Panorama: The Music

The idea of hitting up Sunday of Panorama had been simmering in the back of my brain all spring and summer yet for some reason I never bit the bullet on buying a ticket. Until this sign from the heavens.

So I listened to the universe and bought a ticket. It was a beautiful day of beautiful music and I’m so glad I went.

Robert Delong I just love Robert Delong so much. He is so creative and talented and just does SO MUCH STUFF up on stage. The video below isn’t from a live performance but it gives you a really great sense of how complex his setup is.

David Byrne This former Talking Heads lead singer is just…so kooky. His set was so unexpected for an older man (no offense, older men) in that it was unique and weird in a way that you typically only see from younger performers. Everyone on stage wore the same gray suit with bare feet, and in addition to musicians with standard instruments, the percussionists each had one piece of what made up a full drum kit, allowing them more mobility. There was oddball choreography and it was so charming in an offbeat way. I loved it. You loved it. Everyone loved it.

Macklemore You know who was on the Panorama lineup? Not Macklemore, that’s who! But here’s a story. There was an HP lounge that had a long ass line in front of it all day. You couldn’t see what was happening inside, but I was told that the line was to customize a free water bottle. I really wanted one but never wanted to devote the time to waiting what looked to be well over an hour. As I was walking toward the main stage for The xx, I saw my opportunity – zero line! HP staff were standing outside the lounge even waving people in! I diverted away from the main stage and went inside.

Once inside, I heard loud hip hop and saw a small crowd – 150 people tops, maybe? – dancing. But where were the water bottles? I saw a sign on the wall listing the DJs that were playing in the lounge that day, and in big letters at the very top:

MACKLEMORE    7:00-7:50

…what? I looked at the DJ booth, and lo and behold, it was, in fact, Macklemore. Throwing down a fire hip hop set to a tiny crowd. This, my friends, is what we call festival magic.

Macklemore on the left!

Odesza I don’t know how to keep talking about Odesza sets. They’re special and magical and they evolve their music for live performances in really unique ways. Even though they’re super dreamy, they add thick bass and a touch of heaviness to some of their tracks to keep the energy high and really rope the crowd in. I took maybe three 10-second videos during their set, and I won’t grace you with any of them because my phone records music horribly, but my favorite moment from them is where you can hear me in the background going, “WHAAAAAT” in awe at how they made their remix of Pretty Lights’ “One Day They’ll Know” all juicy. Here’s that moment, below. Start at around 6:45. At 7:13 is where I yelled.  True story, I yelled again just now in cuing up this video.

Panorama logistics post, coming soon! And then after that, maybe festival season is over…for real now?