Get your Festival Fashion in order. (Photo by Perhansa Skallerup/LAist)
A couple of months ago AEG Live/Goldenvoice announced their plans to host a music festival in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park this coming summer. The company puts on Coachella, and their festival in NYC will be the east coast version of that, called Panorama Festival (named for the Queens Museum panorama). MSG was also hoping to host a festival at the location, but both were denied earlier this month when Mayor de Blasio announced there would be no festivals in the Queens park this year.
AEG Live has moved their festival to Randall's Island, and the show will go on the weekend of July 22nd. According to the NY Times, MSG did not submit an application for Randall's Island.
Panorama Fest's new location was announced on January 12th, and it turns out that's around the same time that longtime lobbyist Harold Ickes donated around $19,000 to de Blasio's re-election campaign. The NY Post reports that Ickes "bundled [the] donations to the mayor’s campaign over four days, including the bulk on Jan. 11, the same day concert promoter AEG Live won a permit to hold the mutli-day festival on Randall’s Island. AEG Live has paid $150,000 to Ickes lobbying firm since 2014."
Geoffrey Croft, of NYC Park Advocates, calls it a "pay to play" scheme, declaring, "it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that AEG Live got preferential treatment due to privileged access."
But pretty much every significant music festival in NYC has been held on Randall's Island for years—it's the only location that has allowed the city's outdoor summer music festival scene to flourish. Why would the city have denied Coachella & Co.'s plan to host a festival there, when so many others have been approved? How much molly did the Electric Zoo organizer slip Mayor D to get their permit?
De Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton denies that donations greased the wheels here, saying, “The Parks Department makes decisions on all event permits based on a standard criteria that includes impact on the park and its users."
We've reached out to the Governors Ball organizers for comment on this, as they've had issues with Panorama happening in NYC near their own festival, as it would create competition, especially in booking. We'll update when we hear back.
