After last year’s drone show disaster, is a scaled-back Vivid working?

Look past the social media influencers and you’ll find out what some Sydneysiders really think of this year’s Vivid Festival.

“Vivid fell off,” says one TikTok user. “Vivid was so boring this year,” says another. “No way that’s it,” a third complains.

The Vivid displays at Martin Place on Friday evening. Credit: Janie Barrett

Vivid has always had its haters, and attendance numbers show the festival is still popular. In fact, this year’s opening night drew almost 200,000 people.

So why can this year’s displays seem underwhelming?

In 2024, Vivid put on what may have been its most ambitious festival to date. Spectacular drone shows over the harbour were popular, but, as organisers quickly discovered, too popular.

Crowds that crammed into Circular Quay to watch the shows became trapped, causing a near-miss crowd crush.

Young families accustomed to visiting the city for an affordable night out were left fuming when the previously free Royal Botanic Garden walk became a ticketed event, as did many headline events.

It seemed that Vivid had become a victim of its own success.

That brings us to 2025, and the festival feels scaled back. The drone show was scrapped, citing safety risks and increasing costs. The usual suspects – Customs House and the Opera House – are all lit up, but there are fewer installations at Circular Quay and the Rocks than in previous years.

While there are more individual light installations across the city than there were last year, there is no Royal Botanic Garden activation and no Wynyard Tunnel event.

Light displays now have free entry in 75 per cent of cases, but the light walk – which previously stretched from Circular Quay to Central – is split across smaller precincts around the city, including Martin Place and the Goods Line.

Attendees at Barangaroo on the opening night of this year’s Vivid festival, on May 23.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong

“When people think of Vivid, they think of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge – when they get there, they aren’t expecting most of the stuff to be somewhere else,” said John Gilly, who has covered the festival on his blog, Sydney Spectaculars, since 2014.

“The precincts have spread everything out … which is why people may think it’s not as entertaining as in the past, but the main stuff is still there.”

This isn’t the first time the festival has been split up. Over the years there have been activations in Kings Cross and Chatswood, as well as the Wild Nights display at Taronga Zoo.

Crowds await a drone show that was later cancelled at the 2024 festival.Credit: @lightfootsj/X

While the strategy means visitors to Circular Quay are seeing fewer installations, many view this as the best way forward for Vivid.

“It’s more spread out – and that’s a good thing,” said Business Sydney’s Paul Nicolau.

“We should be highlighting not just the harbour but all the other places, like Martin Place and the Goods Line. I think we should expand it, we should look out to other areas like Parramatta Road and Victoria Road.”

Getting tourists out to Sydney’s decrepit arterial roads might be a stretch, but Parramatta Mayor Martin Zaiter is at a loss as to why Sydney’s famous winter festival doesn’t extend to its growing second CBD.

Three-quarters of the light displays at this year’s festival are now free to view, an increase on previous years.Credit: Janie Barrett

“Parramatta Square and our beautiful town hall, that’s where old meets the new,” Zaiter said. “Parramatta Park, Old Government House, definitely there are those options for Vivid to expand to.

“It’s a no-brainer.”

While the light pillar of the festival may be missing a headline event this year, Tourism Minister Stephen Kamper said the food, including the fire kitchen at the Goods Line, has been a major motivator for visitors.

“Saturday night alone saw a record-breaking 51,169 diners at restaurants across the Vivid Sydney zones – the highest ever for a single night in the event’s history,” he said.

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