Huge change to Vivid Sydney 2025 - and the popular show thing that will be missing this year

Daily Mail​

22-05-2025

Vivid has scrapped its drone show and made its famous light walk free for the millions of visitors expected to attend the spectacle this year.
The annual event will kick off on Friday and run until June 14 with more than 40 installations and projections set up across Sydney.
The drone show, which has been part of the festival since 2021, has been ditched due to safety concerns with Destination NSW confirming the decision way back in March.
Concerns had been raised the entertainment would draw in too many people and create dangerous conditions, after thousands of festival-goers were caught in a bottleneck while trying to leave the western side of Circular Quay last year.
'The changes required to mitigate the safety risk at Vivid Sydney 2025 created a significant increase in cost,' Destination NSW said.
'In the broader context of rising costs for staging events, Destination NSW has decided this is not the best allocation of resources.'
Fortunately, there is some good news for those planning to visit Vivid 2025.
This year's festival will have fewer paid ticketed events from private sponsors, more projections and installations across Sydney and a wider variety of free events.
Vivid had previously charged visitors to attend two attractions that had been set up in 2023.
The Light Walk: Lightscape in the Royal Botanic Garden cost $30 while Dark Spectrum set visitors back $35.
The light walk will now be free with arts minister John Graham stressing the efforts organisers put into ensuring Vivid is as budget-friendly as possible.
'This year's festival is helping people face a cost-of-living crisis by increasing the number of free events, which is great news if you want a good night out without blowing the budget,' he said.
'We are all feeling the pinch in terms of the economy and cost-of-living crisis.
'I really wanted Vivid to respond to that. My job as director is to renovate and refresh the festival every year.
'We want audiences to come back time after time, and not think, "Oh, it's the same old Vivid". We want to keep everyone guessing.'
The free light walk will feature illuminations on eight new attractions, including the Museum of Sydney, Barangaroo Metro and the Luna Park big wheel.
Vivid is set to feature several high-profile artists, including several projections from Archibald Prize winner Vincent Namatjira and artwork for the Sydney Opera House by the late artist and HIV/AIDS activist David McDiarmid.
Vivid lights will also return to Martin Place for the first time since 2018.
On top of Vivid Light, the event will host Vivid Music, Vivid Food and Vivid Ideas.
All four categories are based on the theme 'What's in a Dream'.
Vivid Music will run across several venues, including Darling Harbour, the Opera House and Carriageworks with performers including Sigur Ros, Winston Surfshirt and Japanese Breakfast.
TV cook Nigella Lawson has curated three dinners in the new pedestrian tunnel at Martin Place for Vivid Food.
Vivid Ideas will host a keynote address by Time magazine design boss D.W. Pine entitled Where Do Ideas Come From?