Panorama NYC with Express

This weekend, I got to experience my first-ever Panorama Festival with Express!

This post was created in collaboration with Express.

Besides Electric Zoo, which is much more of a rave-like party scene, Panorama was my first-ever NYC music festival. I had no idea what to expect, and went into it expecting something like a mini Coachella.

I was pleasantly surprised to find it even better than Coachella in many ways--the food was great (Roberta's Pizza, anyone?!), the beer was awesome, everyone was super friendly, and the porta potties were actually spotless. A dang miracle of a festival.

But, in true Eugenie fashion, of COURSE the day couldn't go exactly as planned. My boots (NOT from Express, mind you--karma for not picking up some Express shoes for my day haha) broke 10 minutes into walking around Panorama.

If you watched my Stories, you know what happened after. I bought hair ties from the festival's bodega to keep the soles on, stuck some gum in there (lol), and asked a band for some of their duct tape. I made do.

Caught David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame)'s set, which was amazing on its own, BUT THEN HE ENDED WITH JANELLE MONAE'S PROTEST SONG "HELL YOU TALMBOUT" where the lyrics list the names of Black people who have died at the hands of police brutality and/or racial violence and I seriously wanted to cry; I was so moved. I respect people who use their platforms for the greater good so, so much. He also told the audience beforehand that Janelle wrote this song and I'm so happy he gave credit where credit is due.

Then, I caught The XX's set with my friends! It was probably my 6th time seeing them, and it's literally always mindblowing. It was also cool that we were their very last stop on their tour.

I raved a little bit with ODESZA and definitely gave my deteriorating shoes a run for their money--I danced my butt off!

The Killers was amazing, as always. In the middle of their set, a kid was holding up a sign at the very front of the crowd, asking to play the drums. Brandon Flowers brought him on stage and the kid freaking ROCKED IT! The energy in the crowd was so insane; there was so much love and support flowing out to everyone on stage.

I ended the night walking out of the festival at the tail end of "When You Were Young", which I did once before during a Coachella maybe 10 years ago. I took the ferry back into the city--such a beautiful and calm way to get back home.

Thank you Express for the best time!

I said this in my Stories, but I'm rarely completely satisfied with my festival looks. However, my Express look for Panorama felt 100% ME and I got an insane amount of kind compliments from strangers. Shop my look here:

Star Spangled Denim Shorts

And see more on Express! There's actually a really good sale happening right now that I took advantage of myself.