Sydney staged a spectacular curtain-raiser to the New Year on Monday with a massive fireworks display watched by more than one million people lining the harbour of Australia’s largest city.
Organisers had promised the traditional fireworks show this year would be ”artistically risky” and delivered with an eclectic mix of music, including hard-core dance, disco, rock’n’roll — and even yodelling.
The city’s 9pm (local time) fireworks display, an early family-orientated taster before the main event at midnight, included cutting-edge pyrotechnics that exploded in cube and heart shapes, as well as more familiar starbursts.
”Just when you think the fireworks have reached their peak, we try and go one level further,” City of Sydney creative director Wayne Harrison said ahead of the event.
The giant steel archway of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was again the centrepiece of the display, with a giant neon hourglass illustrating the theme of time passing.
Streaks of red, green and blue light flew from the bridge and office buildings across the city centre, reflecting off the famous Opera House and the harbour that Harrison said provides a vast natural amphitheatre for the show.
He said the midnight fireworks, one of the most dazzling New Year’s celebrations in the Asia-Pacific region, would be even more spectacular.
”There is a surprise in store for the countdown, people will be wowed by it if it works,” he said.
Harrison has refused to reveal full details of the special effects but hinted cartoon character Bart Simpson could make an appearance and that organisers would give a playful nod to the early tennis computer game Pong.
”This is the first time that we’ve had a bridge effect that is actually funny,” he said.
Organisers said this year’s display would be the city’s most amazing ever, with a dozen computers needed to coordinate the split-second timing of more than 100 000 pyrotechnic effects.
As the start of 2008 approached in the city of four million people, revellers crammed into prime pieces of parkland and other areas offering views of the fireworks display.
Some even camped out overnight in city parks to be sure to get front row seats to the show.
More than 1 700 police patrolled the city that is a magnet for international tourists and party-goers but they reported no trouble in the early stages of the celebrations.
Displays in previous years have been marred by strong winds and overcast weather but Harrison said there should be no such problems this year.
The evening’s festivities are also scheduled to include a tugboat display on the harbour as well as an Aboriginal ceremony ahead of the midnight fireworks finale. — AFP
