Spending the summer in New York City means having the opportunity to attend major weekend music festivals each month: June opened with Governors Ball, July hosted Panorama, August promises AfroPunk, and the Meadows will take place in September. Electronic dance music fans also get Electric Zoo festival on Labor Day weekend. Totaling the admission fees on all these can cost a concert buff a few entire paychecks, but for those who enjoy live music from early afternoon until late at night, there is no better value for the money.
Goldenvoice, the company behind Panorama, is a subsidiary of AEG Live–the producers of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Rock on the Range and other festivals around the world. Now in its second year, Panorama was held at Randall’s Island Park on Randall’s Island, on July 28-30, 2017. Nine Inch Nails, Frank Ocean, Tame Impala, A Tribe Called Quest, Alt J, Solange, MGMT, Nick Murphy, Glass Animals, Justice and Tyler, the Creator were among the many draws this year.
Panorama did it right. Panorama was the classiest of the New York festivals, with air conditioned bathrooms, engaging, interactive art installations, exotic food kiosks, and several other diversified activities. Live acts performed on three stages, although one was exclusively for DJs to lead raves. The two larger stages were outdoors, seemingly allowing for unlimited attendees; a smaller stage was indoors and reached capacity several times during the festival; in addition, perhaps because the absence of sun failed to bake the ground after several rainstorms, a sinkhole developed in front of the indoor stage the first night, temporarily closing the venue and cancelling performances by Cherry Glazerr and DJ Shadow. Otherwise, the shows ran smoothly, with particularly outstanding performances from Nine Inch Nails, Dhani Harrison (son of George Harrison) and others.
