Kisses, cheers, fireworks welcome 2020 in Times Square

NEW YORK (AP) — Couples kissed. Others cheered and waved balloons as fireworks burst into the night sky and confetti fell to welcome the start of 2020 in New York City’s Times Square.

In one of the globe’s most-watched New Year’s Eve spectacles, the crowd counted down the last seconds of 2019 as a luminescent crystal ball descended down a pole.

Throngs of people cheered and sang along to the X Ambassadors’ soul-stirring rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” just before midnight.

About 3,000 pounds of confetti showered the sea of attendees, many of whom were also briefly rained on earlier in the evening as they waited in security pens for performances by stars including rap-pop star Post Malone, K-pop group BTS, country singer Sam Hunt and singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette.

The frenzied moment of celebration came after many hours of waiting for much of the crowd.

Many people arrive before noon to get a spot close to the action. Alcohol is banned.

Spectators enter through a security screening gauntlet to enter pens they cannot leave, including to use the bathroom, if they hope to return.

The weather can be brutal.

When revellers rang in 2018, it was only 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 Celsius).

For the dawn of 2019, rain poured throughout the evening, leaving puddles on the performance stages.

The weather seemed perfect Tuesday until it wasn’t. Rain, which wasn’t in the forecast, briefly drenched the crowd just before 8:30 p.m.

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