited to see Sydney light up pink to support the work of the foundation – funding world-class research towards our vision of 0 deaths from breast cancer.
We hope all Australians can join us to GLO PINK this New Year’s Eve to support the 57 Australians diagnosed with breast cancer each & every day. It’s thanks to partnerships like this & the support of the Australian public that we can continue to fund research that will change the future for all those diagnosed with breast cancer.
Associate Professor Cleola Anderiesz, National Breast Cancer Foundation Chief Executive Officer
Image: VANDAL/City Of Sydney
At 11pm, there will be a Sydney Opera House 50th Anniversary Moment, using the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections which will conclude with new AI-created animated segment of doughnuts, balloons, flowers, galaxies & kaleidoscopes with help from Sydney NYE Harbour Bridge Pylon Projection Designers, VANDAL.
It will be the 1st time that artificial intelligence has been apart of the artworks. Really fun things like balloons & doughnuts & galaxies & kaleidoscopes.
New Year’s Eve is special because there really is the experts in every area from fireworks to lighting to event planning to of course, our artwork & it’s really great to have a collaboration for something that’s actually a celebration of Sydney.
Tracey Taylor, VANDAL Experiential Executive Producer
Image: City Of Sydney
The Midnight Fireworks will be set to a soundtrack by THE SWEATS (Peter Goodwin) & feature silver & gold pyrotechnics to commemorate the Sydney Opera House’s 50th Anniversary, colour-changing fireworks along & over the arches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as serpent, Saturn ring & horse tail willow aerial shells.
Photograph: City Of Sydney
With more than 1 million spectators around the Sydney Harbour foreshore & many millions watching around the world, we are the custodians of the show & our aim is to make it bigger and better each year.
We put everything into creating our work as we want to give people a reason to say ‘That was the best fireworks show ever!’.
We’ve put more than 4,000 hours into designing, staging & launching this year’s display.
The beauty of fireworks is that they are accessible for people everywhere – whether from the east, west, north or south, as long as you can look up & see the sky, you’ll be able to have a front row seat for the show.
If people leave the show with a smile on their face, excitement & a renewed sense of optimism for the year ahead, then we consider our job done.
Fortunato Foti, Foti International Fireworks Director
Photograph: City Of Sydney/Abril Felman
New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour is objectively one of the most spectacular annual events on the planet.
The event highlights the best qualities of this city – our glorious harbour, relaxed lifestyle & penchant to party.
The festivities bring together people of all ages from more than 200 cultures that make up our city as well as thousands of interstate & international visitors.
I encourage everyone keen to ring in the New Year in Sydney to plan ahead, get there early to avoid disappointment & enjoy everything our wonderful city has to offer.
Clover Moore, City Of Sydney Lord Mayor
Sydney Spectaculars 
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