You never added your opinion.

At a high level, I appreciate them trying something new. The experience overall left us disappointed.

Context: I grew up in NY, and as a child would watch the fireworks with my family from a highway overpass near our home in Queens. More recently I have an apartment with a rooftop that has a great view of the fireworks on the East River. Since the show was on the Hudson this year, we watched it on TV from the family home on Long Island.

Misses: For me/us the show this year missed on several notes.

• Songs. Maybe I’m old fashioned? I much preferred the more classical and orchestral backing tracks for the fireworks as in previous years. It seemed like this year NBC Universal decided to show off all of the songs they have in their song catalog, including the ones they put in every kid’s movie soundtrack :/
• Camera work. With live singers for all of the songs this year, the TV broadcast focused heavily on the performers instead of the fireworks. We were watching for the fireworks, not to watch people singing!

Hits:

• The performers were good! It was funny to see how they worked around the lyrics of some of the songs, like pulling just the chorus of George Michael’s Freedom, because the rest of it doesn’t quite fit the theme.
• What little they showed of the fireworks on TV, they looked pretty good!

I don’t know exactly why they decided to move to the Hudson after 10 years on the East River, but I do wonder if that was only place they could secure a concert venue large enough on the water for the musical concert. We joked that Mayor Adams probably wanted it on the Hudson so he could see it from his home in New Jersey. Maybe NBC wants something that’s big like ABC’s New Years Eve? A friend watching at a bar described the show as “tragic”.

As I said, I commend them for trying something new; now please, don’t do it again next year.