A million or more revelers rang in 2013 under a blizzard of colorful confetti amid wishes for a less violent, turbulent New Year as the shimmering crystal ball dropped in Times Square — and the curtain dropped on 2012.
The teeming throng greeted 2013 with a roar, but the annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza made for mediocre T.V., with Mayor Bloomberg hemmed in by high-kicking Rockettes and a stage full of pop stars — and MC Hammer — bobbing to the strains of “Auld Lang Syne.”
Hizzoner danced a few steps and blushed, his cheek smeared with red lipstick — planted there by a Rockette imitating his 2012 smooch partner, Lady Gaga. Far below in the Midtown crowd, lovestruck Daniel Mulligan clutched his sweetheart, fellow Staten Islander Jaclynne Castellano, and looked expectantly toward 2013.
“We want to spend the new year together because I love her to death,” the 22-year-old Mulligan gushed.
Many in the Times Square crush used their feelings about the tragedies of 2012 to motivate their New Year’s Eve celebration.
Castellano, 22, prayed for recovery in Staten Island and other areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.
“In the New Year we want to rebuild our relationships, our businesses, our homes and our families,” she said.
Others in Times Square recalled the spate of mass shootings that gripped the nation in 2012.
“We have to savor the moment — every moment,” said Marri Marcarelli, who snagged a spot near the countdown ball at 10 a.m. in tribute to her relatives in Newtown, Conn.
“The only thing you can do is make this year better than the last one,” said Marcarelli, 20, of Branford, Conn.
“My cousin (in third grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School) heard the whole thing over the intercom. We didn’t know if she was dead or alive. It really hit home.”
Marcarelli’s pal, Kate Waterbury, was excited about what 2013 could bring.
“I’m not going to waste any time,” the 20-year-old said.
“I want to do everything ... while I’m still healthy and young.”
Of course, not everyone who traveled to the Crossroads of the World had a connection to tragedy from the bygone year.
Kara Schaefer journeyed from Alaska for the street spectacle, arriving in Times Square at 7:30 a.m.
“The flight took 12 hours,” said Schaefer, 18, a freshman at the University of Alaska. “I wanted to do it just once.”
Schaefer added that the experience was worth it — and wasn’t even bothered by the near-freezing air. “This isn’t cold,” she said. “I’m from Alaska!”
The annual Times Square countdown featured host Ryan Seacrest and a lineup of star musical guests that included Taylor Swift, clad in black leather pants, Korean rapper Psy, resplendent in white fur, has-been rapper MC Hammer, Carly Rae Jepsen and Pitbull.
Revelers sporting jaunty blue foam hats and supersized 2013 glasses waved blue balloons handed out by organizers and made do without public bathrooms.
Hours before the party kicked off, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly predicted Times Square would be the “safest place in the world” for the annual festivities. Everything went off without a hitch.
Rookie cop Burim Kadrijaj was in awe of his festive assignment. “It’s exciting — the crowd, the people, the lights,” said Kadrijaj, shivering in the frigid night air. “I feel like a rock star.”
Asked about his wishes for the new year, Kadrijaj didn’t flinch: “I want to be a good cop. I want to get a lot of arrests. I want to help people. It sure isn’t for the money.”
It was the first Gotham countdown in decades without legendary host Dick Clark, who died in April, at age 82.
The 2013 ball boasted 288 new Waterford crystals, and confetti included shredded slips of paper inscribed with wishes by visitors to Times Square.
Fireworks lit up a smaller celebration at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, while 5,000 merrymakers at Webster Hall in Greenwich Village were showered by 100,000 balloons at the stroke of midnight.
Celebrations began in Asia and Australia even as revelers were gathering in Times Square. In Australia, a record $6.9 million pyrotechnic spectacular sprinkled colorful sparks above Sydney, while tens of thousands of people lined the docks of Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong to witness an astonishing fireworks show.
Good vibes traveled across the Far East, especially in Myanmar, which joined the world party for the first time in decades.
Roughly 90,000 people in the long-oppressed nation turned out for a New Year’s Eve countdown in the metropolis of Yangon, the first after nearly five decades of iron-fisted military rule.
“We feel like we are in a different world,” said Yu Thawda, a university student thrilled to greet 2013 with three of her friends.
But the new year came with last year’s troubles still lingering.
Celebrations in the Indian capital of New Delhi were canceled after the death Saturday of a young gang-rape victim raised concerns about women’s safety.
And in restive Russia, hours before fireworks exploded above Red Square in Moscow, about 25 people were arrested for an unsanctioned political demonstration.
Amid the joy, fear and injustice in the world, Pope Benedict XVI, celebrating the New Year at the Vatican, said goodness will prevail.
New Year’s Eve fetes were more subdued in parts of the West, as economic anxieties dampened the spirits of some partygoers in the United States — where Washington lawmakers wrangled over a deal to stave off spending cuts and tax increases — and in austerity-weary Europe.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her citizens to tighten their belts, and Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, canceled its 2013 blowout in light of widespread hardship.
It donated $21,000 saved from the event to 320 needy schoolchildren.
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