Vivid Sydney 2024: Drone show is slammed as ‘boring’ before terrified visitors were almost crushed – while Tekno Train is panned as ‘paying $30 to ride on a train’

A major Australian event has been criticized as ‘boring’ after already causing controversy as spectators found themselves in a frightful crush.

The annual one Vibrant Sydney festival is one of the biggest events on the Sydney calendar, which attracts millions of visitors every year.

One of the highlights of Vivid Sydney is the drone show, spread over three evenings, in which 700 drones create light formations above Circular Quay.

The theme of this year’s drone show is Love Is In The Air, designed to ‘get your heart beating fast as more than 700 drones form universal symbols of love in spectacular colors and formations across the night sky’.

Social media was abuzz with negative reactions, with many users not in love with the show.

They claimed the drone show was boring, not as good as last year’s show and was co-opted by sponsorship and advertising.

The theme of this year’s drone show is Love Is In The Air, but not everyone was in love with the show

Spectators were caught in a terrifying crowd after Vivid Sydney’s drone show on Saturday evening

One post on X (formerly Twitter) denounced the use of the drones to promote a Netflix show.

‘The Sydney Vivid Drone show complete with Netflix logo and Bridgerton promo – can our city get any more sticky?’

A reply to the post agreed: ‘Lively used to be exciting, now it’s just another corporate wh***fest.’

Many agreed and posted similar comments.

“The drone show was basically three minutes of content and the rest was their sponsors. They literally put the Netflix, Amex and some hotels logo in the bloody drones.

“Just an excuse for a Netflix ad. Very disappointing.’

Other social media users were also not very impressed with the drone show.

“Is Sydney that boring, that’s all people have to do on a Saturday night?” one commenter asked.

“Really people are rushing to watch that crap that makes no sense,” another user wrote.

“Gender equality in the air is a waste of time,” wrote one aggrieved participant.

Other people commented on Saturday night’s terrifying incident when spectators were caught crowding a huge crowd at the Overseas Passenger Terminal on Circular Quay after the drone show.

“People were pushing, being aggressive, shouting, I even felt unsafe,” one person wrote.

“Shut this shit down, it’s not worth the massive crowds and the inevitable crushing death event that seems closer every year.”

“The Sydney Vivid Drone show complete with Netflix logo and Bridgerton promo – can our city get any stickier?,” one X user wrote

“Is Sydney so boring that people only have to do that on a Saturday night?” one social media user wrote about the Vivid drone show

Many attendees did not find the promised Tekno Train experience that special

Another Vivid attraction this year, the Tekno train, was also criticized.

The Lively website promotes the Tekno train as ‘an immersive audio experience, transforming an everyday commuter train into an extraordinary ride’.

There are two Tekno Train experiences, ‘The Scenic route’ and the ‘Tech Express’.

Many social media users didn’t find the experience all that special.

“In any other major city in the world, events like the ‘techno train’ would be dancing with a bar. Here you have to sit and pay $30 to travel on the train,” wrote one participant.

‘You don’t even have to wait for Vivid to catch the techno train. Eshays with their boomboxes on the nighttime commute sometimes give the experience for free, whether you agree or not.

‘No drinks or dancing???? Sydney party style hahahahah.”

Vibrant Sydney is described on the Destination NSW website as ‘the largest festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and the largest celebration of the creative industries in the country’.

The website says the latest edition of Vivid Sydney attracted a record 3.48 million visitors and delivered ‘$206.1 million in visitor spend to the NSW visitor economy’.

One social media user returned from Vivid Sydney with more than fond memories.

“Two years in a row and I came back from Vivid with COVID….”

Vivid Sydney continues until Saturday evening, with the final drone show at 9.10pm.