Drone shows: Will they overtake firework displays?

[AngryData]

I hope not. It was interesting the first few times I saw it, mostly because of the complications of coordinating all those drones in formation, and a bit in the capital expenses required to set it up. But I don't really find any enjoyment from watching a bunch of drones make simple slow moving animations in the sky.

Its like digital watches, impressive the first few times it is accomplished, but now that they are pretty easy to find and you can see a demonstration of it working without much effort, I don't see much point in seeking it out nor have any desire in watching it work.

[jarofghosts]

Considering the alternative in question is fireworks, which have been in use for literally thousands of years, not being "interesting" is a questionable argument.

[fifilura]

What is your opinion about fireworks? Maybe you were not part of the audience to begin with?

[cypherpunks01]

Hasn't happened yet, but I can't wait for the first shots in the US "war on fireworks". It's a natural extension of recent culture wars, combining many familiar elements of climate policy debate, worry over China, the inalienable rights of Americans to buy things that explode, etc. Have any big municipalities replaced their July 4th fireworks with drone displays?

[bryanlarsen]

War on fireworks for private citizens, maybe. Fireworks are already pretty much illegal for the public in Massachusetts, but yet there are still lots of fireworks shows on July 4th put on by groups with an appropriate license.

[daemonologist]

I'd imagine 4th of July is unlikely to shift to majority drones (at least in the near term) due to the economics of it - there are a lot of fireworks shows all concentrated on one evening, and the corresponding number of drone fleets would be sitting mostly idle for the rest of the year. (And I agree that Americans like explosives and would definitely object if you took them away.)

If the price of the drones comes down further, or fireworks become more regulated, then maybe.

[siver_john]

Went to a show in Nashville with some friends, I think last year. And drones were definitely incorporated in (interestingly showing Star Wars and then US military assets), but it was done in tandem with the fireworks. Which as a distraction during transitional elements does seem like a good use for them.

Honestly I think the biggest threat is also fireworks NIMBYism, people don't like the loud sounds disturbing their lives, their pets, etc combined with the general pressure of bigger and better exacerbating those problems.

[some_random]

I would argue that it has already started to some degree, you can't buy really any fireworks in non-specialty stores anymore, many jurisdictions ban all sales, and every 4th there are cops chasing down people illegally launching fireworks in cities. As you said, it hasn't been connected to the greater culture war zeitgeist but I agree it's only a matter of time.

[jordanb]

Except fireworks "code Chinese"

I kinda forsee drone shows getting so extravagant that they make fireworks shows seem quaint: "why don't the fireworks make any pictures?"

Then the drone shows get oversaturated because they can easily be put on day after day without expending any munitions. Then they start to be seen as a nuisance and get regulated.

[bee_rider]

Ugh, we’re going to interpret the second amendment to cover fireworks, aren’t we? States will be overruled, the New Hampshire border town economy as well as the hands of many drunken Massholes are in for some damage.

[TheChaplain]

To me fireworks are enjoyable because of the light, sound and smell experience, plus the slightly chaotic/unpredictable behaviour.

Drone shows are pretty but.. well, quickly becomes kind of predictable and dull. Like any CGI in movies these days, just never amazes me or gives any "wow"-feeling like it did when Terminator 2 came out.

[krunck]

I love seeing chemistry in action in the form of fireworks shows. The sights, sounds, and even smells(who doesn,t love sulfur?). There is a local fireworks manufacturer here in the Midwest US that supplies a lot of municipal shows. No China needed if that's a problem for you.

If I want to watch pixels, I'll watch a video on a screen.

[mschuster91]

I hope so. Leaving the question of air quality aside, fireworks are a torture upon wildlife. Every year in Germany, about a thousand dogs and cats are lost around NYE because they are scared off by fireworks [1], to say nothing about actual wildlife like birds, rabbits or other animals you'll find around every city that is traumatized or directly killed from the stress. The trash load is insane as well, it's hundreds of cubic meters [5] worth of trash that major cities have to dispose of on the taxpayers' dime because people can't be arsed to pick up and dispose of their ordnance after themselves.

And on top of that, you get the insane caseload for medical staff in the weeks before, during and after from all the dumb drunk fucks thinking it's wise to handle fireworks while being drunk out of their mind - 2024 we got five dead [2] across Germany and hundreds of injured in Berlin alone [3], we even got an "influencer" shooting a rocket into a home for social media clout [4].

IMHO: The sooner fireworks go off and die, the better. The problem is, it's a certainty that the usual far-right crowd will drag this issue into their culture war allegations bullshit, just as they did with electric cars, renewable power or smoking bans...

[1] https://www.derhund.de/fast-500-hunde-um-den-jahreswechsel-e...

[2] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/jahreswechsel-...

[3] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2025/01/silvester-berl...

[4] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/berlin-raketenschuss-...

[5] https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2024/12/berlin-silvest...

[herrherrmann]

I hope so as well! I believe anyone that owns or knows a dog or cat is quite sensitized to the awful noises of fireworks (and straight-up explosives, as they are sometimes used). But I’m afraid too many people are still needlessly fascinated by the spectacle and don’t want things to change.

[herbst]

As of now it's seems you can barely discuss any of this without someone getting political.

There are also many paths in between uncontrollably selling fireworks to anyone over 18 and banning it completely.

I would highly prefer some cities just openly banning it so people have places to go to to avoid it.

Edit:// also there are rockets and whatever without loud "boom" no idea why they aren't more common

[moralestapia]

I enjoy fireworks. A lot.

Some of the reasons you brought up are valid, but, at the end of the day the world is a collection of personalities and there is one collective personality that likes fireworks. That will never go away :).

The nice thing is that we can both coexist. You have a right to be against them, I have a right to be for them. We both enjoy times when there are no fireworks and times when there are many.

Since you seem quite knowledgeable about the topic. What do you think could be done to ameliorate the issues you mention, while also letting firework enjoyers enjoy their thing once in a while?

[some_random]

Ah there it is, the incendiary ban-em-all culture war post.

[carlosjobim]

Birds don't get lost. Are you allowed in Germany to talk about the real problem surrounding fireworks, or is that a fine/prison?

[segmondy]

It's like going to a NASCAR or drag race with electric cars. What's the fun? The fun with internal combustion engines is the loud engines, the lumpy idles, the reverberation of the engine and exhaust into the environment, you can feel it. The hair on your skin will rise, you will close your ears, you can smell the exhaust. Likewise the same with fireworks, you feel it, if you are close enough you can smell it, LEDs can't match the bright explosive lights. It will never be comparable.

[hagbard_c]

In a few years we'll be able to enjoy the spectacle of the drone-firework wars when drone show operators see their widgets under attack from fireworks aficionados. See that 'copter there, seems to be the guide drone for the flock around it. Take it out with a barrage of rockets, sayonara! Oh shit, there's a drone watching us over there, move before it calls in reinforcements!

[mcphage]

I remember seeing my first drone show in 2016, and it was fairly rudimentary. But even still, it was awesome-inspiring and moving.

[bee_rider]

I wonder if you can get a strong enough laser on a drone that it’ll show up in the sky, in the fashion that a laser show does.

A great big flying vector display would be a cool upgrade for a laser show.

[phantomathkg]

No. Please don't. Both of them require different skills and technique to get it perfect.

[guywithahat]

Drone shows will probably overtake fireworks not because people like drone shows, but because cities don't like firework shows and never have. Cities will switch to drones once they feel it can be done without losing the next election, and when people stop showing up they'll just stop altogether

[egberts1]

No

[hengheng]

We first had that discussion some 10 years ago. They're not taking the world by storm, we know that much.

They are a worse variant of the fireworks we know, but they're different enough to be something else. Cost and regulatory overhead has meant that we haven't fully explored what that could be. Drones work at a completely different speed, and with a different language. Much slower, much more docile. More female, if you will.

The same way that good firework is an art form, a good drone show is a whole choreography, and must be treated as such. It is neither a flashing firework, not a hovering dot matrix display.

Stuff is hard.