Well, that reminds me of the one time I was in Manhattan on the 4th. This was in the early 1990s and I decided on a whim to go to the top of the Empire State Building to see what I could see of the fireworks from there (they were on the East River that year) -- which, as it turned out, was hardly anything. Enough people had already gotten up there ahead of me to fill up the areas near the edge, so standing behind them, almost nothing except the highest reaching fireworks could be seen. But it didn't really matter. It was a fun thing to do.
To tell the truth (and I must, I must), I'm not actually wowed much by fireworks themselves, and that goes for being just about anywhere. When it's been fun for me, it's because of the company and whatever else is going on.