Skyfire 21 review... or how to waste most of the day to watch and listen to a bunch of crap...

I agree with you about the littering. That comes with a lot of events like this and I fail to understand why people can’t be responsible with their rubbish. It sucked riding round the lake on Sunday seeing all the rubbish.

I don’t think it’s 100% free to all though, they get sponsors, sponsors dip into their profits to pay for the event and we the consumers contribute to the profits.

It’s the cirlce of life, hakuna-matada.

Went to Skyfire a couple of years ago at Regatta Point and learnt that it’s a place to stay away from.

Kids and I rocked up to the ANZAC Pde end at 8pm. Watched satellites buzz over for 30 mins, then saw a great show. Have been to Riverfire in Brisbane and that was better, but this show was the best I can recall seeing over the last 3-4 years here in Canberra. I think it was all over this NYD and Oz Day.

Not using the bridges as launch points probably opened up two other key viewing areas, plus reduced the after traffic jams somewhat. The 11 pontoons made for a great multilayered show, the 3D wireframe cubes blew me away, and the finale was just incredible – flabbergasting even.

Could hear music from nearby people and it didn’t seem to synch but would have preferred to not have that blaring out anyway.

Then it was grab the blanket and kids and bolt for the car. 15 minutes later tucking them into bed.

However a couple of police to control pedestrians getting across Parkes Way would be smart – someone is going to get squashed there one year.

There is no pleasing some people.

Lets poke sticks into the ant-nests:

(*) Its SUCH a lot of MONEY

Yeah, how much did you pay directly? FM104.7 might be paying a squillion dollars from their advertising budget, but they certainly get a -lot- of ‘captive audience’ for a couple of hours. They don’t do it out of altruistic ‘we luv Canberra’, they do it because there is profit in it for them — from the advertisers. If you’re going to complain about the cost of goods BECAUSE of the cost of advertisements, well I guess you have no idea how economies work. Figures.

(*) I don’t go, so shut up.

Um, right. Next.

(*) They played crappy out-of-sync musak.

So what? They -try- to synchronise it to a particular location. Those pontoons on the lake stretched a few hundred metres. What looked perfectly synchronised from the bridge, sounded ‘somewhat out of sequence’ because the sound had to travel so much farther from the farthest pontoon, relative to Commonwealth Avenue. People in ‘front’ of the barges (on regatta point) would have had a more ‘all at once’ cohesive sound, but it would only sync with the music from one specific area around Regatta Point. That’s a physical constraint of sound propagation, nothing the organisers can do about the ‘laws of physics’. As for the actual music — tastes change, what’s new is old, and old is new, and classic is ‘boring’ to some. That argument never dies, because something is ALWAYS new and the vast music library of the past is ALWAYS old. I don’t go for the sound component, it’s always drowned out by the oohs, ahs, and the incessant Mobile Phone conversations

“HELLO? HELLO? IT’S REALLY LOUD, THERE ARE SOME FIREWORKS GOING OFF, WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU, WE’RE ON THE BRIDGE …” and they move on, oblivious to the fireworks, and wholly concerned with their social networking.

(*) Rubbish.

It made third page on the Canberra Times, but it was REALLY OBVIOUS this year that people were ‘into’ Littering in a big way. From our perch on Commonwealth avenue bridge, we saw many bottles and cans sail over the edge into the unpleasant looking lake water. People dropped cigarette butts, hurled bottles, dropped cardboard containers, they were completely unashamed about it too. I certainly -felt- like asking the bloke next to me if he felt like following his bottle over the edge, but of course, in polite society one turns the other cheek and ignores it. Bloody idiots. Back in the 70’s there was a concerted effort across Australia to make littering a socially unacceptable thing, and (mostly) it worked. Nowadays, kids just think that litter ‘magically disappears’ if you just chuck stuff on the ground. They don’t understand, and won’t understand unless some kind of Advertising Bomb goes off and interrupts ‘So You Think You Can Prance’ or ‘Survivor XII – revenge of the crabs’, or whatever ‘popular’ TV show they’re glued to.

My experience at this years Skyfire was only marginally different from the many other times I’ve attended. The crowding was much more obvious, and the people incredibly much louder than usual, with an overwhelming predominance of teenagers yakking on their phone, or SCREAMING at each other trying to make the loudest noise they could, on a constant basis. The aforementioned Rubbish Increase was staggeringly inappropriate. The fireworks display itself was excellent. Seeing evidence here that people are jaded and ‘bored’ with such pyrotechnics, saddens me a little, but I enjoyed the heck out of it — that last section where things went insanely ‘bang bang bang’ for what seemed like an eternity, was just jaw-droppingly great. Sound you could feel in your chest.

Afterwards we walked back to our car parked at the rear of the Albert Hall, and got home within 20 minutes, unlike those poor saps parked on the grass on the parliamentary side of Commonwealth Avenue, who had at least 30-50 minutes wait just to get their car onto a free stretch of road.

Bottom line — if you don’t like it, don’t go. If you do go, don’t litter. Above all, don’t preen about the up-front ‘cost’ of such exercises, when it’s free to all.

Ex

I think fireworks are all about enjoyment for kids, and the 2 eight year olds I took along had a wonderful time. We had a picnic tea, and they had a great time dancing, light-sabre fighting and then watching the sun go down before the fireworks began. It’s wonderful watching the awe on childrens faces when those fireworks light up the sky. It’s great family entertainment.

The only negative comment I would make is directed at the idiots who ( often along with children in tow) just step out in front of cars and expect to cross the road safely. Good role models….NOT!

Die Lefty Scum said :

I went to Skyfire II and proudly haven’t been back since. FM104.7 is what’s wrong with this city. Lowest common-denomenator stuff for the mindless Gungahlin-living herds.

That’s a bit harsh. I’m sure there was some mindless southside-living livestock there too. Even if that’s what you think of them aren’t they entitled to their fun too? I mean it was hardly Summernats by the lake was it?

I’ve been to too many of them to count but not recently, it seems like it used to be much better on the Sunday night, and was a lot better as part of the Canberra Festival, but troublemakers still turned up then just not in as high a concentration. I think the ego of the radio station has led them to turn it into a more standalone event. You need something a bit more than fireworks though to drag me out into the elements and share space with that many people.

If they put on a huge concert and then let off the fireworks maybe I’d be more interested, but a live broadcast by the lake prior to a ‘you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all’ cracker display doesn’t have that much allure to me.

I stayed home and watched the finale of Battlestar Galactica and it was really good(thanks WMC!).

It is when they trot it out every year for a radio station cracker night! Actually, from memory, INXS was on it too, need you tonight or something.

> obligatory Midnight Oil stuff… boring.

*ahem* Midnight Oil is never boring!

I went to Skyfire II and proudly haven’t been back since. FM104.7 is what’s wrong with this city. Lowest common-denomenator stuff for the mindless Gungahlin-living herds.

We went to a beaut one a long time ago, 90s or even earlier. We were at east basin (parked at Duntroon and walked around), and I’m not sure why but the crackers were bursting right above us, and quite low, so the bits and sparks were hitting all around. It was excellent. Being directly under them is the way to go.

Music was poop though. “In the Air Tonight” (oh please) and the obligatory Midnight Oil stuff… boring.

fnaah said :

I’ve been to a fair few Skyfires over the last 21 years, although not too many recently. I think the last one I went to was the one with the F-111 dump-n-burn opening (which was awesome) – was that last year, or earlier?.

2007.

*campsite*

I’ve been to a fair few Skyfires over the last 21 years, although not too many recently. I think the last one I went to was the one with the F-111 dump-n-burn opening (which was awesome) – was that last year, or earlier?

Anyhoo, our little lakeside campside didn’t have a radio, but it wasn’t really missed. We could kinda hear radios nearby, but I wasn’t really worried, I wasn’t all that keen to hear Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World” or Lennon’s “Imagine” or ACDC’s “Thunderstruck”. (I have no idea if these tracks were used this year, but I’m pretty sure they’re all used every other year.)

Would be nice to have a Skyfire set to classical music, or RAW FM. Skyfire needs more lasers.

A soundtrack supplied by FM104.7 contains crap music and people are surprised! What next it’s hot in hell?

There was a heap of rubbish all over commonwealth park yesterday – did they have those big hessian bins set up for skyfire, or don’t they do that anymore?

Several observations:

At about 7pm there were cars parked on bits of grass in places I didn’t know existed around Parkes Way and Commonwealth Ave, while the legislative assembly car park just over the road lay near empty.

Fireworks lost their special thing about 2000/millenium/olympics for me. Now they’re a bit dull and predictable. And damned expensive. And when you think we’ve had them now 4+ times this year alone they’re no longer something rare to be excited about, as they were at the country shows of my youth.

I will, however, enjoy setting them off at the Queens Birthday weekend in June.

Skyfire is always crap. Next year I might just invite a bunch of drunk fourteen year olds over to my house to watch my screen saver.

Liar

Skyfire is always crap. Next year I might just invite a bunch of drunk fourteen year olds over to my house to watch my screen saver.

rottweiler said :

oh my god people did you get at night out with family/friends maybe you saw a fireworks display worth to much money well more than most of us will ever see enjoyed it didn’t enjoy it the music wasn’t right too many people drinking and having fun bitch bitch bitch bitch it was a free event something to do in this bored city no other radio stations in australia does this so give them a break they did well but not good enough for most of you people it seems

Strangely enough there was a “Brisbane Skyfire” for many years. Not sure if it’s still going though.

If you don’t point out what you didn’t enjoy about the event and what didn’t work, then how will they improve it in the future ?

Fail!

He doesn’t use ANY caps! I reckon it’s a regular, who’s morphed and making a lame run for FOTW.

oh my god people did you get at night out with family/friends maybe you saw a fireworks display worth to much money well more than most of us will ever see enjoyed it didn’t enjoy it the music wasn’t right too many people drinking and having fun bitch bitch bitch bitch it was a free event something to do in this bored city no other radio stations in australia does this so give them a break they did well but not good enough for most of you people it seems

Gonna need some more CAPS to compete in FOTW, but nice try.

I had a good night. We’re never organised enough to do the music thing anyway. We just enjoyed our preschooler’s shining eyes and the beautiful sky.

I love the reports of the drunken teenager action! The above one, and the earlier one about them heckling a recumbant bike person were very chuckle-worthy. Sounds like these drunken teenagers were quite creative. Good to see.

Panhead said :

Laughed my ass off at the drunk teenagers at the stage after the crackers.

There were drunk kids, a half naked guy on ice and a old pervert on a bike. The drunk kids kept on pulling the guys pants down while the old guy on the bike watched on with glee. Then someone decided to kick the guy on the bike. The guy on the bike chased the kid around before falling off. Everyone laughed and high fived the triumphant teen. All while Scotty and Nige did there best to broadcast live, stopping every once in a while to tell the drunk kids to shutup or threaten to call security.

Then there was the 21 year old picking a fight with a 16 year old drunk kid for pulling the drug addicts pants down.

Crackers were great too.

Yah – good family fun for all. And that is why we don’t go to Skyfire.

Re Saturday v Sunday – Skyfire was definitely on a Sunday nite in the late 90s. From memory, it was during the Canberra Festival – not on the long weekend tho. At the time daylight saving had finished by then so they were on earlier.

Since we are still in daylight saving, fireworks by necessity start and finish pretty late. Saturday night makes more sense for families so the kiddies don’t have to front at school the next day. My small person got into her PJs before we left the carpark and was asleep by the Lodge – it was well over an hour past her usual bedtime.

What do you call someone who bitches about bitching? A minger mayhaps?

oh my god people did you get at night out with family/friends maybe you saw a fireworks display worth to much money well more than most of us will ever see enjoyed it didn’t enjoy it the music wasn’t right too many people drinking and having fun bitch bitch bitch bitch it was a free event something to do in this bored city no other radio stations in australia does this so give them a break they did well but not good enough for most of you people it seems

To be honest you can’t set fireworks off in sync to music in the first place, so I didn’t expect it. I was a bit confused with the “1987-1993” tracks having songs from the 00s included. Didn’t see any problems, except for the usual 100,000 people all trying to leave at once and the droves of idiots who let their little kids run around like crazy with no control. But they’re fairly standard these days.

We also went to Reconciliation place just before 8 after parking behind the Finance building. Easy parking, lovely family atmosphere with no drunken idiots, far enough away to not hear inane radio chatter and a great view. My preschooler loved it.

And many thanks to the lovely lady near us who didn’t seem to mind when my boy decided to join her family instead, and gave him glowsticks along with all her kids so they could all play together. They also made it much easier to spot him after dark (can recommnend glow tags around the ankles)

one year they had the “stage” over near the library didnt they? it was some competition to be in the VIP area with various home and away stars.

Laughed my ass off at the drunk teenagers at the stage after the crackers.

There were drunk kids, a half naked guy on ice and a old pervert on a bike. The drunk kids kept on pulling the guys pants down while the old guy on the bike watched on with glee. Then someone decided to kick the guy on the bike. The guy on the bike chased the kid around before falling off. Everyone laughed and high fived the triumphant teen. All while Scotty and Nige did there best to broadcast live, stopping every once in a while to tell the drunk kids to shutup or threaten to call security.

Then there was the 21 year old picking a fight with a 16 year old drunk kid for pulling the drug addicts pants down.

Crackers were great too.

astrojax said :

johnboy has created some sort of archetype perpetual motion machine with the riotact and you have just contributed your first momentum – congratulations!

ROFLMAO – A new RA tagline perhaps?

I’ve been to a few SkyFarts, and the fireworks weren’t too bad, but the choice of music frequently sucks arse.

I didn’t bother this year.

‘ullo whatsinaname, welcome in from the shadows – if you’ve been lurking this long then you should understand that there are some opinionated prats and some opinionated sweeties, each of whom in turn lambast the other in an endless seesaw of contempt – johnboy has created some sort of archetype perpetual motion machine with the riotact and you have just contributed your first momentum – congratulations!

i am just pissed they don’t put them on a sunday for me. why not?

whatsinaname said :

I don’t know their reasons for using Regatta Point but to me, it makes sense that they promote one central location. Why mix your messages? Like I said, people knew stuff was happening at Regatta Point. Whether they braved the crowds or not to go and take part in these events or not, is their choice. If they choose not to, they don’t really have much of a right to complain. It wasn’t too crowded there anyway. We had not trouble finding a spot and there were people coming right up until the fireworks and they found positions without any hassle.

I’m guessing Regatta Point is used as it is the biggest open area around the central basin where you can set up a stage and have people see it as well as being close to parking, exits and entrances and toilet facilities.

However they also publicise the use of the “best vantage points” to see the fireworks as there is no way you could fit everyone within Regatta Point.

Best Vantage Points:

* Shores of Lake Burley Griffin for the best view
* Regatta Point
* Black Mountain Tower
* The Carillon
* Mt Ainslie
* Red Hill Lookout
* Mount Pleasant – Duntroon

Other fireworks on the lake have been done better. It was good, but for all the hype about it being 21 years old and the biggest it was a little disappointing.

Mate, just like thousands of other lucky sods here in Canberra (born and bred), I’m a good old public servant – I work hard (waiting for the insults to start flying on that one). I have a partner of eleven years and two kids and I’m genuinely a happy person. If you view genuine happiness as “sunshiny,” that’s your perogative. I can assure you that I don’t, haven’t and never plan to work in radio (although my other half just made the somewhat nasty comment that I have the face for it!!) – it doesn’t interest me. I do listen to FM104.7 though and I have since I was little. Why should I hide that fact?

And my remarks about negativity aren’t directed specifically at this thread, nor specifically at you. There are some really great people here on the riotact. And there are some really bitter, jilted people. If you think you’re one of the bitter, jilted ones, then you shouldn’t be offended by my comment. Everyone has a right to an opinion mate. I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t have one. Just like I’ve finally stopped lurking to have my say. I was just offering another side to it. Sorry if I offended you. 🙂

unless you bring super duper outside noise deafening headphones, that next to impossible. but a good idea!!!

Just like watching the State of Origin while listening to Roy and HG instead of the inane TV cometary, I would suggest listening to almost anything but F_M_1_oh_4_point_7.

why is it when someone has a “negative” view of something, they need to have a look at themselves? what the #$%2 does that prove? that you are a sunshiny happy person all the time, and you just looooooove everything and i am a bitter and twisted person who needs to re-adjust their attitude?

People are allowed not to like things. I didnt like skyfire this year, its been done better before, and I am mentioning it. Thats what this place is for. like ant says, door is that way.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Can’t have been worse than staying home to watch the finale of Battlestar Galactica.

It’s FM104.7’s event.

Just like spelling ‘police’ with a capital P gives away you’re probably a copper, calling it _FM_104.7 and using phrases like ‘on air team’ probably gives away that you work for a certain radio station.

That was my suspicion too, after the first post. It’s the offended “we are all working really hard so you should be grateful even if it’s crap” tone that always gives it away.

Can’t have been worse than staying home to watch the finale of Battlestar Galactica.

It’s FM104.7’s event.

Just like spelling ‘police’ with a capital P gives away you’re probably a copper, calling it _FM_104.7 and using phrases like ‘on air team’ probably gives away that you work for a certain radio station.

whatsinaname said :

I’ve been lurking on the riotact for quite awhile now and there are so many negative people on here. Is everyone really this depressing? Doesn’t anyone ever have anything good to say?

Nope.

Door -> arse -> exit’s that way.

The soundtrack was 21 years in 21 minutes (or something to that effect). They played songs from previous soundtracks. I thought that much was obvious. And whether you agree with it or not, those “filler tracks” are songs from their playlist. It’s still their event. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a fireworks show (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra or otherwise) that didn’t use current songs in the soundtrack. They might not be to your tastes but they are to a lot of people, haence them being “popular.”

I don’t know their reasons for using Regatta Point but to me, it makes sense that they promote one central location. Why mix your messages? Like I said, people knew stuff was happening at Regatta Point. Whether they braved the crowds or not to go and take part in these events or not, is their choice. If they choose not to, they don’t really have much of a right to complain. It wasn’t too crowded there anyway. We had not trouble finding a spot and there were people coming right up until the fireworks and they found positions without any hassle.

And I’m assuming you’re referring to Scotty & Nige when you mention the “two loser DJ’s in canberra with hamish and andy.” I didn’t think there was anything wrong with them either. It’s FM104.7’s event. Of course they’re gonna have their on air team there. Hamish was late, so for most of it, it was just Andy. And where I was at Regatta Point, everyone seemed to be enjoying it.

Seriously man, what’s with all the negativity? Even your original post said “Don’t get me wrong, the fireworks itself were not that bad.” If that’s the most positive thing you have to say about a great, free, family event, I think you might need to have a look at yourself.

The problem with synchronising fireworks with music is if you sync the sound to the music, then unless you are in the place it is timed for, there is a delay. And if you sync the flask of light to the music, unless you block out the sound of the bangs (impossible unless you are 20km away with the radio up load), your brain keeps trying to tell you that it’s out of sync anyway because you hear the bangs after a delay.

I decided that I would sit this one out at home. Anyone else watch the Vicar of Dibley?

for one, I would have chosen songs that actually reflect the times they said they were. I would have steered clear of the latest generation of craptastic music that seemed to be used as filler. They had an awesome opportunity to showcase the last 21 years of music, instead they filled it with rhianna and pink.

They could have used icons around the lake like previous years, the bridge, carillion, library have all been used in the past to make it an event that the whole lake can enjoy, instead of those crammed like sardines on regatta point.

the inanne banter between two loser DJ’s in canberra with hamish and andy was cringeworthy at best. I like Hamish and Andy, and find them hilarious and they were doing their best to keep those two bafoons quiet, but instead they just spoke over the top of them. they came here to be heard, not shouted over.

anything else?

How many Carbon Credits did they use up??

At lest we can make up for it with Earth Hour this week…

What would you have done differently then grunge_hippy?

its been done better. thats my point. they wussed out when it could have been amazing to celebrate 21 years.

Nice pic.

Wow, there’s no pleasing some people is there? I’ve been to the last 15 Skyfire’s and this was one of the best. The finale was amazing!! And yes, “Smoke On The Water” was used in one (if not a couple) of the previous soundtracks. And as far back as I can remember, Skyfire has been on a Saturday. The Australia Day stuff happens on a Sunday, but not Skyfire.

We were at Regatta Point and my partner and I, and our kids had a great time. If you listen to the radio, you would know that there is a lot of stuff happening at Regatta Point. They make no secret of that. Sure, not everyone can get there but if you don’t make the effort, you have no right to whinge.

I’ve never seen The Potbelleez before and I thought they were fantastic!! The helicopter displays were very cool!! And it was all for free!! I dunno what some people expect for free entertainment but I thought it was a top night out. I don’t see many other nights like this happening in Canberra, especially for free.

I’ve been lurking on the riotact for quite awhile now and there are so many negative people on here. Is everyone really this depressing? Doesn’t anyone ever have anything good to say?

it was also clearly set up for those sitting at regatta point.

I just think overall it has been done better in the past…. and since it was the big 21, it could have been done better.

I found this year to be a little disappointing. No Dump and Burn, no fireworks off the bridge, none off the library, none off the Carillon. The music did not appear to match the fireworks.

Frankly the Australia Day fireworks were better – if somewhat shorter.

great photo, btw

now, since exactly when, and more importantly why, did s/f move from sunday to saturday night?? am i the only one thinks that a retrograde movement?

Took the fam down to Japanese (Lennox?) Gardens by the lake.
Heaps of drinking teens down there but they were mostly harmless.
The most trouble they caused all night was their distanced, immature teasing of a recumbent cyclist which sparked an OTT reaction. I have to admit though, I was laughing.
Nice pic.

Those drunken bogans were probably Families too, Berraboy, busy spending their baby bonus and other perks. If you think i’m joking, go hang out at Riverside Plaza in Qbn one day, and just watch them at it.

Smoke on the Water may be older than 21 years but it was used in the skyfire soundrack about 1998, and to great effect I might add.

Would have loved to have gone but the kids were too tired as we spent the afternoon at the Charny Carny. I’ve never seen so many women with tattoo’s and people without teeth in all my life. The kicker for me at this ‘family’ event was seeing about 10 drunken boguns sitting down near the stage surrounded by empty cider and beer bottles as well as several cans of rum and coke. Classy.

i too went straight from dinner around 7.30, parked at Finance and past the Portrait Gallery and thru reconciliation place, and ended up sitting down near the library.

We took a radio and i did notice that the fireworks weren’t exactly in sync which was a bit of a shame, and i didnt think the soundtrack was all that great either. They’ve done much better in the past.

And what was with those few stray fireworks that went off like 5 and 10 minutes after it finished?

to waste most of the day to watch and listen to a bunch of crap

Waste most of the day? We finished dinner (in Weston Ck) at 7.30pm, got in the car and parked at Finance then walked past the Portait Gallery and down thru Reconciliation Place to the foreshore in plenty of time for the fireworks.

We didn’t take a radio and could barely hear the soundtrack from nearby radios over the fireworks. We don’t care if it’s out of sync, in fact I wouldn’t care if there was no soundtrack at all.