Tag: ‘Flagship’ Sydney Spectaculars

Vivid Dishes Up Attendance Record Of 3.3 Million As ‘Food’ Becomes 2nd Most Popular Pillar

Vivid Sydney has, once again, broken its attendance record to reach 3.28 million people over the 23 days of lights, an average attendance of 142,608 per night, in 2023 while Vivid Food becomes the 2nd most popular of the 4 event pillars with at least 197,000 people or 6% of total attendance.

It was such a pleasure to be involved in the ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2023 program with the inaugural ‘Vivid Fire Kitchen’.

Our city really comes alive during these weeks & it was a privilege to share a little slice of what we do at ‘Firedoor and Gildas’.

Lennox Hastie, Firedoor & Gildas Owner-Chef

Vivid Food‘s Fire Kitchen, a barbie like no other at Barangaroo’s The Cutaway that sees the best of Sydney dining meet the world’s best pit barbequers, had an attendance of 190,000 people or 8,260 people per night. This was the only portion of Vivid Food to have it’s attendance revealed though they did reveal The Residence at the iconic Aria Restuarant by one of the best chefs in the world, Daniel Humm of the Eleven Madison Park Restuarant, was sold out.

We could not be more thrilled to participate in ‘Vivid Sydney’ and bring ‘Eleven Madison Park’ to the iconic ‘Aria’ Restaurant. This year’s theme of ‘Naturally’ closely resonates with our core values & journey as a restaurant.

Chef Daniel Humm

The Aria Restuarant holds about 90 people in 1 sitting & a sitting lasts about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Residence was on from June 6-17, a 12-day period and with opening hours between 12pm-1:30pm (Thursday-Saturday) & 5:30pm-9:30pm (except Sunday), plus the extra sitting time, this would equate to a total attendance of about 7,442 people or 620 people per day. This boosts Vivid Food‘s attendance to 197,442 people but still around 6% of total event attendance.

This 6% of total event attendance automatically makes Vivid Food the 2nd most popular event pillar as Music & Ideas combined usually make up 4% of overall event attendance. Vivid Light always takes the lead with a maximum 96% of attendance but with Vivid Food making up a minimum of 6% of total attendance, this could drop to a maximum of 94% in 2023.

At the time of writing, Vivid Sydney has not finalised the rest of Vivid Food‘s attendance so we can’t determine how high that pillar’s attendance got or whether this was the sole contribution to Vivid‘s mind-blowing attendance record or to confirm whether it was the most popular pillar of Vivid, though it is extremely likely Vivid Light is still the most popular but there is a chance a serious dent has been put in its attendance – a 2% drop in proportion has already been confirmed as stated above.

Another reason Vivid‘s attendance reached 3.3 million could be the Written In The Stars drone shows. These were Vivid‘s 1st free regular drone shows. Previous drone shows have been 1-night only (2022’s Paramount +) or when they were regular, which was their debut world-record breaking drone show in 2016, Drone 100, it was paid admission.

There were 6 free drone shows announced for Vivid in 2023 but due to overwhelming demand, a surprise 7th drone show was held on closing night. According to Vivid‘s statistics, more than 500,000 people viewed Written In The Stars – that is also more than 71,428 people per 10-minute show.

The combined total of Written In The Stars, Fire Kitchen & The Residence is about 697,442, which is approximately the amount Vivid grew from 2022 to 2023. However, while Vivid acknowledges the drone shows boosted attendance, it is still considered part of Vivid Light and until attendance figures are released for Vivid Light outside of the drone shows, we cannot be sure this boosted attendance to the 3.3 million record reached. It may have been people decided to solely attend the drone shows so they could see everything at once and thus, temporarily boosting attendance/crowds around the drone show timeslot but when the drone show was not on, it became quieter than usual. The addition of Vivid Food also adds to this uncertainty as detailed above.

The preliminary ‘Vivid Sydney’ attendance figures this year are extraordinary. Australia’s largest festival has grown by around 30%. That’s an increase comparable to the population of the Gold Coast.

Over the past 3 weeks, the city has felt vibrant & electric. The program this year went from strength to strength. The new ‘Vivid Food’ program was a huge success. The music program featured some iconic artists including an important tribute to Archie Roach AC. The drone show captivated audiences young and old & of course, the immortalising of John Olsen’s work on the Sydney Opera House Sails was a timely tribute, a meeting of 2 Australian icons.

Sydneysiders & visitors relished the chance to enjoy our night-time economy & we showcased Sydney, at its finest, to the world.

These figures show how popular ‘Vivid Sydney’ is, how it captures imaginations & shares with visitors and Sydneysiders alike the best talent from our creative, entertainment & hospitality industries.

John Graham, New South Wales Tourism, Arts, Music & The Night-time Economy Minister

Elsewhere, in Vivid Music, A Bend in the River: A Tribute to Archie Roach AC, held at Sydney Town Hall, had an attendance of more than 1200 people or more than 47% capacity while in Vivid Ideas, Mike White & Jennifer Coolidge in Conversation (of The White Lotus fame), held at the International Convention Centre Theatre at Darling Harbour, had an attendance of 7366 people or 82% of capacity.

After COVID-19, we proudly raised the bar in 2022 growing the festival’s attendance by 7%. This year we surpassed those figures. I’m still pinching myself.

It’s hard to comprehend the magnitude of the increase in turnout. We’re extremely proud & very grateful to all our artists, performers, musicians, speakers and chefs. Without them, our program would not be anywhere near as successful.

‘Vivid Food’ has been the standout in 2023. More than 190,000 people checked out ‘Vivid Fire Kitchen’ which is just incredible with many of our ‘Vivid Food’ events receiving rave reviews, selling out or achieving very high attendance.

 Vivid Sydney Festival Director, Gill Minervini

While there is now a formal Vivid Food pillar, informal dining still played a major role at Vivid Sydney 2023. 745,000 people (or 32,391 people per night) ate meals at Vivid Sydney 2023, up 44,000 people (or 1,913 people per night) from last year. With an average attendance of 142,608 per night in 2023, that means 23% of people eat informally at Vivid Sydney but 88% do not. Though this conflicts with a statistic saying a record 81% of attendees purchased food and beverages at restaurants. It could mean out of all the people who purchased meals at restaurants, only 23% ended up eating theirs but that would seem absurd. Vivid Sydney did not respond to our query on this by time of publication.

The growing success of ‘Vivid Sydney’ year upon year is a credit to the NSW Government, Destination NSW, the events team & all in involved. The impact it has on the city of Sydney is unparalleled & to see our hotels at times reaching 90% occupancy during winter is a remarkable achievement.

The implementation of new activations such as additional drone shows & the new ‘Vivid Food’ pillar allowed our stunning city to shine brighter than ever before.

‘Vivid Sydney’ is a magnificent event as it not only draws millions of people to the city but encourages them to spend the night in one of our many incredible hotels.

I would like to extend my thanks & congratulations to all who made this event possible. Your creativity, innovation & vision continues to light up the night sky.

Michael Johnson, Tourism Accommodation Australia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & interim-Accommodation Association CEO

Sydney CBD hotel occupancy rates went up 12% on 2022 reaching 78% on average, peaking at 90% on Friday & Saturday nights. Other businesses near or in the Vivid Light Walk also had “strong returns” with restaurants, cafes and bars having a “surge in patronage”.

QLD Dominate To Win State Of Origin 2023 As ‘The Bet’ Fails To Materialise

Queensland 32-6 New South Wales

A dominant Queensland side scored 6 tries to achieve ultimate victory in Game 2 of State Of Origin 2023 to secure the Shield.

The event begun just over 3 hours prior to kick-off, at sunset at 5:02pm when the Story and Victoria Bridges, City Hall, Sandgate Town Hall, the Tropical Dome & Reddacliff Place sculptures were all lit up maroon.

At 6pm, an exhibition Queensland RISE Academy under-14’s men’s rugby league match between RISE Maroon & RISE Silver was held. These teams are based on the Sunshine Coast where the Academy, open to boys and girls, aims to give players the tools to reach their potential. RISE Silver won 12-4.

Then at 7:30pm, the pre-match entertainment began. Indigenous performances & a light and pyrotechnic show featuring Aussie legend, Shannon Noll, featured (though the Indigenous performances only featured in the broadcast background & Shannon Noll, not at all). QLD Origin greats, Wally Lewis & Darren Lockyer concluded the pre-match entertainment by bringing out the State Of Origin shield, accompanied by junior rugby league players from both states, onto the ground for the stadium crowd of 52,433 and the multi-million sized TV audience.

The Nine Network again showed the team line-ups with pre-recorded footage of the respective states’ iconic bridges in the background lit up in their team’s colours, complete with computer-generated fireworks. The Story Bridge lit up maroon complete was shown again later.

A surprise drone show on Brisbane’s Southbank Parklands near the Victoria Bridge featured in the lead-up to the match, broadcast on TV on delay (so it happened before 8pm), It featured 3 sequences. First, was the words ‘STATE OF ORIGIN’, with the latter word in maroon and the 2 former words in blue, above a italised ‘2‘. in the colours of green & orange. Second, was a blue rugby league ball flying in between the game’s goalposts, orange in colour with a white ‘dot’, planted on a strip of grass. And lastly, the chant of QLD pride, ‘QUEENSLANDER!’ in plain white.

The customary Welcome To Country, conducted by Ashley Ruska and performance of the National Anthem, sung by Amy Lehpamer, then immediately preceded the main match,

Anyway, to the game. Disaster at the start for NSW. Tom Trobojevic sustained a pectoral injury a few minutes into the game, ruling him out for the rest of the match.

Up until the 8th minute of the match, when the first try was given, the Premiers of both states had not resumed ‘The Bet’, so the Sydney Harbour Bridge will not be lit maroon for at least 35 minutes on Friday 14th of July 2023 despite losing the series. This may a result of the NSW Election held on 25 March. Since the election, the new Premier, Chris Minns, has been reluctant to lit up the Sydney Opera House for significant occasions due to cost & over-use (the latter we tend to agree with). It would not be a surprise if his policy has been applied to the Sydney Harbour Bridge too.

So it looks like ‘The Bet’ was a 1-year wonder under NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet (QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been taunting NSW into ‘The Bet’ for years but did not follow through on it when NSW won) who has been the only NSW Premier to follow through on the bet if the state lost. As you can tell above, he lost the election 8 months later – coincidence? Probably…maybe.

However, ‘The Bet’, despite no-one following through on it until 2022, has been called off before. In 2020, ‘The Bet’ did not occur due to diplomatic tensions between the Premiers during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, tensions are only sporting this year, so it looks at this stage to be a new NSW policy under Chris Minns to not do ‘The Bet’. This may mean ‘The Bet’ may not occur again or at the earliest, 2027.

Anyway, bank to the game. It was a fairly even first half despite 2 controversial tries. An unconverted try by Valentine Holmes was declared by The Bunker for Queensland in the 8th minute despite near universal opinion it could not be considered a try. Even the QLD team thought it wasn’t a try! It may have met the definition of having “downward pressure”, but Holmes clearly didn’t have a grip on the ball. In the 33rd minute, Murray Taulagi also scored a converted try, which was cleared by the on-field referees & The Bunker, even though the sequence of passes, from the TV coverage, seemed to begin with a forward pass & end with 2 consecutive forward passes. At half-time, the score was 10-0 in favour of Queensland.

During half-time, a Little Origin match was held between Burrowes State School & Morayfield East State School.

Queenland turned it up a notch in the 2nd half, outplaying New South Wales frequently. There’s no controversies regarding the tries in the 2nd half. Queensland scored a converted try first in the 44th minute by Valentine Holmes. New South Wales’ Payne Haas assumed the ball would bounce in his favour in the 50th minute & when it didn’t, it allowed Queensland’s Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to follow through with a clear path to the try line to score a unconverted try, seemingly sealing the victory for Queensland. A faint glimmer of hope appeared for New South Wales when Damien Cook found a flaw in Queensland’s defence in the 57th minute & took the opportunity to score New South Wales’s only try, which was converted. It was just a mistake on Queensland’s part as they responded with conviction with 2 more converted tries as New South Wales fell asleep. Xavier Coates scored in the 64th minute, to again seal the victory, while Jeremiah Nanai took advantage of a free ball laying beyond the try line after a collision in mid-air between 2 New South Welshmen (Josh Addo-Carr & Damien Cook, the latter had catched the ball just prior to the collison) to not just celebrate the victory but to confirm it.

It was pain in New South Wales’ wounds. New South Wales were making crucial unlucky errors like passing the ball out of play & tactical errors like letting themselves being tackled on the last tackle and thus, losing possession & any possible field gains.

Then with 22 seconds to go, an argument broke out between the 2 sides as the players grabbed each other’s collars. New South Wales’s Josh Addo-Carr was spotted by the referees throwing a punch and was promptly sent to the sin-bin for the remainder of the match. His teammate, Jarome Luai & Queensland’s Reece Walsh were found, in the slow motion television replays, to be headbutting each other, twice by the latter while the former had the most powerful. Both were sent off for the remainder of the match.

The final score was Queensland 32-6 New South Wales.

All successful conversions were kicked by Valentine Holmes for Queensland & Stephen Crichton for New South Wales.

Lindsay Collins was player of the match.

Proud’s an understatement. This group of players… just, just keep raising the bar & we have seen some great Queensland victories & great Queensland performances, but the adversity – and different adversity this time, um, that come from the opposition. You know they, they applied the pressure in that 1st half & you know, we were defending our try line. Um, they would make line breaks & we’d come up with some big plays including the one from the guy (Daly-Cheery Evans) sitting next to me & and then, the 12 other Queenslanders backed him up and got back there & defended their try line & there’s no excuses in this team. There’s no, there’s no, worrying about what’s just happened. It’s, it’s just about getting on with the job and um, being resilient & that’s what the people of Queensland do so we try & reflect that.

Queensland coach, Billy Slater.

I thought at the end of the game, when I looked at the score & I thought “Wow!”, you know like… It’s a sign our opponent was a good team because I didn’t think we were that far out of the game & we got beat by, you know, 4 or 5 tries so yeah for the, you know, outside the moments that they, you know, scored the tries, I thought we competed & we fought hard & I was happy with the rest of it – just couldn’t save the tries & weren’t good enough to convert our opportunities.

New South Wales coach, Brad Fittler.

The question now is can Queensland win the 1st whitewash (3-0 series victory) since 2010?

Game 3 will be held at Sydney’s Stadium Australia on Wednesday, July 12 at 8:05pm AEST & the deciding finale – with a current 8-point difference – of an expanded 2-game Women’s State Of Origin is tomorrow at 7:45pm at North Queensland Stadium in Townsville.

‘Police Rescue Australia’ To Show How Hard Sydney Partied On New Year’s Eve 2022

The next episode of television series, Police Rescue Australia, will focus on police operations, particularly of the New South Wales (NSW) Police Rescue & Bomb Disposal Unit, for Sydney NYE2022 – Pride, making it the 4th television (TV) documentary on the Sydney Spectaculars.

Previous TV documentaries include:

Narrated by multi-award-winning Australian actor, writer and director, Brendan Cowell (The Test: A New Era for Australia’s Team), the Police Rescue Australia episode will see one of the highest* attendances of Sydney NYE after a 2-year absences of crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a crowd crush in The Rocks, people trying to access the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the southern approach of the Grosvenor Street off-ramp and an over-capacity Circular Quay Promenade.

This was all the while a debate erupted over whether people should pay for tickets to watch the Sydney NYE fireworks at NSW Government-controlled vantage points.

This is the 1st time the NSW Police Rescue & Bomb Disposal Unit have opened their doors for an all-access look.

The episode may even feature the Police Rescue Unit abseiling off the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

Police Rescue Australia is produced by Lune Media with the cooperation of NSW Police.

Police Rescue Australia: Sydney NYE2022 – Pride airs tomorrow (Monday) night at 8:53pm on Channel 9 and 9Now & goes about 1-hour in duration. The episode will appear on our 2023 NSW Election Debate webpage after it has aired.

*Whether it was record-breaking has not yet been announced.

Aussie Legend, Shannon Noll, To Headline Pre-Game Entertainment For State Of Origin 2023 Game 2 Where You Can Keep The Match Ball If You Catch It For The 1st Time

Australian Idol 2003 runner-up, Australian singer/songwriter, Shannon ‘Nollsy’ Noll, will headline the pre-game entertainment for State Of Origin 2023: Game 3 – Sydney on Wednesday the 12th of July at Stadium Australia.

He will be performing his classics as well as new promo songs such as the Fried Night Footy Anthem, recorded with DZ Deathrays on behalf of Kentucky Fried Chicken & the National Rugby League (NRL).

For international readers, his song, Drive, featured during the 9pm Family Fireworks of Sydney NYE2004 – Reflections On Australiana.

Additional pre-game entertainment will include, at 5:45pm, a rugby league match between 2 RISE Academy sides, RISE Maroon & RISE Silver. The RISE Academy comprises of aspiring athletes aged 17 & over. Following this, at 7:30pm, a pyrotechnic/light show welcomes and farewells Shannon Noll & his band. A Welcome To Country followed by the National Anthem will also occur just before kick-off at 8:05pm.

The half-time entertainment will be a Little Origin match between local junior players from Sacred Heart Mount Druitt & Cessnock Public School.

1 lucky fan will have the chance to race against the tracked time of Queensland’s Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow for a chance to win a Dolphins NRL Premiership jersey!

You can also be in the chance to win a $300 NRLShop voucher by posting your selfies using the hashtag #HisenseAU. This will get your selfie on the Lang Park big screen.

And if you’re at the stadium and sitting in your seat at the time of drawing the winner, you could win a massive Hisense Bar fridge!

Lastly, if you catch the match ball during play, you do not have to throw it back onto the field, you cna keep it!

State Of Origin 2023 – Game 2: Brisbane kicks-off at 8:05pm AEST on Wednesday the 21st of June.

New Zealand’s Biggest Band, ‘SIX60’, To Headline Pre-Game Entertainment For State Of Origin 2023 Game 3

New Zealand’s biggest band, multi-platinum selling SIX60, who regularly fill New Zealand’s biggest venues, will headline the pre-game entertainment for State Of Origin 2023: Game 3 – Sydney on Wednesday the 12th of July at Stadium Australia.

Additional pre-game entertainment will include a pyrotechnic/light show and a Welcome To Country followed by the National Anthem. The half-time entertainment will be a Little Origin match between local junior players from Sacred Heart Mount Druitt & Cessnock Public School.

Tickets for Game 3 of State of Origin 2023 are available from AUD$59 for adults and AUD$165 for families here.

Game 2 of State Of Origin 2023, a possible decider, will be held at Lang Park, Brisbane on Wednesday the 21st of June. The extra entertainment for this match will be in a future article.

It’s an honour to be playing the pre-game show for Game 3 of State of Origin 2023!

We are huge fans of rugby league & State of Origin is the pinnacle of the sport. To be playing a part in the action is something we will never forget. We can’t wait!

Matiu Walters, SIX60’s lead singer & guitarist

Do You Recognise These Alleged Vivid Vandals? If You Do, Call Crime Stoppers. 2 19-Year-Old Men Since Charged

3 males of white appearance, believed to be aged in their early-20’s, all with brown hair, have allegedly damaged, to the value of approximately $280,000, “lighting installations” as part of Vivid Sydney 2023 – Naturally at about 3:15am AEST Sunday the 11th of June 2023.

The males then fled the scene. Vivid Light finished for the day at 11pm AEST on Saturday the 10th of June 2023.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via New South Wales Police social media pages.

Officers attached to Sydney City Police Area Command were notified & commenced an investigation.

Police released closed-circuit television footage at 9:36pm on Sunday the 11th of June 2023:

https://videopress.com/v/voBc2Fla?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
Darling Harbour CCTV Video: NSW Police

Following inquiries, 2 19-year-old men attended Castle Hill Police Station about 7:30pm AEST yesterday.

Detectives attached to Sydney City Police Area Command charged both men with destroy or damage property more than $15,000.

They were given conditional bail to appear before Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday the 5th of July 2023.

Investigations are ongoing.

Vivid Lights Go Off For 1 Minute After Hunter Valley Coach Tragedy

In memory of the 10 lives lost in the Hunter Valley coach tragedy last night, the lights of Vivid Sydney were turned off tonight for 1 minute at 7:30pm AEST.

Ticketed events such as Lightscape, Dark Spectrum & Wild Lights were not turned off due to the fact that people need to pay to see these light installations for a limited time.

Just after 11.30pm last night, a coach containing 36 wedding guests rolled while going around a roundabout on Wine Country Drive, Greta in the Hunter Valley, 2 hours north of Sydney. New South Wales (NSW) Police have confirmed 10 people have died, 25 were taken to hospital via helicopter & road & a further 4 are uninjured.

Wine Country Drive, Greta has since been closed and detours implemented with a crime scene being established, which will be examined by specialist forensic police & the Crash Investigation Unit. An investigation into the crash’s circumstances has also commenced. The Maitland coach driver, 58 years of age and taken to hospital, has since been discharged and taken to Cessnock Police Station, where, after mandatory testing & assessment, he was charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death – drive manner dangerous, and negligent driving (occasioning death). He was refused bail to appear at Cessnock Local Court on Tuesday the 13th of June.

Officers from Hunter Valley Police District, Police Rescue, Traffic & Highway Patrol, NSW Fire and Rescue, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW Ambulance paramedics and various helicopters for hospital transports attended the scene.

Police are still working on crash victim identification and to contact the identified’s next of kin. Family & friends of a person who may have been on board the coach are urged to contact Cessnock Police Station on 02 4991 0199.

Witnesses – or anyone with information relevant to the crash’s circumstances – are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 to keep the line to Cessnock Police Station clear for concerned family members & friends. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.

I extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of those who have been killed in this accident and those who are injured.

NSW Premier, Chris Minns

Walk From/To Town Hall These Final 2 Vivid Drone Show Nights As Organisers Predict Mind-Blowing Final Overall Attendance Record Of 3.5 Million

Vivid Sydney 2023 will be a historic edition of the Sydney Spectaculars for good reasons for now. We will go into detail about this in a post-event review. But this final week will determine whether there will be any negative reasons it will be historic.

Vivid Sydney started in 2009 and after exploding into popularity in 2013, the crowds have consistently grown to the point that in 2017, I wrote a lengthy opinion article called Vivid Sydney Has Potential For Disaster. It has consistently been the most popular Vivid article on this site from its 2016 publication. Since then, Vivid has implemented some of my recommendations, some successfully, some poorly. There are still things Vivid needs to do to improve crowd management, but this week will determine if they have left it too late.

In summary, Vivid Sydney 2023 will be historic for being the 1st time Sydney New Year’s Eve is no longer the most creative event on Sydney Harbour and as well as heralding in the next era or ‘revolution’: the use of drone shows on Sydney Harbour.

Drones show did not pop up overnight. Vivid held the 1st Sydney Harbour drone show in 2016 – a 1-night 100-drone world-record breaking drone show (video above). It took another 6 years before they re-appeared as a 500-drone show on Sydney Harbour in January 2022 as part of Elevate Sydney. Vivid also brought it back last year as a 1-night show but up to 600 drones. These previous 2 shows set the southern hemisphere record. Drone shows were also held for The Everest Barrier Draw & the re-opening of the Art Gallery Of New South Wales. Noel Sydney was held one twice a night in the week before Christmas. In January this year, Elevate Sydney became the 1st annual Sydney Harbour drone show and right now, Vivid has become Sydney Harbour’s 2nd annual and most popular drone show.

Crowds have unexpectedly spiked during the times drone shows are held & even more surprising, everyone is leaving as soon as the drone show has finished. Combining this with the fact this is the 1st post-COVID-19 pandemic edition (last year’s edition was held despite significant cases of COVID-19 in New South Wales), director, Gill Minervini, has declared crowds are about 38% higher than last year.

Last year’s edition was record-breaking – 2.58 million people overall or 112,000 people per night on average. Taking into account the 38% extra crowds – Vivid Sydney 2023 is set to have a mind-blowing 3.5 million visitors overall or 155,000 per night on average – and we are in the middle of the most popular period to visit Vivid Sydney – the King’s Birthday long weekend. So far, 2 million people have been confirmed to have attended – just a half a million off the record so far.

The final 2 Written In The Stars drone shows are at 9:10pm on Monday & Wednesday night – the Monday being a public holiday. Luckily, unlike in 2016 when a crowd crush occurred near the Moore Steps, Vivid Sydney has been preparing for the extraordinarily sized crowds to converge for these final 2 drone shows particularly Monday night’s. Today, in addition to the existing transport advice, organisers released some special transport advice for this Monday and Wednesday:

If travelling by train or light rail, hop off/on at Town Hall and walk down/up George Street to/from Circular Quay. This walk will take about 20 minutes both directions.

From 8:30pm to 9:30pm, trains will not stop at Circular Quay directly from/to certain stops. A list of the stops is at the end of the article. For all other stops, trains will not drop off passengers at Circular Quay on Monday only. This means between 8:30pm & 9:30pm on drone show nights, trains will not stop at Platform 1 – the Harbour Bridge view platform – as people are crowding out the platform not to catch a train but for the ‘perfect’ view of the drones. As a result, all trains during those times, will leave from Platform 2 – the Customs House platform. If you want a similar view, find a publicly open nearby building that has publicly accessible views of Circular Quay or go to the Cahill Expressway walkway, directly above Circular Quay train station.

A lot of customers tend to congregate on the platform, to get a nice view of the drones over Circular Quay. It’s very important, obviously, that we maintain the safety of that platform.

Sydney Trains Chief Executive Matt Longland

From 5pm Monday to 1am Tuesday & 9pm to 10:30pm Wednesday, the Circular Quay, Bridge Street, Wynyard & Queen Victoria Building light rail stations will not be operating. Remember, Vivid Light ends at 11pm each night.

New South Wales Police also announced extra police resources will be deployed on Monday.

Remember, you can also watch Monday’s Written In The Stars drone show online live or watch a stream of Sunday the 28th of May’s drone show by visiting our ‘Watch LIVE’ page.

Like we wrote in 2016, extra police officers will only take up more space. The Circular Quay Platform 1 problem won’t be solved unless they empty & close access to the platform at 8:30pm. We believe they will do that but there has been no confirmation of it. In any case, we advise to not use that platform to watch, photograph or film the drone show. The advice given by organisers won’t alone reduce crowds but will make getting to & leaving Vivid Sydney a lot easier if implemented. Instinct will lead people to still head to Circular Quay train station to head home as that would be normally the quickest way (particularly in the 10 minutes post-drone show unless your stop is listed below). Until Vivid implements correctly the recommendations I made in the 2016 article, we can only rely on their advice: please arrive and head home via a George Street walk & Town Hall train/light rail stations.

You can also consult these resources:

But the final question is – has Vivid Sydney learnt the lessons of 2016 yet or will it be too late? We’ll find out the latter by Thursday.

Don’t forget to not bring your drone (unless you have approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority)! And if you see illegal drone use to report it here!

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Stations Trains Won’t Come From Or Go To At Circular Quay On Monday & Wednesday Between 8:30pm & 9:30pm

  • Ashfield
  • Bankstown
  • Liverpool
  • Campsie
  • Cabramatta
  • Fairfield
  • Flemington
  • Marrickville
  • Lakemba
  • Petersham
  • Newtown
  • Homebush
  • Guildford
  • Lewisham
  • Canterbury
  • Belmore
  • Berala
  • Canley Vale
  • Dulwich Hill
  • Croydon
  • Erksineville
  • Merrylands
  • Stanmore
  • Leppington
  • Edmondson Park
  • Summer Hill
  • Hurlstone Park
  • Punchbowl
  • Chester Hill
  • Macdonaldtown
  • Warwick Farm
  • Birrong
  • Wiley Park
  • Yagoona
  • Regents Park
  • Yennora
  • Carramar
  • Sefton
  • Casula
  • Villawood
  • Leightonfield

No Clearance: Illegal Drone Use At Vivid Sydney 2023 Prompts Warnings From Authorities

If you see illegal drone use at Vivid Sydney, you can report to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) here.

This year’s Vivid Sydney, the 1st post-COVID-19 pandemic edition & the 2nd since the pandemic began, from as early as the opening weekend, has seen people bringing & flying drones despite not having approval from CASA, putting at risk helicopters, seaplanes as well as Vivid Sydney’s own drone shows and spectators – all of which are at low altitude. As a result, organisers and authorities are urging people to not fly drones at Vivid Sydney unless you have approval from CASA.

Vivid Sydney 2023 is the 1st ‘Sydney Spectacular’ and year respectively that illegal drone use from people has promoted warnings from authorities.

We are aware some people have brought their drones to Vivid

Civil Aviation Safety Authority

You may not be aware, especially if you’re an international visitor, but Sydney Harbour is not just a working international seaport but a domestic airport as well. Whilst helicopters fly at low altitudes frequently over Sydney Harbour from numerous heliports, whether it is media, medical/rescue/tourist flights or civilians having a recreational flight, seaplanes actually use the Harbour as a runway. Rose Bay is the home & ‘runway’ of Sydney’s seaplanes, which takes tourists on joy flights around New South Wales & is just a mere 4 kilometres from the heart of Vivid Sydney, Circular Quay.

Seaplanes and ‘land’ planes are still the same – they are aeroplanes. They need room to take off and most critically, land, particularly if it is an emergency landing and they need to fly at lower altitudes to do this. All this applies to helicopters as well.

Orange: Approved Seaplane/Helicopter Air Routes, Red: Rose Bay Water Airport Boundary, Silver: Recommended Seaplane ‘Runways’, Yellow: Vivid Sydney Drone Show Boundaries, Purple: Vivid Light Walk 2023

With the King’s Birthday long weekend approaching, when the biggest Vivid Sydney crowds arrive, organisers, CASA & New South Wales Police are urging people to keep drones away from Sydney Harbour unless you have approval from CASA.

Drones aren’t completely banned from Sydney Harbour. You just need to receive approval from CASA. Even if you did get approval, you still have to follow the rules:

  • You can only fly 1 drone at a time.
  • Your drone must be direct visual line-of-sight at all times so you cannot fly via instruments like devices, screens or virtual reality goggles.
  • Only fly your drone during the day
  • Your drone must be in flight 30 metres away from people (except from the pilot or supervisors) regardless of altitude.
  • Your drone must be no higher than 120 metres above the ground during flight.
  • Your drone must not be flown behind obstacles, in cloud, fog, smoke or within 100 metres of Sydney Opera House’s Benny The Seal

To extend beyond most of the above rules, you need special approvals from CASA.

There are extra rules when flying over New South Wales national parks such as Sydney Harbour National Parks.

If you’re unsure where to fly your drone, use a CASA-verified drone safety app to find out where you can and can’t fly you drone. Download your preferred app today here.

If you intend to fly your drone for or at work (commercially), you will also need to register your drone with CASA and get a licence/accreditation.

In Australia, CASA follow up reports of illegal drone use, who may advise you on laws and give you a warning. They can also issue fines of up to AUD$1,375 per offence, impose operating restrictions or restrict/cancel your accreditation, licence, certificate, or registration.

For serious offences, such as if you interfere with a drone or your drone becomes a hazard to other aircraft, or if you refuse to pay a fine, CASA may refer your case to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, and you may receive a summons to attend court. If the matter is taken to court, fines of up to AUD$33,300 can be imposed, you could be restricted from flying, convicted of a crime and sent to jail for up to 2 years.

If you did not know, Australia has a national drone detection system at airports.

For more information on drone use, visit CASA’s Drones webpage or the Australian Goverment’s Drones website.

Drone shows were first introduced to Sydney Harbour in 2016 & after a 6-year absence and since 2022, are now an annual feature at ‘flagship’ Sydney Spectacular, Vivid Sydney & other Sydney Spectaculars, Elevate Sydney & Noel Sydney. Vivid Sydney 2023 – Naturally‘s Written In The Stars drone show has been assessed by CASA “to ensure all safety measures and checks are in place”.

In the end, the more non-show drones in the air during Vivid, the more cluttered the night sky would be during Vivid, the less spectacular Vivid will be, the less drone shows there will be at Vivid.

Best advice: Keep the drones at home and photograph from land, watercraft or a non-drone aircraft.

Recreational drones should not be flown at night or in a populous area, such as major events like Vivid Sydney.

Sydney Harbour and surrounding areas are in a no drone zone, without prior approval, due to helicopters and seaplanes that fly at low altitudes in the area. If you’re heading to Vivid Sydney, leave your own drone at home.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority

Whilst we love to see the public enjoying the sights and sounds – and we appreciate the temptation to gain a bird’s eye view of the spectacular scenery – recreational drones pose a serious safety risk to the public when flown over crowds.

Drones are not permitted to be flown over populous areas, including crowds, beaches, parks, and events such as the Vivid Festival, and the Sydney CBD area.

The Sydney Harbour is a no-fly zone.

Breaching these rules can lead to fines, or even gaol.

We’d prefer that everyone avoids these penalties and instead has a safe and enjoyable time at the Vivid Festival.

New South Wales Police

NSW Slip From Jaws Of Victory As 12-Man QLD Storm To Claim Origin I 2023

Queensland 26-18 New South Wales

A 12-man Queensland side score 2 tries in quick succession after a slip from Brian To’o saw New South Wales see a sudden defeat in Game 1 of State Of Origin 2023 just as victory was in their grasp.

After all the White Noise of pre-match mind games, State Of Origin 2023 begun with Indigenous performances & a light & pyrotechnic show before Origin greats, Darren Lockyer & Paul Gallen brought the State Of Origin shield onto Adelaide Oval. This was followed by Australian rock band, The Living End, building up the atmosphere for the record-Adelaide crowd of 48.613 with a 10-minute set to the lead up to kick-off. The customary Welcome To Country, conducted by Uncle Karl Winda Telfer and performance of the National Anthem, sung by Stefanie Jones, then followed. Preceding all this, just under 2 hours prior to kick-off, was an Under-18’s match between Combined Affiliated States (CAS) Blue Vs CAS Silver to help decide which players would be selected for the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Under-18’s Championships CAS Team. CAS Blue won 28-12.

In Brisbane, the event just begun over 3 hours prior to kick-off, at sunset at 5:02pm local time, when the Story and Victoria Bridges, City Hall, Sandgate Town Hall, the Tropical Dome & Reddacliff Place sculptures were all lit up maroon.

Broadcast-wise, it started at 7pm with the Nine Network adding a live camera to the team buses & doing interviews with players from inside the bus on the way to the stadium. Only Queensland had this as NSW had already arrived before the broadcast started so their footage was on delay or non-existent.

The Nine Network also showed the team line-ups with the respective states’ iconic bridges in the background lit up in their team’s colours, complete with computer-generated fireworks. The Sydney Harbour Bridge lit up blue complete with blue pylon projections was shown again later but despite host James Bracey saying the shot was “live”, it was actually filmed 6 nights ago, before ‘flagship’ ‘Sydney Spectacular, Vivid Sydney, started and after Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s visit to Sydney being commemorated with the Harbour Bridge being lit up in the colours of the Indian flag, which was also projected onto the pylons.

Anyway, to the game. Queensland got off to a great start with 2 quick tries (Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow & Selwyn Cobbo) 1 of which was converted, carving through the New South Wales defense. Then, the first injury of the night – a dislocated shoulder for Tom Gilbert. Liam Martin then broke through to score New South Wales’ 1st try of the night, converted. At half-time, the score was 10-6 in favour of Queensland.

Throughout the game, the Nine Network issued new ‘fatigue alerts’ when the game had gone 3 or 4 minutes without a stoppage.

During half-time, a Little Origin match was held between Elizabeth North Public School & East Torrens Public School.

New South Wales got off to a flyer in the 2nd half after a series of stumbles by Queensland saw Apisai Koroisau, score another converted try for New South Wales, bringing them into the lead for the 1st time during the match. Shortly after, Reuben Cotter was placed on report for an alleged crusher tackle on Josh Addo-Carr. This was followed by Selweyn Cobbo scoring another converted try with the littlest room available before the sideline which returned Queensland to the lead. Meanwhile, Stephen Crichton turned the tables around again after Queensland’s defence went to microsleep with another converted try.

To make matters worse for Queensland, a minute later, Thomas Flegler, was sent to the sin bin for a high knock until the final 90 seconds of the match. Murray Taulagi was interchanged at this point for a head injury assessment. Leaving Queensland with a man in the sin bin and thus, only 12 on the field and much needed talent on the sideline with injuries or injury assessments, it looked like a New South Wales victory was in sight but a slip from Brian To’o allowed an easy converted try scored by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow. New South Wales’ spirit was broken and another unconverted try quickly followed suit, scored by Cameron Munster, to give Queensland the win in Game 1 of the 3-game series.

All successful conversions were kicked by Valentine Holmes for Queensland & Nathan Cleary for New South Wales.

The final score was Queensland 26-18 New South Wales. At this stage, if the Premiers resume ‘The Bet’ before Game 2 starts, the Sydney Harbour Bridge will be lit maroon for at least 35 minutes on Friday 14th of July 2023 with Queensland just 1 win away from 2023 series victory.

It’s so good to get the win, the way we stuck in it and held on in that second half. We spoke about our cyclone and staying in the fight and keep turning up for each other

Player of the match, Reuben Cotter (QLD)

It was everything and more. As a kid you dream of putting on a Maroons jersey. There were nerves today but glad to get the win. Everyone’s going to question myself but Billy is a good coach and he has the trust in me. They didn’t need me to do anything more or less, just my job. Every session he pulled me in and gave me advice.

Queensland fullback, Reece Walsh.

Game 2 will be held at Lang Park on Wednesday, June 21 at 8:05pm AEST & Game 1 of an expanded 2-game Women’s State Of Origin is tomorrow at 7:45pm at Western Sydney Stadium.