Vivid Sydney’s drone show has been suspended indefinitely after drones fell from the sky during Monday night’s 7:30pm “Star-Bound” performance due to technical difficulties, prompting the cancellation of the later 9:30pm show.
Vivid Sydney organisers said the scheduled performance was halted due to “unforeseen technical difficulties” at the start of the show.
“We apologise for the disappointment and inconvenience caused to attendees,” a Vivid Sydney spokesperson said in a statement.
“The specialist operators identified a technical issue and made the decision to safely discontinue the show in line with standard safety protocols.
“A decision was swiftly taken to cancel the 9.30pm performance to allow further assessment.
“To our knowledge, no drones landed outside the designated exclusion zone.”
Organisers said Tuesday and Wednesday’s drone shows had also been cancelled to allow for a “full assessment,” with specialist operators and government agencies now determining next steps.
Drone operator SKYMAGIC described the incident as an “anomaly” after 89 drones fell into the water around Cockle Bay due to what it said was an “unforeseen change in the radio frequency (RF) environment” during the performance.
The company said the interference compromised positional accuracy, triggering automatic “failsafe landing procedures” in some drones.
“The pilot team encountering the issue immediately performed a stop command rendering the fleet stationary in the air, enabling time to safely assess the issue. Once stability had been evaluated, the team then activated the return to home protocol bringing the unaffected drones to a safe landing,” the company said.
“The condition that was experienced was momentary meaning that not all vehicles were affected however the system failsafe are very fast to react to an environmental problem meaning that some failsafe triggers occurred.”
SKYMAGIC insisted “no vehicle escaped the safety boundary” and said pilots and crew responded appropriately in accordance with operational safety procedures.
The company added the issue had not been detected during testing, rehearsals or pre-flight checks.
Darling Harbour employee Robert described the incident to ABC Local Radio as a “catastrophic failure” after drones fell from the sky during the performance, adding he “was not surprised it was cancelled.”
“Drones can go wrong, but for them to severely go haywire … was a big concern,” he said.
“They kept falling, including, from reports, entering the crowd, as well as I witnessed myself, crashing into the marina and almost hitting some marina workers.”
His account appeared to differ from an earlier statement by Vivid Sydney, which said organisers were not aware of any drones landing beyond the designated exclusion zone.
He said the show initially appeared to be running smoothly before drones on the southern side of Cockle Bay started plummeting, triggering what he described as a cascading failure across the fleet.
Large-scale drone displays operate under strict aviation rules and involve extensive safety oversight due to the complexity of coordinating hundreds of aircraft simultaneously.
The drones used in the “Star-Bound” spectacle were specifically engineered for mass aerial performances and fitted with advanced positioning and fail-safe technology.
Authorities are still assessing whether drone shows scheduled from May 31 onwards will proceed.
This year’s program marked Vivid Sydney’s biggest drone schedule to date after the displays were shelved in 2025 following concerns from police and transport authorities over crowd congestion near Circular Quay the previous year.
Ahead of the festival, Vivid Sydney director Brett Sheehy told the The Sydney Morning Herald organisers had secured new drone technology designed to deliver what were expected to be the brightest drones used anywhere in the world.
The Darling Harbour attraction had been due to run twice nightly from Sunday to Wednesday across the festival, with 22 performances planned over 11 nights.
At least five shows have now been cancelled.
Vivid Sydney has confirmed a press conference will be held later today, with timing to be announced shortly, as organisers provide an update on the cancellation of the “Star-Bound” drone show and the technical issues behind the incident.
CEO of Destination NSW Karen Jones and Head of Production at SKYMAGIC, Dylan Rhys are expected to address the media at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.