Category: Sydney New Year’s Eve

The official boating exclusion zone map for Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2024 has revealed an extra pyrotechnic pontoon set will appear west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the 1st time ever while the Smoking Ceremony will have a slightly different route this year.

The boating exclusion zone map was released between mid-September & early October.

News of the extra western pyrotechnic pontoon set follows the earlier announcement on the 5th of September that the western lower arch, hangars & catwalk of the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be used for fireworks for the 1st time ever.

The extra western pyrotechnic pontoon set will not be precisely in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge but more in front of the Bridge’s southern half. It will be in front of Blues Point, north-west of Dawes Point & south-west of Luna Park.

It is unknown whether the western pontoon set will appear during Calling Country but it’s guaranteed to appear during the Midnight Fireworks. Its size is also unknown. Usually during the Midnight Fireworks, the eastern set consists of 4 pontoons spread out but all we can be sure is that the upcoming Midnight Fireworks will feature a minimum 1 pontoon in the west in addition to the eastern set. However, it is possible the eastern set will be reduced in size to allow for the creation of the western set. The size of the eastern set cannot be confirmed as yet. However, it can be confidently said at least 2 pontoons will remain on the eastern side.

Nevertheless, the next Midnight Fireworks looks set to be the most spectacular pyrotechnic display viewed from the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge since the Closing Night Harbour Spectacular of The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Sydney 2000.

The boating exclusion zone map also reveals the Smoking Ceremony, held from 7:30pm on board the Indigenous vessels, Tribal Warrior, Mari Nawi & Wirawi, will begin at Barangaroo’s ferry wharves before heading north past it’s Reserve, east past the Walsh Bay wharves, around Dawes Point before completing a lap of Circular Quay before heading to its centre, arriving & finishing there at around 8:30pm.

This is a slightly different route than last edition. Previously, it began at Towns Place Wharf at the western end of Walsh Bay (this wharf is closed for maintenance this year) & it also went out to near Fort Denison before turning around to re-enter Circular Quay.

Sydney NYE2024 begins at 7:30pm on 31 December 2024.

Sydney’s heritage-listed & State Parliament-protected theme park, Luna Park, has been officially listed as a Sydney New Year’s Eve vantage point for the 1st time. It is a paid ticketed 18 years old & above vantage point.

The listing was made on Thursday the 12th of September.

On New Year’s Eve, Luna Park will be hosting Harbour Party, which costed a minimum AUD$199 per ticket in September’s initial ticket release, though the price has since risen to AUD$299 for the final ticket release. The most expensive ticket was AUD$799, however, these are now sold out. Remaining tickets on sale are now AUD$549 or less.

This vantage point, with a capacity of 6,420, has disc jockeys (DJs) with artists including “The Netherlands’ most striking DJ duo”, Mr Belt and Wezol, Brooke Evers, Carolina Gasolina, Casual Connection, Discovery (A Daft Punk Tribute), Helena Ellis & Sydney NYE2022 Midnight Fireworks Soundtrack Artist, Stace Cadet.

Luna Park has always been open on New Year’s Eve since 1995, even when it was closed to the public all year round between 1996 & 2004, so being a vantage point is nothing new. What is new is it being officially listed. Whilst Sydney NYE has been held since 1976, Luna Park has only had a good view of the fireworks since 1990, when the Sydney Harbour Bridge was introduced to the display. The theme park was closed at the time and didn’t reopen until 1995.

This New Year’s Eve, fireworks will be fired for the 1st time off the western lower arch, hangars & catwalk of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. However, the Bridge’s light show will remain only on the eastern side still. The pylon projections will be on both the eastern & western sides of the Bridge though. Nevertheless, as it is located on the western side of the Bridge, this will give the vantage point of Luna Park it’s best viewing of the Midnight Fireworks yet.

Harbour Party is not an official Sydney NYE event though. However, the light show on the Ferris Wheel has been synchronised to the fireworks soundtracks since NYE2018, making that part of the night & park an official part of Sydney NYE.

First opening in 1935, Luna Park is one of 2 amusement parks in the world protected by legislation. The other amusement park is Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. Luna Park has been protected by legislation since 1990 & last reopened for all-year round operations in 2004 and is still operating today.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s western lower arch, hangars & catwalk will be used for fireworks for the 1st time ever this New Year’s Eve (NYE), according to the official & updated Sydney NYE website.

The Sydney NYE website was updated to its 2024 edition on Thursday the 5th of September.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s western upper arch has been used in the past to fire pyrotechnics. However, as the fireworks were fired directly above the Bridge, unless you were looking closely, you couldn’t tell whether the fireworks were fired from the western or eastern side of the upper arch. The use of the western upper arch was done only when Syd Howard Fireworks was the main pyrotechnic company for the Bridge.

They tended but not always put the shells that were fired the highest on the western upper arch. Sometimes, it may have been to make more room along the eastern upper arch. This was done from Sydney NYE1990-1998 & technology has changed significantly since then, particularly in computing technology, possibly making space considerations less of worry from the turn of the Millennium thus no longer needing the western upper arch.

The use of the western lower arch, hangars & catwalk for fireworks will, for the 1st time since the early 1990’s, allow spectators on the western side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to view the Bridge fireworks just like spectators on what is known as the ‘show side’ of the Bridge – the eastern side of the Bridge. The light show will still be only on the eastern side of the Bridge however.

The use of the western most lane on the roadway for fireworks is unlikely as the fireworks would look the same just when fired from the eastern most lane. It is for this reason, though applied to the upper arch, that we don’t think the western upper arch will be used once again – unless capacity limitations on the eastern upper arch necessitate the return of the western upper arch. The iconic waterfall effect is also likely to still be done from the eastern catwalk, again for the same reason.

This will be the most the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been used for fireworks since it was 1st used for pyrotechnics during the Royal Australian Navy 75th Anniversary Review Fireworks in October 1986. On that occasion, the eastern walkway & catwalk was used – the walkway for a set piece (pyrotechnic sign, which said ‘NSW Salutes The Royal Australian Navy’) & the catwalk for the debut of the iconic golden waterfall off the Bridge.

The only part of the Bridge not used for fireworks currently is the pylons. These were last used in 2013 during the International Fleet Review Spectacular for flame effects while it was last used for stationary pyrotechnics during the Midnight Fireworks of Sydney NYE2006 – A Diamond Night In Emerald City & moving ground pyrotechnics during the Midnight Fireworks of Sydney NYE2002 – The World’s Celebration In Union. It is understood heritage concerns prevent pyrotechnics from being used on the pylons often, especially ground pyro that breaks, after damage occurred during the Closing Night Harbour Spectacular of The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Sydney 2000. The only other time the pylons have been used for fireworks was during Sydney NYE1996 – Mask A Sydney Face. The pylons are overdue for another appearance but they are not expected to make an appearance for Sydney NYE2024.

In regard to the official website, whose design is quite modern this year, it will be updated even more in the lead up to the event with additional vantage points, location details, road closures & transport information.

Celebrating one of the biggest New Year’s Eve spectacles in the world takes planning so it’s important to us to ensure we enhance that visitor experience from the outset.

Pivotal to the visitor experience is making it as easy as possible to find out all the information they need to plan ahead for the big night.

I encourage everyone looking to celebrate New Year’s Eve to make arrangements in advance & explore our site for details about all the fantastic experiences Sydney has to offer.

Monica Barone, City Of Sydney Chief Executive Officer

Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) will continue to not have official themes & instead pursue a new visual identity for at least the next 3 editions from NYE2025 inclusive.

The City of Sydney is undertaking a 2-stage process to determine the successful visual identity.

The 1st stage is an expression of interest (EOI), which is open to any creative agency/consultancy. 

The 2nd stage will see the City Of Sydney select the best EOIs, no lower than the top 3, who will also be paid a fee of AUD$3000 (excluding Goods & Services Tax (GST)) by the City Of Sydney to improve on their EOIs & deliver their final full creative concept proposals along with requested financial quotes to them in a presentation.

The City of Sydney is requesting the creative concept proposal:

• provide a clear, consistent image/idea of Sydney NYE that is original & instantly recognisable
• acts as a graphic unifier for the event over time, providing consistency across the event from year to year 
• clearly positions Sydney as a cultural & creative city 
• showcases & promotes both Sydney & the City of Sydney
• excites & engages all stakeholders – audiences, businesses, sponsors & partners – to participate in Sydney NYE &
• leverages the event’s unique & attributable strengths creatively, avoiding predictability. 

The new visual identity should align with the event’s philosophy, which is that the event “is a bold, colourful & exciting celebration that marks the end of 1 year & the beginning of another, filled with hope & opportunity”.

It will provide a consistent visual “narrative” across decorations & marketing including online content, physical signage & communications.

For interested parties, it should be pointed out that Sydney & the City Of Sydney are 2 different things, though both are combined. ‘Sydney’ refers to the significant urban area of the Sydney basin, from the Pacific Ocean in the east to Katoomba in the west & Campbelltown and the Royal National Park in the south to the Hawkesbury River in the north. The ‘City Of Sydney’ refers to the local government area immediately south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge down to the industrial area of Beaconsfield as well east to Moore Park and west to the University Of Sydney.

Renumeration Dispute

The EOI was to initially close on Friday the 26th of July 2024 but just over a week after the EOI opened on the 1st of July, the City Of Sydney announced they will “pause” the EOI after complaints from designers regarding renumeration of the successful applicant.

The City Of Sydney was originally going to sign a AUD$70,000 (excluding GST) contract with the successful applicant to design the visual identity. That amount was likely for just the 1st of the 3 editions. The previous contract was valued at an average $73,333.3 per edition with $120,000 paid for the 1st edition when most of the work over 3 years was done. After consulting with the Australian Graphic Design Association, when the EOI reopened on Tuesday the 12th of November, it was announced the successful applicant would now sign a AUD$100,000 (excluding GST) contract to design the visual identity. It is likely this amount is still for the 1st edition only. However, it is notably AUD$20,000 less in value still from NYE2019.

The EOI will now close on Friday the 13th of December 2024. The best EOIs will be notified on Friday the 10th of January 2025 with Stage 2 presentations being held the next month on Wednesday the 5th of February.

Visual identities were introduced from NYE2019, replacing the iconic themes that occurred since the turn of the Millennium. Since NYE2019, the visual identity from Garbett Design has been the official visual identity of Sydney NYE.

Garbett Design’s contract with the City Of Sydney was extended by a year due to the New South Wales Government managing the NYE2020 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The contract expired after NYE2022 but the City Of Sydney kept using their visual identity for another 2 editions likely due to the Big Creative Ideas initiative heavily influencing the potential future of the event.

The Big Creative Ideas initiative begun in September last year and finished in January this year & was held to find new creative ideas, especially environmentally sustainable ones, for the City Of Sydney’s events including Sydney NYE. The news of the continuation of visual identities for Sydney NYE leads us to the conclusion that the idea of returning to official themes has not been taken up by the City Of Sydney. Sydney Spectaculars has been allocating unofficial themes to those editions from NYE2019 inclusive except NYE2021 when an official theme did come back for that edition only.

The successful designer for the Sydney NYE2025-2027 visual identity will sign the contract on Friday the 28th of February 2025 & the new visual identity will be unveiled no earlier than Friday the 16th of May later that year.

For more information & to submit an EOI, visit city.sydney/nye-eoi.

Sydney New Year’s Eve is objectively the best fireworks display in the world, illuminating our Harbour with stunning pyrotechnics to herald in the new year.

With half a billion people watching, this is an opportunity for a designer to have their work displayed on an international stage & I encourage everyone with an exciting creative concept to apply.

We’re looking for branding that will connect with audiences of all ages & backgrounds, locally, nationally & internationally with a message of inclusion, celebration & safety.

Clover Moore AO, City Of Sydney Lord Mayor

OPINION: It is ironic that the visual identity criteria again asks to avoid predictability whilst also providing consistency. This was also the case in the NYE2019 EOI. The continuation of visual identities instead of themes will see Sydney NYE still be rather predictable as has been the case since NYE2019 with a focus on a bigger and larger Midnight Fireworks with a new unique soundtrack each year. Calling Country will still be the most creative segment of the event with it having the same creative level as the iconic NYE1999-NYE2018 themed editions of the event.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has announced that their Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2024 concert on the Northern Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House will celebrate national youth radio station Triple J’s 50th anniversary.

Triple J first aired on the 19th of January 1975 as Double J before being renamed to it’s current name on the 11th of July 1980.

They will celebrate the 50th anniversary milestone by covering popular songs from Triple J’s Hottest 100 music polls, first held in 1989.

The announcement of the concert theme was made on Thursday the 9th of May 2024.

Last edition’s Happy New Year concert featured 34 songs. Based on this, here are our predictions on which 34 songs will feature at the 2024 concert based on previous Hottest 100 music polls:

1. Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan
2. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
3. The End – The Doors
4. Respect – Aretha Franklin
5. A Day in the Life – The Beatles
6. Imagine – John Lennon
7. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
8. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
9. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
10. Anarchy in the U.K. – Sex Pistols
11. Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
12. Alison – Elvis Costello
13. Rock Lobster – The B-52’s
14. Shivers – The Boys Next Door
15. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
16. Throw Your Arms Around Me – Hunters & Collectors
17. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
18. Heart-Shaped Box – Nirvana
19. Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
20. Wonderwall – Oasis
21. These Days – Powderfinger
22. Big Jet Plane – Angus & Julia Stone
23. Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People
24. Somebody That I Used to Know – Gotye featuring Kimbra
25. The Less I Know the Better – Tame Impala
26. Never Be Like You – Flume featuring Kai
27. Humble – Kendrick Lamar
28. Confidence – Ocean Alley
29. bad guy – Billie Eilish
30. Heat Waves – Glass Animals
31. Elephant – Tama Impala (The Wiggles cover)
32. Say Nothing – Flume featuring May-a
33. Believe – Cher (DMA’s cover)
34. Paint the Town Red – Doja Cat

As 2 of the songs we have predicted are covers, we are expecting the ABC to try and get The Wiggles & DMAs to perform live at the concert. DMA’s have previously performed at the concert at Sydney NYE2020 – Thank You.

All this is speculation for now, but confirmation of the artists should come from early December, when tickets for the concert also go on sale at the time of the Sydney NYE2024 media launch.

The City Of Sydney has awarded Foti International Fireworks the contract to provide the fireworks for Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2024 & 2025 with 2 two-year options to extend beyond those editions to up to & including NYE2029.

The decision was made unanimously at a City Of Sydney Corporate, Finance, Properties & Tenders Committee meeting on Monday the 14th of August 2023, where they also resolved to delegate the authority to finalise, execute & administer the contracts to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Monica Barone, before being finalised, also unanimously, at a City Of Sydney Council meeting on Monday the 21st of August 2023.

As part of the tender process for this contract, respondents had to provide information on initiatives to continue reducing the event’s environmental impact. This information will assist the City in analysing and reporting against the environmental performance of the event. After each edition of Sydney NYE, the CEO will provide an update to Councillors on the just completed edition’s environmental performance.

There were 2 respondents to the tender: Foti International Fireworks & Howard and Sons Pyrotechnics.

During the Corporate, Finance, Properties & Tenders Committee meeting on Monday the 14th of August 2023, the Deputy Lord Mayor at the time, Greens Councillor, Sylvie Ellsmore, revealed the City Of Sydney had considered a drone show over “8 sites” but this was deemed currently not viable when it was revealed to Councillors in a briefing they were given by their Council staff a week earlier.

The City Life Director, Emma Rigney, also revealed at that meeting that the contract is designed to be 2 years with 2 two-year optional extensions in case of any environmental improvements or alternatives arising out of the Big Creative Ideas initiative that was launched last year.

The contract was signed on Monday the 13th of November 2023 & is worth AUD$7,804,000 or AUD$1,300,666.7 per edition.

After the not the well thought out combined pyrotechnics & barges and tugs tender failed, the tender was split back into 2 portions for NYE2024-2029. The pyrotechnics was handled as above while the barges & tugs tender will now be advertised now a long-term pyrotechnic contract has been signed.

NSW Health is advising people who have been in the Sydney central business district (CBD) area (map above) on New Year’s Eve (NYE) to be on alert for symptoms of Legionnaires’ Disease after 7 people who have developed the disease spent time in the area in the last 3 weeks. This advice applies to anyone else who has been in the CBD since & including Christmas Eve (24 December).

Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease can develop up to 10 days from the time of exposure to contaminated water particles in the air & include fever, chills, a cough and shortness of breath and may lead to severe chest infections such as pneumonia.

Those most at risk are people with underlying lung or other serious health conditions & people who smoke. People who develop Legionnaires’ Disease are diagnosed by a urine or sputum test and chest X-ray & usually require antibiotic treatment in hospital.

The southern boundary of the area pictured above is roughly in line with Sydney Town Hall/southern Hyde Park while the northern boundary is Sydney Harbour.

The only vantage point in the area of concern is the Cahill Expressway. However, most people would have been affected on the way to & from any vantage point if their path of travel took them through the CBD such as via the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Eastern Suburbs or ferries to/from Circular Quay. People who attended Sydney NYE vantage points such as Darling Harbour, Barangaroo Reserve, Observatory Hill Park, Dawes Point (Tar-ra Park), Hickson Road Reserve, Campbells Cove, The Rocks, West Circular Quay, East Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House, The Domain: Tarpeian Lawn & the Royal Botanic Gardens: Bennelong Lawn, who are very likely to have traversed throughout the CBD from/to the event should also be especially cautious.

The 7 people who have already developed the disease, 3 women & 4 men, ranging in age from their 20’s to 70’s, independently visited locations in the CBD between Bathurst Street, Sussex Street, Elizabeth Street & Circular Quay in the 10 days prior to their symptoms. All have been admitted to hospital for treatment of pneumonia & have been identified with the Legionella bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease, which is often associated with contaminated cooling towers of large buildings. 

NSW Health environmental health officers are working closely with the City of Sydney to inspect cooling towers & review the CBD cooling towers’ maintenance records, which will help determine further towers to be inspected & sampled.  

Building managers with cooling towers are being contacted & informed of the cluster. Building owners should ensure that their cooling towers are operated & maintained in compliance with the NSW Public Health Regulation 2022.

People can be exposed to the Legionella bacteria if contaminated water particles from a cooling system are emitted into the air & breathed in. Legionnaires’ disease cannot be spread from person to person.

1 million people are expected to have attended Sydney New Year’s Eve 2023.

For more information about water cooling systems management contact your local public health unit on 1300 066 055 or https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/legionellacontrol/Pages/default.aspx​

For more information on Legionnaires’ disease visit: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/factsheets/Pages/legionnaires_disease.aspx

Sydney has, once again, showed the world how to live the party life after a spectacular conclusion to 2023 & welcome to 2024.

It began on a disappointing note though. The Fire Tug, announced to make its 1st appearance since New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2018, did not appear in the end.

However, the next event, the Smoking Ceremony, did go ahead & it was the biggest ever – with 3 vessels used for the 1st time.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge light show & pylon projection show started a surprise half an hour early before the visual broadcast began at 8:30pm, which revealed that at it’s beginning that Zan Rowe had finally been promoted to co-host of the entire broadcast after been the concert co-host since NYE2017. New roving co-host Concetta Caristo, after a brief appearance from the eastern roadway of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Fortunato Foti, the Sydney NYE2023 Fireworks Director, in what was probably the 1st ever live television cross to the Bridge on NYE, partially co-hosted the last 90 minutes of the concert.

In another surprise, the message stick presentation from Indigenous elders to the City Of Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, took place at the end of the Welcome To Country rather than at the end of the Calling Country: Live Performance, as it has been done in the past. More surprisingly, it was relegated to the back of the stage rather than onstage and so only via television.

The Bluey & Bingo Moment followed but it started a couple of minutes early – potentially causing some revellers to miss the first 2 minutes of the Moment. This was probably because Bluey is an ABC-co-commissioned production for television &as a result, they were allowed to determine the precise timing of the Moment – for television audiences – which was a minute earlier than advertised for people down on the Harbour. It was live in both instances.

Calling Country then started. The live performance & fireworks were, once again, combined after being separate last edition. This meant it started at 8:57pm – 3 minutes before 9pm. It also opened with a film on television before 8:57pm – it’s unsure if this is technically part of Calling Country or just the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) broadcast. However, it was well-produced film that did set the stage for the main performances & displays, which were again, together with that film, the greatest annual expression of Indigenous creativity & culture on this continent.

The biggest surprise though came during Calling Country when it was revealed, for the 1st time since 2008, the Sydney Harbour Bridge catwalk was not used as part of the 9pm fireworks display.

When Calling Country finished, the ABC didn’t let the end of the segment slow the party – they went straight into the concert with a set by King Stingray. It allowed the flow to not be disrupted.

The rest of the event was standard Sydney including the iconic Midnight Fireworks. However, the ABC did slack in the broadcast of the Pink & Sydney Opera House 50th Anniversary Moments. The latter may have been affected by the late inclusion of Harry Connick Junior to the concert line-up, who appeared 25 minutes earlier than expected at around 11:05pm, but either way, the Moments only lasted a few minutes & could have been shown in full. It is unknown if the Moments had soundtracks either as the music played at the Concert, unlike previous years, was not stated by the hosts to have a special link to the Moments.

This, along with the message stick presentation during the Welcome To Country & the timing of the Bluey & Bingo Moment, gives a strong feeling that there is a push to make Sydney New Year’s Eve more of a ‘television event’, like Australia Day LIVE. Last night’s broadcast was ABC’s 10th since regaining the rights in 2013 and the City Of Sydney relies very heavily nowadays on the ABC for the event – the question now is are they starting to rely too much on them?

‘Television events’ are very different to ‘in-person’ events. ‘Australia Day LIVE’ is the prime example. Spectators at the event may have to watch a big screen to see the event for hours as the event is designed for viewers at home rather than at the event. Sometimes, there are rarely any ‘in-person’ segments but a heavy reliance on short films being broadcast to make ‘the event’. Also, if a commercial broadcaster is running it, spectators at the event would experience gaps in the event for television commercials. ABC is a public non-commercial broadcaster.

It should be noted the Moments never used to broadcast but ABC, until last night, started to broadcast them complete with synchronised music from the concert, to really bring ‘the event’ to people’s lounge rooms. The message stick presentation was also, until last night, primarily seen by the people at the ABC concert. This means these are not historically unusual but the trend is going the other way from a ‘broadcast of an event’ to an ‘event designed for television’ – and the latter is not good for spectators attending ‘in-person’ & thus, the actual ‘event’.

While the City Of Sydney did show the world how to live the party life this NYE, the ABC has started to head the other way after so many years of success since their disastrous NYE2013 & NYE2014 broadcasts. It was not a total disaster like those 2 broadcasts. In fact, overall, it was, again. a very well-produced broadcast. It’s just that they didn’t show everything like they used to & relegated part of a segment backstage, meaning it was all but perfect.

My rating for the Sydney NYE2023 event: 8/10

And lastly, great to see Genesis Owusu appear on the concert stage singing after pulling out at the last minute on NYE2021!