New light show added to this year's New Year's Eve celebration at Space Needle

SEATTLE — Preparations are underway for New Year’s Eve celebrations in Seattle as tens of thousands of people are expected to ring in the new year under the Space Needle in Seattle Monday night.

This year, there are new additions to the annual fireworks display -- a 30-minute light show choreographed to music that starts at 10 p.m. The light show will also be incorporated into the fireworks display at 11:59 p.m.

Crews strategically placed lights in 87 positions in the stairwell and core of the Space Needle.

LED and projection technology will shoot beams thousands of feet into the air.

“Last night, we were doing some testing and it just looked gorgeous across the sky. We're not just lighting the Needle, we're lighting the sky. Everything around it. It's beautiful,” said Rick Franke with Illuminate Production Services.

With Monday being the 25th anniversary for the New Year’s Eve fireworks at the Needle pyrotechnicians started planning this summer while the Space Needle was under renovation.

“Let's make it bigger, let's add different effects, let's do different directions. Let's do fireworks that form different shapes and letters -- look out for that this year there are going to be some letters in the finale that are going to be interesting,” said Dave Mandapat with Space Needle public relations.

Part of this year's $100 million renovation was installing a glass revolving floor. So, if you have a ticket to the New Year's Eve party, you're going to see the shooting lights beneath your feet.

The theme for this year's show is Celebrate Woman.  Every song of the show's soundtrack performed by a female artist will be simulcast on KISS 106.1 FM.

The finale song will be “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, who died this year.

Cox Media Group