Politics and the Post-Humorous: The Importance of Panorama NYC
It goes without saying that this year has been due for a dose of self-reflection. Between the increasingly tense political climate, the mass shootings, the passing of supposed immortals such David Bowie and the need to exclaim that black lives indeed matter, rarely does it seem like a moment of fun and tranquility can ever become a constant.
On July 22nd, 23rd and 24th, Goldenvoice‘s inaugural Panorama festival became that moment. Surpassing the first-run problems like a delayed opening on Day 1, the three-day event grounded on Randall’s Island turned a time of bad signs into a time to be alive. With a surprisingly diverse lineup, containing elements of hip-hop, dance music, thrash punk, electronic pop and even jazz, Panorama’s landscape of artists had a variety of flavors for any music-goer. The artists weren’t the only main attractions; The Lab, an art space that provided a venue for NY-based artists, gave attendees a reason to take a break from the music, allowing them to let their senses run free within imaginative and technical creations in hopes of inspiring other artists to pursue their passions beyond what is perceived to be capable. Add in Despacio, a cooled-down neon night club with towering speaker systems and a disco ball, and you’d wonder how it could ever be possible to view everything all at once.
Panorama provided three stages for the billed artists to perform: The Parlor, a mid-sized dance hall housing the likes of DJ Khaled, Mike D, and Jai Wolf to perform where a turntable would be necessary; The Pavilion, a small stage under a large tent, became home to the more humbling crowd-pleasers ranging from Daughters and Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Sufjan Stevens and A$AP Rocky. The Panorama main stage held the powerhouses, featuring Sia, Major Lazer, Alabama Shakes, The National, and many more like and unlike those mentioned. Rarely did one act directly follow another with the same song and dance: You had rap duos between pop stars and punk rockers, while trap music played on one of the opposing stages. For many people, running back and forth between sets became the norm if you wanted to catch all the artists you had already planned on seeing before the schedule announcement.
But one of the most interesting parts about Panorama, the unexpected symbiosis, was the weight it carried in to the weekend: artists ranging from Arcade Fire and Kendrick Lamar to Run The Jewels and The Julie Ruin voiced their own messages of concern for the future, specifically, the political future. Whether it was Kathleen Hanna deeming Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump’s platform as “ethnic cleansing,” Win Butler speaking about Régine Chassagne’s Haitian veteran father and pleading for peace as the band led into “Intervention” or Run The Jewel’s arriving onstage to “We Are The Champions” as a spoof on Trump’s RNC entrance, everyone was nervous and worried and angry about the present and the foreseeable future. Kendrick Lamar’s message came in the form of his stage visuals, footage ranging from Prince and Tupac to Bill O’Reilly’s Inside Edition meltdown adding the icing on his already thought-provoking lyricism. Madlib flashed images of Trayvon Martin during his set at The Parlor. Someone brought a shirt plastered with Bernie Sanders’ face to show Killer Mike in the front row of the RTJ crowd. Art was becoming the outlet against societal injustice, and Panorama was the venue to let it all out.
Even with these recurring views and opinions, there was another constant energy, a yin to the worrisome yang of the weekend: “Fuck it. We’re going to have a good time anyway.” Though Arcade Fire worried, they trudged on with “Reflektor” while flashing images of Bowie on-screen, followed by a post-performance marching band alongside Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Killer Mike and El-P kept the jokes and the liveliness up during their Run The Jewels performance. Kendrick Lamar conducted a three-minute “we gon’ be alright” chant before jumping into “Alright.” Major Lazer shot fireworks and flames from the stage, The Front Bottoms poked fun at each other between songs, and Anderson-Paak and The Free Radicals jammed out on one of the most energetic performances of the weekend, followed by Sufjan Stevens donning a tinfoil monster get-up backed by neon stage settings and a disco ball chain to match with his autotuning crooning, uttering a robotic “I’ll try my best like Kanye West.” Sia took storytelling to an unseen height with stage choreography synched to a long-form music video, and LCD Soundsystem, back together after a five-year-long dry spell, did what LCD does best: transform the entire island into a massive dance party. They played the hits, even though we all know “they don’t do hits.” And the hits were all that was needed to wash down the aftertaste of the world outside Panorama.
This first-run festival was hard-hitting proof that although the world may feel like it’s descending, we can still dance the night away with complete strangers and live in the moment, still being worried about tomorrow yet never use that worry as a crutch. Panorama showed that it’s ok to still have fun in a time of turmoil. Sometimes, that’s all we can really do to keep holding on for the night.
