Media releases

Music at the heart of NYE celebrations

Published 29 December 2016

Alex-Gooden-SydNYE16

Revellers are being encouraged to look up and listen for the full fireworks effects this New Year’s Eve as Sydney sees out 2016 with its biggest fireworks show yet set to a rocking soundtrack.

A soundtrack that includes songs from rock legends Prince and David Bowie, Australian artists Sia and Flume and international stars Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses will take the fireworks to another level.

Sydneysiders can tune in to 104.1 2DayFM for the exclusive soundtrack at 9pm and midnight.

“The music has inspired some wonderful firework effects this year and is a tribute to some of the stars we lost in 2016,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“We’ll see designs that will shower from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, rain from barges on the harbour and explode as a constellation above the city.

“Whether they’re enjoying the fireworks at home or watching the spectacular event from a vantage point overlooking the harbour, people should bring along portable radios or tune in their phones to get the complete light and sound show.”

Having spent the past 12 months staring into space and listening to music, Sydney New Year’s Eve soundtrack producer, Alex Gooden, is looking forward to seeing his playlist come to life on December 31.

“It’s been a year of imagining what it would be like being on Sydney Harbour on New Year’s Eve watching the fireworks going off around me. As a job, it doesn’t get more fun than that,” Mr Gooden said.

“I’ve spent more than 500 hours listening to Spotify, iTunes Charts, watching YouTube and listening to the radio at different times of the day.

“It’s a long process that involves quite a bit of trial and error. It starts with a technical brief from the City of Sydney and the fireworks director, Forch Foti, who supply a fireworks intensity map that peaks at 11 for the fireworks climax.

“The brief is very broad because it has to appeal to just about everyone. The music has to be popular and relevant and include as many Australian acts as possible.

“My personal favourites from the fireworks soundtrack are David Bowie’s Space Oddity, Prince’s Purple Rain and Gene Wilder’s Pure Imagination. I can’t wait to see how it looks and sounds on the night.”

9pm family fireworks soundtrack list:

  1. Do You Bleed? – Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL
  2. Shelter – Porter Robinson & Madeon
  3. One Dance- Drake
  4. Remind Me (Steve James Remix) – Conrad Sewell
  5. Just Like Fire (From ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’) – P!NK
  6. Purple Rain – Prince
  7. Purple Rain - Royal Philamonic Orchestra
  8. Can’t Stop the Feeling! (Original Song from Dreamwork’s Animation ‘Trolls’) – Justin Timberlake
  9. Sorry – Justin Bieber
  10. Youth (Gryffin Remix) [feat Gryffin] – Troye Sivan
  11. This is What You Came For (feat. Rihanna) – Calvin Harris
  12. No Money - Galantis
 

Midnight fireworks soundtrack list

  1. Strip Chase – John Powell & David Buckley
  2. Fall Together – The Temper Trap
  3. Cheap Thrills- Sia
  4. Fast Car (feat. Dakota) [Radio Edit] – Jonas Blue
  5. Roll Up – Fitz & The Tantrums
  6. Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey
  7. Evie, Pt 1 (Let Your Hair Hang Down) – The Wrights
  8. Space Oddity (1999 Remaster) – David Bowie
  9. Never Be Like You (feat Kai)- Flume
  10. Don’t Let Me Down (feat. Daya) – The Chainsmokers
  11. Stepping Stone (feat. Mark Johns) – Lemaitre
  12. Faded – Alan Walker
  13. Pure Imagination – Gene Wilder
  14. Carry Me (Feat Julia Michaels) – Kygo
  15. Welcome to the Jungle – Guns and Roses
  16. Breakin’ Outta Hell – Airbourne
  17. Still Falling For You (From “Bridget Jones’s Baby’ Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Ellie Goulding
  18. Hymn For the Weekend – Coldplay
  19. Symphonie fantastique, Op. 1: Songe d’… - Diesirae et Ronde du Sabbat ensemble – Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Claudio Abbado
ABC1 will broadcast live from 8.35pm AEDT. The event will be live streamed sydneynewyearseve.com, ABC iView and the ABC TV Facebook page.

The midnight fireworks will be live streamed globally at Australia.com and Sydney.com Facebook pages.

 

For media inquiries or images, contact City of Sydney Senior Media Adviser Belinda Wallis 02 8974 4153 or email bwallis@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, contact Paul Mackay on 0432 182 647 or pmackay@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au