Scary scenes at Vivid as ‘larger-than-expected’ crowds feared crush

Vivid Sydney narrowly avoided disaster on Saturday night when a larger-than-expected crowd descended on Circular Quay to watch the popular drone show.

Thousands lined Sydney Harbour for a glimpse of one of the main attractions of the annual festival of light. As harbourside vantage points filled up before the 9.10pm show, Vivid Sydney posted on social media asking attendees not to gather at Circular Quay.

When the Love is in the Air drone show ended at 9.20pm, events took a scary turn. A bottleneck formed near the Overseas Passenger Terminal as the crowd moved towards Circular Quay and Wynyard train stations.

Many took to social media to share their experiences and concerns, with one user posting that “a huge crush” was only avoided by “a random opening a barrier”.

X user Emilie (@paintsandsings) continued that it was “lucky no one panicked” and noted that there was “no co-ordination [or] direction” from staff.

Vivid Sydney’s official account responded to Emilie’s post on X, saying, “We’re sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations of Vivid Sydney.”

A spokesperson for Vivid Sydney said: “Event and security personnel monitor crowd flow on the ground and may implement scalable measures to manage crowd flow at various points if required.

“We understand that a large number of people can create a slow and challenging process and are grateful to the public for their patience and co-operation.”

The crowd at the Overseas Passenger Terminal after the Vivid drone show on Saturday night.Credit: X/@anth0888

NSW Police, which is conducting a “highly visible and co-ordinated policing response” during the three weeks of Vivid, assisted the large crowd in leaving Circular Quay.

A police spokesperson said a “larger-than-expected” crowd resulted in “pedestrian traffic congestion, particularly in and around the transport hubs”.

“However, the crowds dispersed after a short period and there were no injuries or incidents reported.”

Another attendee, journalist Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP), took to X, to describe the event as the worst crowd control he’d ever seen.

Bailey said it “felt as if a stampede was likely for about 20 minutes at [the] bottom of The Rocks and again at Wynyard”.

For the drone show on Sunday night, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said, extra police will be on duty.

“It’s an incredibly popular event. It’s a long weekend. It’s good weather at the moment, people are out and about,” Park said.

Park also reminded patrons that they “don’t have to be right down there at the foreshore” to get a good view. “If you can see the city, you’ll be able to see the light show.“

With AAP

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