Love Is In The Air This Vivid Sydney

On the 5th of April, Vivid Sydney announced their drone shows for the current ongoing 2024 edition which this year is overall themed Humanity.

The 2024 drone show is titled Love Is In The Air, a cross between a pun on the love-themed drone usage & the reference to the iconic 1977 John Paul Young song of the same name, which was remixed for the iconic 1992 Australian film, Strictly Ballroom.

Unlike last year when drone shows featured on 7 of the 23 nights, this year the number of shows is halved with the drone shows only be held on 3 nights in June – the 8th, the 9th & the 15th. These dates are the final night of Vivid Sydney 2024 and the main weekend nights of the King’s Birthday long weekend.

It should be noted that last year, only 6 nights were originally announced for drone shows. The 7th and final night were unannounced & unplanned but added due to the extraordinary demand for it. There is every chance additional nights will be added for 2024 but if they are added, they will only be on/announced around the 10th-14th June as an idea of 2024 drone show crowd numbers wouldn’t be confirmed until the 1st drone show on the 8th but if last year is any indication, there should be a drone show on at least all of these nights.

We’ve contacted Vivid Sydney‘s publicity agency, Ogilvy, as to why the drone shows have been halved & we received a response, but it didn’t answer our query, so we have placed it at the end of the article. Last year, we speculated that the 2024 drone shows would be on every night & twice a night (at 8pm & 10pm) on the peak nights of Fridays, weekends & the King’s Birthday public holiday.

Given the halving of drone shows, Vivid runs the risk of making what is already the most popular nights of the event – the weekend nights of the King’s Birthday long weekend – too popular as spectators may hold off on their visit until these drone show nights, which are very few in number, given the extraordinary crowds received for them last year. This is because people like to have the most complete experience in the shortest amount of time possible, particularly given the only time most people can allow themselves to have a holiday is that long weekend due to the public holiday on the Monday for the King’s Birthday.

Last year, 71,428 people attended each Written In The Stars drone show on average (including the surprise 7th drone show) – an at-capacity crowd for the drone show. 500,000 in total. Crowds seemed to peak around the drone show as it was an ‘event within an event’. It was not something that ran all night for 3 weeks. It happened only for 10 minutes per night or 3% of each Vivid Light night, for only 6 nights. It is literally blink-and-you-will-miss-it compared to the scale of the night, but it was a noticeable feature of the Vivid Light program/of the 23-day event, even though it was only advertised for just 6 nights. Being an unticketed event didn’t help to gauge likely crowd numbers pre-event but Circular Quay’s capacity was likely monitored and just within safe limits, even though the crowd may have been inconvenienced by having to wait to access Circular Quay’s transport hub due to the amount of people trying to get there all at once post-drone show.

Vivid Sydney has cautiously avoided promoting the drone show this year. They left it off the media launch announcement most likely to avoid it receiving maximum publicity, leaving it 3-4 weeks before adding it to their website and announcing it via social media.

Whilst we cannot be 100% sure when predicting crowd numbers, Sydney Spectaculars is expecting 194,000 people to attend per long weekend drone show in 2024, about a 270% increase on last year, due to the limited number of drone shows. Circular Quay cannot handle this amount of people at once. As implied earlier, Circular Quay’s capacity for a drone show is around 70,000 people. To have nearly 3 times that amount is dangerous, especially with a Harbour on 1 side. People falling into the water, crowd crushes & impatience leading to violence is all very possible if this situation plays out.

The full cancellation of most of Vivid Light on the just recent Saturday didn’t help. That meant about 174,000 people missed out their night and may return, most likely, on the drone show nights. That would add an extra 58,000 people per drone show to the numbers above. In other words, 252,000 people per drone show – nearly 4 times the amount of the average drone show audience of last year.

Vivid Sydney seems to have realised the possibility of chaos as they are suddenly promoting the fact that the drone show will be live streamed in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour but who goes out of the way to watch a drone show live stream in a park? That live stream will make no difference. In the end, this is just a warning to be cautious for now. Vivid Sydney has capacity limits, which we expect will be enforced but how would 66% of the 252,000 people react to missing the drone show? When Sydney NYE returned after the COVID-19 pandemic, latecomers to the Midnight Fireworks caused a crowd crush to occur in The Rocks and some even tried to watch from a pyro-laded Sydney Harbour Bridge. We expect the crowd to shift around The Rocks as this is the only potential vantage point left due to its uphill incline. Some may resort to watching from the Cahill Expressway & Sydney Harbour Bridge southern on-ramp walkways or even from a window of a tall building. Some may be clever enough to watch from Fleet Steps or in that vincinity.The crowd will likely then build up around Dawes Point, following the Vivid Light Walk if they are coming from that direction or throughout the CBD if they are showing up just for the drone show. This potential scenario we are predicting is significantly larger than the NYE2022 late crowd build-up, crush and security breaches. Notably, Vivid Sydney once had an even more serious but heavily under-reported crowd crush. Has Vivid Sydney learnt the lesson? Are they now underestimating the popularity of drone shows over Sydney Harbour? In any case, whether chaos ensues, or crowds are managed well, to spread the crowd out, Vivid Sydney should have been of the opinion – either more drone shows than last year or none at all.

As no extra drone shows were added before the opening weekend, which was another record-breaker in attendance, a couple of weeks ago, we would likely not find out how big the audience for the drone show is until the most popular Vivid Sydney night – the Saturday of the King’s Birthday long weekend – and by then, it is too late as there is only a week left of the event & whatever chaos would ensue the worst has already happened. People would have made plans for those 3 specific drone show nights and most people would likely be unable to change their plans to attend new dates. Drone shows are very difficult to book due to high demand so this may be the reason for only 3 drone shows this year (particularly as there was no Lights On! moment drone show like last year) but as we said before – either more than last year or none at all.

Anyway, back to the drone show itself, Love Is In The Air is a 10-minute drone show held at 9:10pm, assuming the weather is allowable for it to go ahead. The creative team behind the show is the same as last year’s Written In The Stars drone show with the technology provided by Australian Traffic Network, concept & direction by Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity Director, Gill Minervini & the soundtrack by Pee Wee Ferris (aka Pipi Le Oui). However, the show will be smaller than last year’s by 300 drones. In 2024, it will be a 700-drone show. While the theme of love is obvious, it will focus specifically on romantic love, telling a love story through drones with the creation of universal love symbols along the way.

After the drone show, we expect all but 2% of the crowd to leave Vivid Sydney. The remaining 98% will head home. Out of those heading home, 4% will walk to Martin Place to catch a bus, 9% to walk to Town Hall for the light rail while 87% will head to Circular Quay to catch a ferry or train. Out of those heading to Circular Quay, 6% will catch a ferry while 94% will catch a train. I don’t need to explain what happens next regarding trains but here are some tips for those heading to Circular Quay ferry wharves & train station.

For ferries, instead of waiting at Circular Quay, if you want to ultimately head to Pyrmont Bay, or a wharf west of Barangaroo, walk the direct route (20 minutes) or the Vivid Light Walk (46 minutes) to Barangaroo Wharf to catch the ferry. If it is urgent, remember there are private water taxi services available if they are not already booked.

For trains, instead of waiting at Circular Quay for a connecting train: If your station is on the Northern/North Shore/Western lines, walk the 10 minutes to Wynyard to catch a direct train home. If your station is on the Eastern Suburbs/Illawarra/South Coast line, walk the 13 minutes to Martin Place to catch a direct train home instead. If your station is on the Blue Mountains/Central Coast/Newcastle line, walk the direct route (35 minutes) or pass the time by walking the Vivid Light Walk (1 hour & 25 minutes) to Central for a direct train home.

Remember, the Vivid Light Walk switches off at 11pm so try & enjoy the lights before heading home to help spread out the ferry & train usage.

For more details on Love Is In The Air, click here.

The 2024 drone shows remain an exciting highlight as part of this year’s Vivid Sydney program & we are confident that everyone will be amazed by the artistry and innovation on display.

Each year, Vivid Sydney reviews and refreshes the program across Light, Music, Ideas & Food, with the focus on delivering a more impactful & refreshed experience for our audiences.

Although the number of shows has decreased, the duration & complexity of each performance are just as incredible. We encourage you to attend one of the drone show nights & enjoy the amazing view firsthand.

For more information on the 2024 drone shows & Vivid Sydney, please visit our website www.vividsydney.com.

‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity’ Spokesperson