Fireworks mild up the sky over London each New 12 months within the UK’s largest annual show (Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Photographs)

At midnight tonight, Jamie Beeson will be certain folks throughout the UK get a superb bang.

Welcoming in 2024 one of the best ways he is aware of, he’ll be sitting subsequent to a lighting operator, a sound man and a firework operator of their management station beside the RAF memorial on Victoria Embankment, straight throughout the River Thames from the London Eye.

And in entrance of the 4 of them, there will likely be a desk with one massive button that begins the present.

Jamie is a venture director at Identification, the occasions company behind the UK’s largest annual fireworks show, and he’s the person who oversees an enormously complicated operation involving tickets, crowds and 1000’s upon 1000’s of explosives.

Understandably, it’s a number of work with loads of methods behind the scenes to ensure the whole lot goes proper on the evening – and it’s a course of that begins nearly six months earlier in July.

‘We’ll have preliminary conferences to speak about tales which have occurred over the 12 months with the mayor’s workplace and what they’d wish to give attention to for the look again, in addition to concepts for the larger social gathering aspect of the present,’ Jamie explains.

Sadiq Khan is extra closely concerned within the course of than you would possibly assume, he says, with the London mayor even requesting a selected monitor for the all-important soundtrack.

Though the music in query ‘must be a shock’, he rapidly provides.

Not one of the music performed on the evening is there with out very cautious thought – over time, Stormzy, Fatboy Slim, Becky Hill and Insanity assist ring within the new 12 months.

The final spectacular present had the theme ‘With Love from London’ (Image: Reuters)

In any case, it’s arduous to inform a narrative with simply fireworks.

‘The soundtrack is our key method of speaking messaging,’ Jamie explains. ‘Once we begin in July it’s developing with concepts for the music, and the way we would reinforce that by way of using voiceovers and information clips to inform the tales.’

It’s solely after that’s been labored on that the fireworks are picked in order that they’ll finest serve the soundtrack.

Final 12 months, the theme was ‘With Love from London’ – permitting for celebrations of the Lionesses’ victory in Euro 2022 and London Satisfaction’s fiftieth anniversary in addition to tributes to Queen Elizabeth.

Among the many sound clips used have been phrases from the late Queen, the brand new King, Dame Judi Dench and Peter Tatchell of the Homosexual Liberation Entrance.

It was the primary time Identification had run the present, and naturally, it was no small enterprise.

The show concerned 12,000 fireworks, 400 drones, 25 tons of apparatus and 18 kilometres of cables and wiring, all of which needed to be put in proper within the centre of one of many world’s busiest cities.

Roughly the identical variety of fireworks will likely be used within the 2023 present, with all eyes on the spectacular centrepiece: the London Eye.

There’s only one drawback – on the final day of the 12 months, individuals are nonetheless using the Eye till 3pm.

The London Eye has turn into the focus for the capital’s new 12 months celebrations (Image: AP)

‘The set up of all of the lighting tools and the fireworks which might be used on the Eye takes place when it closes,’ Jamie says.

‘It’s a really rigorously timed, well-rehearsed operation to get the whole lot in place, linked and operational, earlier than we begin the present.’

Areas across the landmark are dampened to make further positive a rogue firework would keep secure (though the fireworks used are further secure already – what many individuals assume is smoke popping out of them is definitely vapour) and spotters are deployed to maintain a detailed eye on potential points.

However this can be a deadline like no different. It doesn’t matter what occurs, tens of 1000’s of individuals will likely be chanting the countdown as midnight approaches, and the large button must be pressed as soon as they cry out in unison: ‘Joyful new 12 months!’

Over the last present, drones have been used to type photos together with the immediately recognisable profile of the late Queen on the 50p (Image: Reuters)

Jamie is assured they’ll be impressed by what they see.

‘We all the time attempt to go larger and higher, the mayor’s all the time eager to intention higher than final 12 months,’ he explains.

‘It’s a big quantity of explosives, so it’s discovering a method to make use of that on this distinctive space of London that also captures the general public’s creativeness.

‘There are undoubtedly massive surprises in retailer.’

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