Sydney’s 1st annual drone show, ELEVATE Sydney, has been cancelled for 2024 as the new Labor New South Wales (NSW) Government conducts an expenditure review.
The cancellation of the event was unexpected given its growing profile. However, last year, Vivid Sydney, one of the 5 flagship Sydney Spectaculars & a NSW Government event, began to hold annual drone shows too.
First held in 2022 to help with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, ELEVATE Sydney, had a nightly Circular Quay drone show, called Skyshow, as its centrepiece. Last year, it had a water ecological sustainability theme while the inaugural show had a generic ‘Summer Sydney’ theme. Both shows broke the record for largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Vivid Sydney‘s recent show broke no records though (despite their 2022 show breaking the same record that ELEVATE Sydney broke). One constant between the inaugural edition & the 2nd edition was that the drone show soundtrack was composed both times by DOBBY (Rhyan Clapham) featuring Uncle Matty Doyle.
Intel was the drone show producer for the inaugural edition while local company, Mirragin, produced last year’s edition.
The event, which was held during the first week of the year from the Cahill Expressway, was divided into 3 sessions each day. The 1st session, usually held in the morning, was a family-friendly kids event. The 2nd session, usually held in the afternoon, was a variety (2022) or electronic music/disc jockey (2023) event. The final session, which contained the Skyshow, was held at night & was essentially a night-club themed event.
The inaugural edition also featured an augmented reality smartphone experience while last year’s edition featured in the afternoon & evening sessions, $50 add-on food & beverage packages as well as the world’s longest bar, called suitably, The Long Bar. Due to the high demand for tickets, which were all sold out, a ‘gate/wait’ party was also set up last year at the event’s gates near the Conservatorium Of Music.
For the inaugural edition, Sydney Spectaculars estimated the event had a total visitation of 63,000 over the 5 days.
ELEVATE Sydney was produced by AGB Events with producer Olivia Bradley. AGB Events confirmed to Sydney Spectaculars that a NSW Government budget review saw the cancellation of the event in 2024. It is possible the event will return in 2025 once the review is completed.
A NSW state election was held on 25th March 2023 & resulted in a Labor Government, who initiated a budget expenditure review, which according to AGB Events, has seen the cancellation of heaps of public events while the review is being undertaken.
The NSW Government assesses the viability of a range of events for the NSW Events Calendar to help achieve the goal of making NSW the premier visitor economy & the events capital of the Asia-Pacific, contributing $65 billion in total visitor expenditure by 2030. Event investment decisions are considered in line with Government policies & priorities for NSW communities.
The NSW Government, through tourism & major events agency Destination NSW, is in regular discussion with key event stakeholders to build a world-class calendar of major events for Sydney & NSW that capitalises on our city’s and state’s unique natural assets & vibrant cultural diversity. Due to the highly competitive nature of event acquisition, discussions & details of event investments are commercial-in-confidence.
Destination NSW Spokesperson
Apart from sturdy competition from Vivid Sydney, ELEVATE Sydney had 2 difficult problems to overcome for future growth. It always had potential to grow, particularly at the rate it was growing but like all major events held in the 1st week of January in Sydney, the city has a lull after the big night that is New Year’s Eve (NYE). It doesn’t pick up again until a week out from Australia Day. Unlike NYE, which has 1 million people attend per event day, ELEVATE Sydney in 2022 was only reaching 13,100 per event day. Event announcements from last year indicate that edition received a higher attendance.
The other problem was the late timeslot for the drone show. It was held at 10pm during the inaugural edition & was bumped 30 minutes later for the 2023 edition. Sunset in Sydney at this time of year is 2 and a quarter hours prior. Despite the Cahill Expressway event being nightclub-themed, the Circular Quay drone show was very family-friendly except for the time slot.
An earlier drone show is solvable, but the timing of the overall event is not. Since May last year, whenever ELEVATE was to be held it now faces tough competition from Vivid Sydney – a behemoth in Sydney events & the biggest behemoth – Sydney NYE – is currently undergoing a Big Creative Ideas initiative. All of this will be considered in the NSW Government’s review.
Regardless of the event’s future, it has left a legacy. ELEVATE Sydney was the beginning of a new dawn in annual events over Sydney Harbour – the biggest since projection mapping was introduced in 2008 for Sydney New Year’s Eve – the rise of the annual drone show.
Sydney Spectaculars 