Panorama kicked off on New York City’s Randall’s Island Park yesterday, and it certainly did not disappoint. First year festivals always come with their ups and downs, and, while it seemed that Panorama’s crowd paled in comparison to the other festivals that also take place on on Randall’s Island–Governor’s Ball and Electric Zoo–this event turned out to be the most unique of them all. With incredible installations like “The Lab” and “Despacio”, huge LED art throughout the grounds, incredible food from all over the city, and one of the summer’s most fun and eclectic lineups, Panorama truly kicked things off with a bang on day one.
The diversity of the lineup was on full display from the get go, as artists like Madlib and Here We Go Magic hit the stage with early sets. The real festival fun started, though, when beloved brass band Preservation Hall Jazz Band took the Pavilion stage for a fun set that brought their unique New Orleans energy to New York, featuring a variety of classic New Orleans tunes and songs from their most recent album That’s It!.
Next up were LA alternative rock band Silversun Pickups on the massive Panorama main stage, which featured huge LED screens behind the band and on the sides of the stage, making for an awesome visual experience. The band themselves played an energetic set, feeling fully at home on the large festival stage. At one point, lead singer/guitarist Brian Aubert jokingly called out bassist Nikki Moninger for being nervous to perform a song, which led to huge smiles from the band and the audience when it was her turn to take over lead vocals. Performing fan favorites like “Lazy Eye” and “Panic Switch”, the band made a big mark on the Panorama crowd
The festival featured lots of cool installations, but James Murphy and 2ManyDJ’s collaboration “Despacio” was on-site for one reason: to make people move. The brilliant audio installation was tons of fun, featuring funky, slowed down versions of songs from all over the dance music spectrum. Words cannot truly do this room justice, so check out this video of a few seconds from this raging dance party. Despacio is running at the festival from 3pm-9pm each day, so make sure to check it out on Saturday or Sunday if you can!
Back on the Pavilion stage, Toronto’s indie darlings Broken Social Scene were busy playing their first show since 2011. The crowd was packed to the back of the tent as the band ran through songs from their back deep back catalog. The band brought out Amy Millan of Canadian band Stars to augment several of their tracks like “7/4 (Shoreline)” and “Texico Bitches”.
After a quick drop into former Beastie Boys member Mike D‘s trap-heavy DJ set at The Parlor tent, it was almost impossible to ignore Major Lazer on the Panorama Stage, with fans attracted to their huge production and constant positive energy. Flanked by dancers, DJs Diplo, Jillionaire, and MC Walshy Fire kept the crowd moving during their hour long set. With such a huge collection of hit songs to choose from, the group really engaged fans, even though the temperature was in the 90s during performance.
English performance artist FKA Twigs brought her unique brand of music and art to Panorama’s Pavilion stage. With pulsating beats and lots of use of percussion, the artist had a wild outfit that was topped off by a huge arrow that seemingly went through her nose. Her music was dark and glitchy, but the real showcase were here dream-state vocals.
Given that Panorama is produced by Coachella organizers Goldenvoice, it makes perfect sense that they put an emphasis on picking the perfect band to play during the first sunset in the festivals history. Well, the Alabama Shakes were simply a perfect choice to fill this role, and if you blinked your eyes quickly you might think you were in Indio, CA at the Empire Polo Club. Their set was sublime, drawing songs from both of their albums and turning in a breathtaking performance. Front-woman Brittany Howard was on fire, with her vocal prowess easily winning the crowd over from the moment she took the stage. Simply put, the energy from this band is unmatched, and they have proven themselves to be one of the best live bands in the world, even in their short few years of existence.
After the sun went down, the festival presented two difficult choices in Schoolboy Q and Netsky (live). Schoolboy Q represented the day’s only live hip hop, while Netsky brought his live drum and bass band to the festival for a rare performance. However, it seemed that a good chunk of the audience were waiting for two acts to complete their day: Snapchat superstar DJ Khaled and recent New Orleanians Arcade Fire.
DJ Khaled played a packed set, with a line out the door to the enclosed structure of the Parlor, and even people with Artist passes had to be turned away as the room quickly reached max capacity. Every hip hop head that could possibly fit into the room was crammed into the Parlor for a memorable Panorama experience. Check DJ Khaled’s snapchat for what’s sure to be a rowdy collection of videos from the raucous performance.
The first day of the festival reached it’s apex, however, with an uplifting, euphoric performance from festival veterans Arcade Fire. The band took the stage at 9:15 and took the crowd on a tour of it’s career, playing each of their albums in chunks, performing the classic songs from each album to the delight of the excited audience. Opening with “Ready to Start”, “The Suburbs”, and “Sprawl II” from their Grammy award winning album The Suburbs, Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and co. whipped the crowd from one hit to the next. Impressive takes on “Keep the Car Running” from Neon Bible, “Afterlife” from Reflektor, and a run through “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels”), “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)”, and “Rebellion (Lies)” from Funeral drew a huge response from the crowd, screaming along the lyrics as loudly as they could. Following a confetti-filled take on “Here Comes The Night Time”, Arcade Fire closed things out in a huge way, getting an assist from Preservation Hall Jazz Band on a set-closing “Wake Up”.
Surprisingly, Arcade Fire and Pres. Hall Jazz Band then left the stage in true second line fashion, re-creating their David Bowie-tribute second line from this past January. The bands moved through the festival with a huge crowd surrounding them, playing “Rebel Rebel”, “Suffragette City”, and “Heroes” in front of a beyond-excited Panorama crowd. The second line moved to the center of the festival grounds, where they finished their performance under a huge LED cube that showed Bowie’s picture while Win Butler screamed his songs through a megaphone.
Watch video of “Heroes” from Arcade Fire and Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s David Bowie Second Line from Night 1 of Panorama, courtesy of YouTube user Chris Connelly
Panorama Day 1 was a wild success! Look out for our recap from day 2, which features performances from Kendrick Lamar, The National, Kaytranada, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Flosstradamus, and more!
Photos by Chad Anderson. Full Gallery:
