These Were the 9 Best Acts at NYC's Panorama Festival

“We the people, we are equals,” is what A Tribe Called Quest had the crowd chanting this past Sunday on Randall’s Island for the second annual Panorama Music Festival.

With it's focus on environmental awareness and bringing together socially conscious artists, Panorama is a good reminder of the unifying force of music, best captured by the annual Global Citizen Festival, which is returning to Central Park for its 6th year on Sept. 23.

With two main stages, an indoor club, an outdoor dance floor, various art installations, and a wide range of food and beverages available, Panorama more than held its own in what has become an increasingly crowded festival space.

The event set a high bar last year with Kendrick Lamar, Sufjan Stevens, Sia, and many others, but this year had an equally stacked lineup.

Here are the nine best sets from the weekend.

Frank Ocean

Not many artists besides Frank Ocean can convincingly close the opening night of a major music festival with an intimate, contemplative set. But that’s what he did. A few fancy chairs, a large stereo system, and a mounted disco ball were stationed at the end of a long walkway that Ocean leisurely traveled along, as his lucid, powerful voice worked through his latest album “Blonde.” A few cameramen and women followed him and their footage fed the video screens with various points of view. One of the cameras was low-res, home-video quality, and provided a warm, fuzzy view. Another camera was high-def and showed the artist in all his detail, standing before a crowd of tens of thousands in a t-shirt that challenged bigotry. It was a strange merging of perspectives, a meditation on both timelessness and the fleeting nature of impressions, two ideas that are frequently turned over in “Blonde.”

For Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, who closed out the second night, it was a profoundly moving experience. And based on how enraptured the crowd seemed, a lot of people would agree.

Solange

Solange, her band, and backup dancers and singers invoked the ’80s with their orange outfits — bell bottoms, turtle necks, tank-tops, tights — and their geometric dance sequences. But far from being a stale homage to an earlier era, Solange had one of the most fun, liveliest sets of the weekend, full of funk and grace. She twerked to loud cheers and jumped around wildly at the end of songs. Whereas her sister Beyoncé is known for her powerful anthems, Solange’s voice is more tender and nuanced, but no less strong.

Tyler the Creator

Tyler the Creator is going through a rebranding. On his latest album “Flower Boy,” he refined his eclectic sound and kept his fiery energy, but ditched some of the cruder lyrics that earned him so much scorn that he actually got temporarily banned from the UK. The Tyler that showed up at Panorama wasn’t trying to alienate anyone. A superb performer, he had the crowd jumping and tested out a bunch of new songs for the first time live.

Mitski

Mitski channels rage and frustration in her songs with simple, focused melodies and an urgent, rising voice. Her lyrics confront the many sexist barriers and expectations that pervade society in clever, super-specific ways. On stage, she stands still, strumming her guitar and mesmerizing the audience with songs that sound frighteningly essential.

Vince Staples

On the main stage as the sun was beginning to set, Vince Staples roamed and delivered pointed verses over a wide assortment of beats and sounds. All over the festival grounds — in food lines, on blankets, in front of the stage — the audience was bouncing during what was one of the best sets of day two.

Tame Impala

Seeing Tame Impala live is an otherworldly experience. The psychedelic lightshow is cool, but it’s the lush, funky sounds, so patiently layered and executed, roaring across an enormous field of people as Kevin Parker’s crisp, bright voice bounces over everything that makes the show so memorable. Parker has been hailed as one of the most ingenious rock and electronic producers in the world, and his obsessive attention to detail was clear when he made his band start a song over when the sound engineer wasn’t reverbing his voice properly. They ended the night with “New Person, Same Old Mistakes,” a song that is so good that Rihanna had to have a nearly identical version for her latest album “Anti.”

Mura Masa

Mura Masa’s self-titled album from earlier this year established the 21-year old as one of the hottest young electronic producers. On day three, he showed his versatility as a musician — guiding beats, playing the keyboard, playing drums, playing guitar, and singing. He was joined on stage by the singer NAO, who sang and rapped most of the songs, leading the crowd in a continuous dance party. In the middle of the set the rapper Desiigner came out to get the crowd hyped up for his song “All Around the World.”

Cashmere Cat

At one point, Cashmere Cat stood on his turntable and took a picture of the crowd, his long, red hair stark against his black outfit. He then sat down, crossed his legs, and leaned over to manipulate the track. Cashmere’s signature sound is a bright, skipping melody that can be heard in songs from artists as diverse as Ariana Grande and Kanye West. But on day three, he had the crowd energized with some heavy techno, dragging out the beat's drop for as long as possible.

Justice

When Justice, the French electronic duo, stopped mid-set for a 15-minute break, people streamed out of the crowd. Too bad, because the people who stayed were apart of one of the wildest parties of the weekend.

TopicsCurrent events Citizenship Music Global Citizen Festival Music festival Panorama music festival