East Coast Coachella Coming?

By: Connor Lenahan

Huh. That’s weird.

The major players with regards to summer music festivals are fairly set. Coachella, Bonaroo, Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, South by Southwest, Firefly, Sasquatch, etc. What’s notable about all of this is that the locales are fairly spread out. Different parts of the country get different festivals. It doesn’t make a ton of sense to overlap, mainly because cities like New York are going to have their hands full with Governors Ball, right?

Well, that seemed correct in theory. The company behind Coachella, Goldenvoice, announced today that they are hosting a new festival in New York City named Panorama.

At first glance, Woohoo! More music and things to see in NYC, which is one of the easiest locales to get to for a festival. After all, you don’t need to camp or stay in the desert. Staying in a hotel is far more comfortable.

Here’s where it gets weird though: Panorama is going to take place on Randall’s Island in July. You know, a month after Governors Ball in the same spot.

I’m not the only one that thinks that’s sort of odd, right?

I mean, this is one of the best things that could possibly happen to music fans on the east coast. The biggest headliner from Coachella that didn’t pop up for Governors Ball was LCD Soundsystem, given that Guns ‘n’ Roses is being paid infinity dollars for Coachella and will tour on their own. Seeing as the same forces are behind Panorama, and that, you know, LCD is from New York, there’s a decent chance they’ll play there. At least I’d hope so. For Panorama to be successful they need to put forth a competitive, non-overlapping setlist.

That means that those within driving distance of NYC might be able to have the most stacked, and comfortable, festival season of all. Is it weird that Randall’s Island is hosting both? Yes, absolutely. But if that means that I knock out a giant chunk of my concert bucket list in 2016 I’m game.