The past several years have resulted in creative Seattle Space Needle New Year’s fireworks displays from citys most iconic landmark. In 2019, the Space Needle fireworks scheduled for midnight on December 31 to usher in 2020 was cancelled due to high winds. The following two years, pandemic restrictions again changed the plans for the annual Seattle Space Needle fireworks show. Here’s a virtual recap of these years:
2019 New Years – the show that wasn’t
The NYE 2019 Space Needle fireworks show was a bit of a wait-and-see operation due to high winds. “Plan A” was to delay the fireworks until 2:00 AM, providing the winds died down. “Plan B” was to postpone the fireworks show for one day. There was no “Plan C”, except the one that finally took place. The fireworks show ushering in 2020 was a laser light show in the Seattle skies above the iconic Space Needle—reminiscent of a used car lot sale or calling for batman. Hey, sometimes you go with what you got left.
2020 Virtual New Years Space Needle Fireworks
The fireworks show to usher in 2021 was another, entirely new laser light show. T-Mobile New Year at the Needle celebration welcoming 2021 was a never-before-seen virtual spectacular. The newly commissioned show was broadcast locally on KING 5 and streamed around the world. The laser light show featured striking visuals in an innovative display of digital effects, engineered to bring viewers bigger thrills than ever before—all from the comfort and safety of your living room! Using sky-mapping technology and real video footage, the Space Needle was layered with immersive, digital artistic expressions to create an illusion of color and wonder.
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Virtual Sky Mapping image of NYE 2020 in Seattle, created by Maxin10sity in partnership with Global Illumination for the 2020 T-Mobile New Year’s at the Needle light show
2021 Live Stream New Year’s Space Needle fireworks
In 2021, there were no events at the Space Needle and no public viewing at Seattle Center since crowds were not permitted. HOWEVER, T-Mobile New Year’s at the Needle saw the return of live fireworks to ring in 2022, which were streamed for everyone to enjoy from home. T-Mobile partnered with multimedia studios and talented digital artists to create the first-ever live fireworks show to be augmented and broadcast live with exclusive special effects that could ONLY be seen on TV or streaming online. All of the thrills of the West Coast’s biggest New Year’s fireworks celebration without any of the chills standing out in the cold!
2022 In-person T-Mobile New Year’s at the Needle
Fireworks are returning to Seattle’s skies, combining live pyrotechnics and augmented reality for an out-of-this-world show to ring in 2022. Now in their ninth year, T-Mobile is once again sponsoring the West Coast’s biggest New Year’s celebration. As the clock strikes midnight to ring in 2023, Seattle’s beloved New Year’s celebration at the space Needle will feature drone light formations in the Seattle skies to add more expression and color to one of the world’s largest structurally-launched firework displays.
With 200 drones designed to integrate with the fireworks and light displays being launched and projected off of the Space Needle, the captivating drone formations will fly between 200 and 600 feet above ground, directly north of the Space Needle.
How to watch 2022 T-Mobile New Year’s at the Needle
- In-person: The coordinated drone effects will be best seen from the Seattle Center campus grounds with festivities beginning at 8pm. Note: There are no public events atop the Space Needle for New Year’s Eve (the tower is open to the public from 9:30AM to 9:30PM on December 31).
- TV/Online: The New Year’s Seattle Space Needle fireworks show will be broadcast locally on KING 5 starting at 11:35pm PST and streamed online exclusively at king5.com.
- Listen: Tune-in to iHeart radio station HITS 106.1 to listen along to the show’s audio simulcast. The night will kick off with two musically-choreographed light shows taking place at 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM in anticipation of midnight.
More info: New Year’s at the Needle | Space Needle
Event calendar for New Year’s Weekend
Events on our calendar for New Years Weekend, Friday-Monay, December 30, 2022 to January 2, 2023.
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