High costs have forced Vivid Sydney organisers to not hold a drone show at this year’s edition of the festival, themed Dream.
The high costs come from the increased need for public safety resources following last year’s near-crowd crushes of 94,000 people at the 1st of 3 drone shows, which has now resulted in New South Wales (NSW) Police & Transport For NSW raising concerns around the drone show format & its crowd management, which were shockingly to be the same measures/format as last year’s disastrous implementation. A quarter of a million people attended last year’s 1st drone show, over double the average daily attendance.
Another claimed reason is reports of drones falling from the sky during major events worldwide.
When Vivid first held a drone show in 2016, it took 6 years for the next one to be held.
The media launch of Vivid Sydney 2025 – Dream will be held next Wednesday.
Unfortunately, we have had to make the difficult decision not to proceed with drones this year.
The changes required to mitigate the safety risk at Vivid Sydney 2025 created a significant increase in cost.
We don’t want to tip all our money into those costs or into those measures.
In the broader context of rising costs for staging events, Destination NSW has decided this is not the best allocation of resources
What we prefer to do is have a really successful event for 2025.
As far as Sydney Spectaculars is aware, only 1 drone has ever fallen at Vivid Sydney. A total of 10,500 drones have flown since the 1st drone show in 2016. Making it a 1 in 10,500 chance that a drone would fall at Vivid so very unlikely. While there have been significant malfunctions at other events globally including in Australia, these are rare. The drone shows are also held over Circular Quay with a launch from a barge in Campbell’s Cove. Drones are more likely to fall into the Quay then onto Campbell’s Cove crowds & if they did, Campbell’s Cove only needed to be sealed off. Drones may go wayward flying wherever they want but that is hard to predict to occur particularly as they are not programmed to do that. It is highly likely, in our opinion, that the real sole reason for the drone show’s non-appearance in 2025 is due to last year’s crowd crushes.
However, to add more drone shows to spread the crowd out (unlike last year, when they surprisingly reduced the amount of drone shows despite their popularity), probably is currently too expensive for the event. The most drone shows Vivid has ever held in 1 edition is 8. To make drone shows at Vivid Sydney safe, they need 35: 1 per night except on Friday, the weekends & the King’s Birthday public holiday, when 2 per night should be held. As drone show costs continue to decline, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they return eventually but this may not be for a generation (30 years) at the current rate of growth.
NSW Police & Transport For NSW effectively admitted their incompetence for last year’s edition by saying this year’s proposed drone shows, which were shockingly planned to be the same as last year just with a different theme, were unsafe when last year’s clearly were also & they didn’t say a word. We all saw the outcome of that.
A relaunch of Elevate Sydney, Sydney’s 1st annual drone show, which was axed in 2023 due to NSW Government cost cutting, should now be considered, though maybe held in a different time slot to increase crowds. It was previously held in the week after New Year’s Eve, when Sydney is still recovering from its big night & thus receiving low crowds. However, any relaunch needs to have attendance capped to 70,000 with the number of shows held proportional to the total interest in the drone shows to prevent the Vivid situation. As stated before, this is a minimum of 35 shows during the Vivid period. Unlike Elevate, Vivid‘s drone show crowds though were amplified by the dense crowds already attending Vivid on those nights, which the event was already infamous for.
Since the 2nd of December 2024, applications have been open for Vivid Sydney 2025 – Dream‘s local business program!
There are 3 tiers:
Business showcase
Lights On Sydney Harbour
Light Up My Building
Tier 1 is only open to businesses that operate between 6pm & 11pm & that operate within this area:
Vivid Sydney Local Business Program Tier 1 Area Image: Vivid Sydney
Lights On Sydney Harbour sees a maximum of 40 cruise businesses (priority given to ones who operate on more Vivid nights), at their own cost, install a shoe-box sized 4th generation (4G) modem powered with a standard Australian mains connection & good 4G reception securely on their vessel. A reputable and qualified lighting supplier is then procured & financed to develop & deliver an external vessel static wash lighting treatment up to 160LBG pixels utilising RGB or RGBW colour mixing, whose design is approved by Vivid Sydney & who then provide the professional installation of a lighting controller box.
Light Up My Building sees businesses illuminating their prominent buildings at their own cost, using free lighting controllers provided by Destination New South Wales.
If successful, Vivid Sydney will, to their audience promote your business, which will receive access to Vivid Sydney Local Business Program assets including a digital toolkit & professionally installed A2 window decals (150 Tier 1 businesses max) & 1 metre diameter height adjustable (max 1.8 metres) transparent round pre-programmed light emitting diode screen (60 Tier 1 businesses max), the power of which is supplied by the business. The decals & screen will be given preference to businesses on or near the Vivid Light Walk with suitable windows & prominent, highly visible screen installation locations respectively.
Businesses can only apply for 1 tier. An information webinar will be held in February with application evaluations being made from March.
Applications can be made here until 5pm AEST on Friday the 11th of April 2025. All applicants will be notified of their application outcome by the next working week. Being successful in an application for a food business does not mean you are part of Vivid Food. Expressions of interest to be part of Vivid Food closed on the 27th of September last year.
Vivid Sydney 2025 – Dream is to be held between Friday the 23rd of May & Saturday the 14th of June.
Circular Quay drone shows, Vivid Sydney water shows, Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour, Australia SailGP & fireworks from barges over Sydney Harbour at any time of the year are under threat from a proposed high-density housing development at Glebe Island. This does not affect Sydney NYE2024 (the upcoming edition).
Glebe Island is home to a port with 260 metres of deep waterfront wharf space, where Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour‘s enormous stage is prepared before been moved to Fleet Steps. Barges & pontoons are also moored at Glebe Island for the preparation of pyrotechnic displays & drone shows held from them. For the pyrotechnics, cranes are used to load the fireworks onto the barges & pontoons while for both drones & fireworks, the barges & pontoons are then moved into Sydney Harbour (or in the drone shows’ case, moored at Campbells’ Cove) for the displays. The same also applies for the annual water show held in Cockle Bay during Vivid Sydney, whose water pump infrastructure is first prepared at Glebe Island while Australia SailGP requires the delivery of 120 shipping containers.
Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE), the most significant annual pyrotechnic event on Sydney Harbour, uses 6 barges and 4 pontoons. Without these, the display would be reduced to just the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House & city buildings. Fireworks displays at any other time of year & drone/water shows as well as Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour & Australia SailGP will be impossible to be held.
And according to Adam Huie of Banks Events, who has helped produce Sydney Spectaculars (the events, not the blog) since 1997, that’s what will happen if Glebe Island is no longer a port.
First things first, Glebe Island is a bit of a misnomer. It was an island originally, but it doesn’t exist anymore. It was joined to the mainland just over a century ago but now, fast forward to 2016.
On the 14th of November 2016, the New South Wales (NSW) Government announced Sydney Metro West, an underground rapid transit line. One of its proposed stations is to be at The Bays precinct, “Sydney’s new innovation hub where 95 hectares of land is being regenerated”.
Green: Glebe Island, Brown: Reclaimed Land, Blue Line: Sydney Metro West (under construction), Blue Boxes: Sydney Metro West Stations (under construction).
At the time, the land regeneration wasn’t to include Glebe Island, which was instead marked as “for further study”.
The Bays Precinct Urban Renewal Area In 2014 Image: The Sydney Morning Herald
And indeed, further study it was, in secret. On the 25th of July this year, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the NSW Government had secretly commissioned a review into Glebe Island. The now not-so-secret review is being undertaken by Michael Schur, a consultant who was a former NSW Treasury secretary in 2011, who will also review the non-cruise ship terminal portion of the White Bay foreshore. He will be assessing options including:
Retaining the ports with no nearby high-density housing
Moving the ports for nearby high-density housing
Building a hybrid model
The proposal by the NSW Government to turn it into high-density housing is made due to the now-under construction The Bays Metro Station, which would be able to handle large amounts of passengers & therefore, potential residents. The NSW Government later admitted the review was real.
Tom Forrest, Urban Taskforce Chief Executive said Glebe Island had the potential to be Sydney’s next Barangaroo which he described as “vibrant, open & perfect” but industry wants to stay at Glebe Island.
For example, the Port Authority of NSW, a corporation of the NSW Government, while supporting the Schur review, is opposed to the Glebe Island port closing down or being relocated. As noise, pollution & truck movements are all key considerations in whether the hybrid model can work, they even warned against that option, saying “sensitive uses” near ports & shipping threatened to upset operations. It is this position that has led event producers to not make a collective submission.
The NSW Liberal Party is also opposed to the relocation while Stuart Aryes, Urban Development Institute Of Australia, Chief Executive said a mixed-use precinct “could be a new jewel in the Sydney Harbour crown”.
The City Of Sydney, in a statement (below), gave a response which sounds like a wait and see approach with supreme confidence. The confidence is justified as Glebe Island/White Bay has not always been the location the pyrotechnic barges been prepared from. For example, in 1996, Wooloomooloo was the location for the set-up of the main barge used in the 9pm Family Fireworks that year. It relocated to White Bay/Glebe Island the following year.
However, Adam Huie told Sydney Spectaculars (the blog this time) that Wooloomooloo is “now occupied by other uses and unavailable”. You can read his full comments, which were published by The Daily Telegraph, at the bottom of this article.
The review is likely to be published by the end of the year.
The Sydney NYE2024 Glebe Island media call is on Friday the 27th of December at 10am & it wouldn’t be a surprise if questions are asked there about this situation.
Sydney NYE2024 is on at 7:30pm on the 31st of December while Australia SailGP returns on the 8th-9th of February with Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour 2025 being held between March 21 and April 20 & will be musical Guys & Dolls this edition.
There is a range of things that you could do with Glebe Island that are better than the way it has been used for a long period of time & one of those is obviously housing.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister Of Australia
If the government has an announcement to make, it will be made at an appropriate time.
NSW Government Spokesperson
The harbour is our jewel in the crown & Glebe Island supports that gem. Our harbour is also more complex & multifaceted than people realise so while we excel at events, they need a platform supporting them.
Margy Osmond, Tourism & Transport Forum Australia Chief Executive Officer
The government’s own department is telling them that this is a bad idea – that should tell you all you need to know.
Natalie Ward, NSW Legislative Councillor
Any proposed plans for the Glebe Island site is a matter for the state government.
Our experience over the years has meant we are adept at working around evolving changes to the event’s production to ensure we continue to deliver one of the world’s most spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations.
City Of Sydney Spokesperson
(Barangaroo) That’s the sort of vision we need to see. Maintaining Sydney as a quasi-working harbour was a prospect that was abandoned by governments 30 years ago. Continuing to operate a hybrid model ensures the Bays Precinct will fail to deliver its potential. The last thing we want is to keep that giant hardstand area in order to satisfy the old Maritime Services Board.
Tom Forrest, Urban Taskforce Chief Executive
Sydney will struggle to be a better city without Glebe Island. The thought that the fireworks & other major events could be in jeopardy is truly alarming. Access to Glebe Island for preparing events is vital for the events sector & for Sydney’s economy, tourism and culture.
Paul Nicolau, Business Sydney Executive Director
We live here because of the working harbour.
Elizabeth Elenius, Pyrmont Action Group Founder
We use Glebe Island for a lot of events that mean so much to this city.
Because the Port Authority has had management of the site and their support for events is strong. We’ve seen that as the state government supporting our events but this report that’s coming has given everyone the jitters. We don’t know what is going on. These events are too important to Sydney. People around the world know us for our NYE celebrations. It would be terrible if we had to scale that back because a necessary work site was not available.
There’s quite a number of events that use that space as an essential part of their work. There’s Australia Day, Vivid, SailGP and Opera On The Harbour. They would all have major issues putting on some of their events without Glebe Island.
The drone show for Vivid in June required 110m of wharf space at Glebe Island for 4 weeks to build a barge & install the equipment allowing 800 drones to take off. Every city in the world that SailGP operates in, they deliver essentials by ship & set up on a wharf. If Sydney doesn’t have Glebe Island port, where are they going to go? All these events need waterfront access on the harbour.
People have spent years trying to work out how to deliver the New Year’s Eve fireworks if Glebe Island suddenly wasn’t available. We’ve never come up with a solution. The only sensible option would be to scale back on the event & surely no one wants that. Sydney has one of the best fireworks displays in the world, but the event could not be done the way it’s currently done without that Glebe Island facility.
I’d laugh at anyone suggesting (Port Botany, Kembla, Newcastle) that. There’s no way you’d be loading barges there & then shipping them here. Logistics require clear weather windows of opportunity. It would be unworkable, virtually impossible but why does that even have to be considered when we’ve got a working wharf right here?
Vivid Sydney, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest multi-artform festival, is owned, managed & produced by Destination New South Wales. Vivid Sydney 2025 – Dream will take place from Friday the 23rd of May to Saturday the 14th of June 2025.
Taking home the award for ‘Best Cultural, Arts Or Music Event’ speaks volumes to the impact Vivid Sydney continues to have in its 15th year.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity’ Director
This prestigious award reinforces Sydney’s reputation as the premier visitor destination in the Asia-Pacific & cements its position as the cultural, arts and music powerhouse of the nation.
Steve Cox, Destination New South Wales Chief Executive Officer
Meanwhile, the Technical Direction Company, who work on several Sydney Spectaculars won ‘Production Company Of The Year’ & ‘Event Supplier Of The Year’ for the 1st time. These awards were introduced last year.
Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity has won 8 gold medals at the International Festival & Events Association’s (IFEA) Pinnacle Awards.
The Pinnacle Award winners were announced during the IFEA Annual Convention & Expo in Pittsburgh, the United States of America.
The IFEA’s Pinnacle Awards celebrate the best in event innovation, creativity & excellence in categories ranging from programming and marketing campaigns to sustainability initiatives.
Owned, managed & produced by Destination New South Wales (NSW), Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity attracted 2.42 million attendees from Friday the 24 of May to Saturday the 15th of June 2024.
Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity won the following gold medals:
Best Event Website
Best Promotional Poster
Best Sponsor Activation – Sennheiser
Best Overall Sponsorship Program
Best Accessibility Program
Best Overall Entertainment Program
Best Event/Program Within an Event to Benefit A Cause – Our Shared Humanity at Refettorio OzHarvest
Best Event (Within an Existing Festival) – Tekno Train by Paul Mac
They also won 9 silver medals:
Best TV Promotion
Best Video Promotion
Best Radio Promotion
Best Facebook Site
Best Instagram Site
Best Digital/Social Ad Series
Best Promotional Photograph
Best Outdoor Billboard
Best Street Banner
They also won a single bronze medal for Best Multimedia Component.
Vivid Sydney 2025 – Dream will take place from Friday the 23rd of May to Saturday the 14th of June 2025.
I am so proud that Australia’s largest festival of light, music, ideas & food has received 18 medals at the 2024 Pinnacle Awards.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity’ Festival Director
Winning 18 medals at the 2024 Pinnacle Awards provides global recognition for the Southern Hemisphere’s largest multi-artform festival.
Steve Cox, Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer
Barani, an Indigenous computer animation show projection mapped onto the roof of the Australian National Maritime Museum during Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity, has joined the Museum permanently, though not on its roof.
Barani during Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity Photograph: Destination New South Wales
It will now continue within the building in the Museum’s Bamal Yarning Space. However, unlike at Vivid, it is now just a simple, ordinary projection – there is no mapping involved.
The announcement was made on August 19 2024.
Developed by Studio Gilay, Barani – a Gadigal word meaning ‘yesterday’ – is a mother and son story, exploring themes of love, compassion, connection, independence & the inextricable link between humanity and nature, all set in Warrane (Sydney Cove) 500 years ago.
Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity was owned, managed & produced by Destination New South Wales while the Australian National Maritime Museum is located on the shores of Darling Harbour & is open, with free entry, every day between 10am & 4pm.
The Australian National Maritime Museum also has on exhibit one of the Schooling Banner Fish lanterns from the Sea Creatures Parade during Sydney New Year’s Eve 1999 – Sydney’s Millennium.
Barani is in part about the visibility of the women as fisherwoman, the first commercial merchants in what would become the colony. They saw the starvation of the newcomers & saw an opportunity to prosper as well as provide with the wisdom of their knowledge. Victimhood at the time was not part of their vocabulary.
Rhoda Roberts, ‘Barani’ Project Ambassador
Watching the storyboards develop for the Barani project, I could see that this was turning into an incredibly special project.
It’s quite incredible how many pieces of information about Sydney’s Aboriginal past informed the overall concept of the animation. I think the part I enjoyed seeing the most was the revitalisation of the fishing song, first documented in 1791 & performed for the Barani animation by Jacinta Tobin, Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs for the 1st time in many years. Barani is primarily a story of joy & learning, learning from family and learning from country & captures the story of Sydney’s Sea Country beautifully.
Matt Poll, Australian National Maritime Museum Indigenous Programs Manager
It is wonderful to give this excellent piece of storytelling a long public life & it now underpins a new initiative in our primary education program. Based on the Vivid Sydney 2024 theme – Humanity, it tells a story of the people who protected the harbour for generations. It encourages us to stop & listen, to look & to learn, to connect & protect what surrounds us. We thank Vivid Sydney for their vision in helping to bring this to life.
Daryl Karp, Australian National Maritime Museum Director
I am incredibly proud that Vivid Sydney 2024’s legacy has resulted in Barani receiving a permanent home at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The theme of the 2024 festival was Humanity. It aimed to foster connections, spark imagination & showcase the multitude of ways creativity enriches our lives. Barani uses First Nations wisdom to connect people more deeply with the world around us.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney‘ 2024 – ‘Humanity’ Director
Vivid Sydney has announced that the event will be themed Dream next year while Taronga Zoo will potentially return to the event after being absent last edition to allow a potential inclusion of experiences in the Music, Ideas & Food pillars of Vivid. However, the possibility of no Vivid Light experiences at Taronga Zoo has also been raised.
Vivid is aiming to return Taronga Zoo to the event after this year’s absence. The Zoo will only be excluded if they do not receive any acceptable ideas for the iconic zoo to feature in the event. Suggestions Vivid made themselves of potential Taronga Zoo events include playful, immersive installations (Light), outdoor feasts (Food), experiences (Music) & talks (Ideas).
The wide variety of potential events indicates the possibility that Taronga Zoo will be open at night with extended opening hours during Vivid rather than as a special night event as it was in the past. Until 2023, Taronga Zoo had been part of Vivid Sydney since 2016 as part of Vivid Light with an animal lantern walk through the Zoo as well as a projection mapping show on the top entrance.
With iconic views looking out to the Sydney central business district & Harbour Bridge, the Zoo provided a rounded Vivid Light experience that was very popular with families especially as it was far from the very crowded main event precinct of Circular Quay. The Zoo’s 1-way directional loop, implemented especially for Vivid, added to the very comfortable experience of the Zoo’s Vivid Light experience compared to the Quay.
The Zoo’s absence from the event this year was a sudden surprise. To hear of it’s potential return is good news. It was one of the brighter additions of Vivid over the years.
These announcements were made on August 6.
What do you dream about?
Everything starts with a dream, a wish, an idea.
Vivid Sydney 2025 is pushing the creative boundaries across our theme of Dream to deliver another unforgettable global celebration.
Dreaming is something we all do. It’s as old as time & as universal as life itself. Dreams don’t discriminate. They are borderless, ageless & endless. They can be personal or public. Prophetic, life changing & inspirational, they can also be trivial, hilarious & terrifying.
Dreams are free.
When shared, our dreams can become a movement. They can inspire, motivate, spark excitement & connection.
The whole world dreams. It is something we have in common, something that unites us. Our human story is embedded in dreams. They help explain our existence & our past.
Ancient cultures share the belief that dreams are significant, that they occupy a space outside the everyday & offer an insight into a deeper understanding of ourselves and our connection to the universe and everything in it.
To dream is to create new worlds, desires & hope. A place where we can imagine the future, a world different to the one we are in. A better world.
Dreams have no rules. They are playgrounds for our imagination, opening doors to creativity & innovation. They help us with problem solving, memory, learning & inspiration. Dreams evoke creativity, the motivation for many artists, the impetus for great stories, music & art.
For centuries, scholars & artists have analysed & utilised dreams. Yet to dream still invokes mystery, the blurring of the line between reality & imagination, a window into the subconscious. The place where anything is possible & there are no limits, where everything is open to interpretation.
In 2025, Vivid Sydney invites you to dream big. To go to the outer reaches of your mind, to think differently, without boundaries or preconceptions & to immerse yourself in new experiences and ideas. We want you to dream with the lights on, to daydream, to dream without boundaries, to soar.
We want to share our dreams with you in 2025. Dreams that take you out of your everyday, that inspire awe, joy & discovery. Dreams that delight, provoke & engage – the motivational, the emotional, the beautiful & the quirky. Vivid dreams expressed through light, music, ideas & food in the most beautiful & inspirational city in the world.
Make your dreams come true in 2025.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney‘ 2025 – ‘Dream‘ Director
Sydney New Year’s Eve previously had its own dream theme in 2011 called Time To Dream. The narrative of the night, told through the former Bridge Effect, saw semi-circle bands of colour appear one at a time before forming a rainbow during the 9pm Family Fireworks. From then, until Midnight, a thought bubble appeared and grew before during the Midnight Fireworks the finite rainbow, grew to an endless rainbow.
Vivid Sydney 2025 – Dream will take place fromFriday 23 May to Saturday 14 June 2025.
The media launch will be in March next year.
Vivid Sydney is owned, managed & produced by Destination New South Wales (NSW), the NSW Government’s tourism & major events agency.
Our analysis reveals what people thought was the case in 2024 – the Vivid Light Walk was not as entertaining as the previous year. The below graphs are designed to follow the Light Walk, from Bennelong Point to Railway Square. The lower the line, the less entertaining the Light Walk was.
As you can see 2023’s line is notably higher & fluctuating more than 2024’s line, this signals an entertaining Light Walk with something new always around the corner, particularly at the Museum Of Contemporary Art, the Sydney Harbour Bridge south-eastern pylon, Tumblalong Park, the Powerhouse Museum & Central Railway Station. Whilst Barangaroo Reserve was a significant rise in attention-grabbing, the line notably dips at the Barangaroo development just south of the Reserve & around the western and eastern shores of Cockle Bay in Darling Harbour – the only parts deemed not entertaining, though Cockle Bay’s dip is due to the best vantage point for the Bay’s water light show being on the southern shore.
2024’s line though is nearly flat with the Light Walk only entertaining around West Circular Quay & around Tumblalong Park and The Goods Line. Again, take into account Cockle Bay’s water light show. This time the line only significant peaks at The Goods Line. It seems like The Goods Line has been a target for this year’s edition particularly as the popular Fire Kitchen of Vivid Food (The Fire Kitchen is not part of the Vivid Light Walk) was relocated there after making its debut at Barangaroo Reserve in 2023.
Vivid‘s planning relies on interest from the artists. Expressions of interest (EOI) are advertised in August the year prior, closing around October. If there are less EOIs, there will be less installations – nothing Vivid Sydney can do about that. In 2023, there were 54 Light Walk installations. This year, there was 32 Light Walk installations – a decline of 40%.
The lack of activation in Walsh Bay & Barangaroo Reserve could have spread crowds out but given the line is so low, those areas may have looked like any ordinary night for spectators & so they turned around and headed back into Circular Quay, exacerbating the crowds waiting &/or watching the drone show.
I will point out that Vivid may have made another critical error here. Whilst last year’s drone shows were obviously extremely popular, the organisers may have only received 1 EOI for a drone show & for 3 nights only due to availability. They may then have accepted it as ‘better than no drone show’ and forgot to take into account the concept’s popularity due to the well-used EOI process. This was partly how the 2016 near-crowd crush occurred.
A counterargument to that is that the event’s director, Gill Minervini, personally creatively directed the drone show. She also creatively directed the extremely popular 2023 drone shows called Written In The Stars so she will have been well aware of their popularity & thus could have insisted on a requirement for more drone shows or none at all.
Those near-crowd crushes may have had an effect on the attendance as it occurred on the busiest day of the event. The next 2 days were expected to be the 2nd & 3rd busiest days of the event. The event’s final night was also expected to be a significant night with the final drone show but that drone show got cancelled. Whilst Circular Quay reached capacity the night after the near-crowd crushes, this might not have been enough to indicate usual attendance as we predicted a quarter of a million people to attend & Circular Quay’s capacity is around 70,000 so we can only be sure that 70,000 people attended the 2nd scheduled drone show unlike the previous night, where we are sure a quarter of a million people showed up, capacity wasn’t enforced, resulting in 94,000 affected by the near-crowd crushes.
All this has resulted in a first for Vivid Sydney – a decline in attendance & not just a small decline. It was 900,000 people less at 2.42 million. This after breaking the record last edition to 3.3 million. Whilst we speculated Vivid‘s approaching peak in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent 2 consecutive cancellations, prolonged the time before Vivid reached its peak. Last year’s drone shows resulted in an extraordinarily high record attendance, which puts to question why organisers didn’t see how 2024’s drone shows wouldn’t be as popular.
Whilst Vivid Sydney‘s creativity is ensured, its logistics and engagement (and not just on social media) needs improving.
The final Love Is In The Air drone show at Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity has been cancelled. It will not be rescheduled due to the event ending tonight.
Drones are highly vulnerable in rain as well as wind of 28 kilometres per hour (km/h) or higher. The Bureau Of Meteorology Terrey Hills radar picked up a “significant” rain/wind “cell approaching”, which the drone show provider, the Australian Traffic Network, concluded would arrive at 9:10pm, the same time as the start of the drone show. Despite forecasts of south-westerly winds at speeds of 17km/h, the approaching cell must have contained minimum 28km/h winds. They then made the decision to cancel “to ensure the safety of the public” around 8:15pm, with Vivid Sydney announcing it at 8:43pm.
Whilst official online posts referred to “forecasted weather conditions”, screens at the event said “inclement weather”.
We’re obviously monitoring the, the weather all the way through yesterday, yesterday: late afternoon & we’ve got, you know, a team of 10 pilots who would have been full operating, full time operations running, running our drone light show so it was about 8:15 last night our Pilot In Command had to make that difficult but critical decision to cancel the final drone show last night that was scheduled for 9:10. The decision was driven by pilot experience, forecasted rains & continuous monitoring of the Bureau Of Meteorology for 2.5 hours before the planned launch. During this period, we tracked a significant weather cell approaching, expected to coincide with our flight time.
The primary reason for this decision was to ensure the safety of the public. The risk of launching drones in such conditions was too great. Flying in poor weather conditions could lead to drone malfunctions or collisions, posing significant safety hazards to the audience.
The potential for malfunction or loss of control in adverse weather conditions presented an unacceptable risk. The Pilot In Command made his best judgement call for the safety & protection of everyone involved.
We fully understand the disappointment this has caused but the wellbeing of the audience & adherence to safety standards must always come first. We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of Vivid Sydney 2024.
We had 2 amazing drone shows last weekend. We’re as disappointed as everybody else but I’m, I’m, I’m, um, I’m happy that I’m talking at this point at not launching them and having a malfunction.
Vic Lorusso, Australian Traffic Network Chief Executive Officer
Sydney Spectaculars saw the Bureau Of Meteorology rain radar last night & while there was a significant band of rain off the coast, which is likely the cell the Australian Traffic Network saw, the speed at which it was travelling, in our opinion, would not have allowed it to reach Circular Quay by the scheduled end time of the drone show, which might explain why a lot of spectators thought the cancellation was odd in, to them, otherwise fine conditions: The speed of the approaching rain/wind band may have been overestimated by Australian Traffic Network. The 27-minute delay in communication from the Pilot in Command to Vivid Sydney event management to the general public also did not help.
Other than the fact it was the event’s final night, it was not postponed to a later hour as Circular Quay needed to re-open to marine traffic.
Whilst crowds were anticipated to be a third down on last Saturday & Circular Quay has a capacity of around 70,000, 167,000 people were probably affected by tonight’s cancellation.
Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, the Vivid Sydney drone show will not proceed this evening. The show will not be rescheduled, as tonight marks the conclusion of Vivid Sydney 2024. We apologise for the inconvenience & thank you for understanding. Please be patient when exiting.
We’re very disappointed that our final drone show was cancelled. Drone operation is very sensitive & the shows are weather dependent. Public safety is paramount & ‘Vivid Sydney’ follows the direction and advice of the specialist operators of the drones.
Vivid Sydney
In response to a question put by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to Vivid Sydney at 6:30pm about whether the drone show would proceed, organisers said:
Drone shows are very hard to book & there is a shortage of barges currently in New South Wales. Therefore, the limited number of drone shows might have been due to the availability of both drone shows & barges to host them from.
The next day (Sunday 16th of June), the New South Wales (NSW) Premier, Chris Minns, acknowledged that families and children would have been disappointed but said the late notice by Vivid Sydney had nothing to do with “inconveniencing” people:
I am really sorry about last night. A lot of families & a lot of kids were looking forward to it so it’s deeply regrettable & I’m sincerely sorry for it. Uh, the decision was made by the, the drone operator & it was completely weather dependent. They made the call as late as possible not to inconvenience families but to actually see whether they could go ahead with the program in any event. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
I know families are doing it really tough at the moment & the free entertainment that comes about as a result of Vivid & the drone show is welcome because it means you can take your kids and family out & it doesn’t cost anything to see it.
We are determined to see more of that in Sydney particularly over the next 12 months. This one didn’t go ahead but there will be many more opportunities in the months & years ahead.
Last Saturday’s crowd was not good. Mistakes were made. I think there was an under-appreciation of how many people would go out there.
To give the organisers credit, they did a major walkthrough the next morning. No one tried to, I guess sort of, um, sweep it under the rug. They did a huge walkthrough with Police, emergency services & Vivid organisers. As a result of that, there were more road closures.
We are a major city. We should be able to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people even close to a million people on our foreshores. We have done that for the fireworks.
Our job is to communicate for the best way for people to have fun & enjoy it. I am confident that we have learnt the lessons notwithstanding the fact that last Saturday wasn’t great.
Chris Minns, NSW Premier
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity‘ Director spoke on both topics:
You know, over 2 million people from Sydney & around the world came, uh, to what is the biggest event in Australia & you know, it was fantastic.
I can’t lie it’s, its, you know, a show about love & I was heartbroken.
We will be reviewing all of our plans in, including drone plans &, & crowd management.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity‘ Director
Due to a forecast of a high chance of showers, Vivid Sydney in The Goods Line is cancelled tonight along with 2 Vivid Light Walk installations, Neolithic & Horizon. The Vivid Light Walk installation, Embrace, is also in non-interactive mode. Nest & Portal are also with limited access.
Due to continued bad weather, including lightning being detected within the radius of Sydney’s CBD, please be aware of the following changes to the Vivid Light Walk tonight: 🔥 𝗩𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻 and all other displays at #TheGoodsLine are closed for tonight ✨𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻 in #Barangaroo will not be open tonight ✨𝗡𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰 in #TumbalongPark will not be open tonight ✨𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 in #CircularQuay is in non-interactive mode Access to ✨ 𝗡𝗲𝘀𝘁 and ✨ 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹 in #Barangaroo is limited for the remainder of the evening due to wet weather impacts. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you are visiting #vividsydney this evening, please keep a close eye on our social channels & digital screens for further information/updates & please take care when traveling.
Vivid Sydney
High chance of showers forecast for tomorrow, but they are forecast to ease & be less likely during the evening. Tomorrow is also the last day of Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity.
Sydney Spectaculars 
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