Amid a heatwave, the Panorama Festival made its debut on Randall's Island in New York City last weekend. We caught up with a few of our favorite acts to see how they stayed cool during the hottest weekend of the summer.
Are you guys hot weather people or cold weather people?
Curt Cameruci: Fall weather. Fall in Chicago.
Josh Young: Hoodies!
How do you guys stay cool in the summer?
Cameruci: Drink a lot of water. Air conditioning.
Young: We stay inside, stay in the shade.
Got a preferred summer drink?
Cameruci: Rosé.
Young: Mojito.
Beach, lake, or pool?
Young: Beach.
Cameruci: Yeah, beach.
Really, not lake? Chicago?
Young: We got a beach!
Does the heat affect your guys’ performance on stage?
Cameruci: Hell yeah.
Young: It affects the computer. We wear a lot of gear, so we definitely get overheated. But the computers are the first ones to go. We can usually last through the heat, but when a computer overheats, the show just shuts down.
It literally just shuts down?
Young: Yeah, it’s done that a couple times.
What do you do when that happens?
Young: I talk on the mic until he fucking gets the computer back.
Cameruci: Control + alt + delete.
You just restart the computer?
Young: Yeah, we put it on ice too. Then put a garbage bag on top of it.
How many times has that happened?
Young: Baker’s dozen.
Cameruci: At least two hands’ worth.
You guys found it was going to be the hottest day in New York. Did that affect what you’re gonna wear at all?
Cameruci: We have a little bit of a stage outfit, and we’re gonna try and make it breathable. But nah, we’re gonna do what we do.
So this isn’t the stage outfit.
Cameruci: Nah, this is the cas.
What’s your summer jam?
Young: “Juke Jam” by Chance the Rapper.
Cameruci: Mine is “Happy People“ by R. Kelly.
Really?
[Cameruci begins singing R. Kelly]
How do you guys deal with the heat?
El-P: We sweat.
Killer Mike: We have this invention called air conditioning.
Does the heat affect your performance on stage at all?
KM: It does.
El-P: Only if you’re wearing full denim suits, like we often do. But you’re gonna see some chubby legs out there today.
[Note: Later that day, during Run the Jewels’ performance, El-P apologized to the audience for showing off their legs.]
Are you a hot weather person or a cold weather person?
ScHoolboy Q: Medium. I don’t like cold, I don’t like hot.
So this is too hot for you?
Not really, it’s humid. Cali hot is different from this hot. [Here] it’s sticky, you need shower every five minutes. I’m ready to take a shower right now.
How do you stay cool in the summer?
Stay out of New York.
Do you have a preferred summer drink?
Water.
Are you a beach person, a pool person, or a lake person?
AC person. You know what I’m saying? As soon as you get out of that motherfucker it’s gonna be hot again. I like swimming when it’s cool weather, I like going to the beach when it’s cool weather. All that type of shit. I don’t like doing nothing when it’s too hot.
Does the heat affect your performance at all?
Yeah. I think it affects everybody in the crowd.
In a good way or a bad way?
In a bad way. It’s hot, sticky, you get tired, the air is thick. The fans’ energy—even if it’s turnt up, you know it could’ve been even more turnt if it wasn’t that hot. You gotta understand some of them people have been standing out there for hours just so they can see the artist they want to see. So they sit through a lot of sets that they don’t want to see just so can be up close.
You woke up today and realized it was going to be one of the hottest days of the summer in New York. How do you choose what you wear?
I didn’t know it was gonna be one of the hottest. Damn. I don’t know, I just always do t-shirt—a little Dolce [Gabbana]—damn I’m sweating through it a little bit already. Saint Laurent pants, some chucks. Hat is a knock-off Thom Browne hat, but I got Thom Browne glasses.
What’s your jam this summer?
“Dope Dealer” by me.
Are you hot weather people or cold weather people?
Josephine Vander Gucht: Cold weather.
Anthony West: Hot weather. We’re divided on that.
How do you guys stay cool in the summer?
Vander Gucht: Ice cream. No, ice lollies.
West: Ice lollies, yeah.
What’s that?
Vander Gucht: Like an ice pop. What do you call them?
Popsicles.
Vander Gucht: Oh, that’s so American!
“Ice lollies” is very British.
West: Oh yes, very.
Preferred summer drink?
West: Cold brew coffee.
Vander Gucht: A gin and tonic with fresh lime. He’s a big coffee head though.
West: Coffee over beer all day.
Beach, lake, or pool?
West: Beach… then a lake.
Vander Gucht: Yeah.
West: The other day we had it. Up in Montauk, there was a beach and a lake.
Vander Gucht: That was the dream. There was paddleboarding. A lake gives you watersports, doesn’t it? Not that I’m a big watersports fan. [laughs]
Does the heat affect your guys’ performance on stage?
West: Yes. Our laptops almost blew up.
Vander Gucht: We went on a little late because they started melting.
West: All our keyboards run off the laptops, so they weren’t changing sounds.
Vander Gucht: We’ve had a couple good festivals where our pianos, in the heat, they keys just stuck together as well. It’s interesting. We’ve got space blankets now to keep our instruments cool. The biggest show ruiner is the sun.
West: Rain would be worse though.
Are these your regular concert outfits? Your dress almost matches your visuals.
Vander Gucht: That was unintentional.
West: You were it the other day, and we looked behind and were like, “This works, this is great!”
What’s your summer jam?
West: Summer jam, album wise, Anderson .Paak’s. Really good.
Are you guys hot weather people or cold weather people?
Mish Way: I’m a hot weather person. I’m live in California now and have for three years. I would rather be hot than cold.
How do you stay cool in the summer?
Way: I jump in my swimming pool.
Do you have a preferred summer drink?
Way: I love a mojito. Or else just a simple old tequila with ice, soda water, and lemon.
How does the affect your guys’ performance on stage? Does it?
Way: Just makes me have to wary of my armpits.
Is this your regular concert outfit?
Way: Yeah. Usually we’re maybe a little bit more casual. Sometimes we dress it up.
Anne-Marie Vassiliou: Sometimes more colors.
Way: We’re not always all in black. We don’t believe in goth.
What’s your summer jam?
Kenneth William: “Glad You Came” by the Wanted.
Way: Yeah, we’re keeping that [song] going for years and years and years.
William: We’re not done with it.
Way: We’re not done at all!
Vassiliou: Not even close!
Are the Wanted still... around?
William: I dunno.
Are you a hot weather person or a cold weather person?
Brian Sella: I’m a cold weather person. I’m a sweater.
How do you stay cool in the summer?
I just recently got this thing you soak and keep around your neck. It’s been keeping me cool. But it’s basically been non-stop sweating.
Preferred summer drink?
Beer.
Beach, lake, or pool?
Lake. Definitely lake.
Does the heat affect your performance on stage?
I try to zone everything out when I get up on stage. But the moments before and the moments after are… a little sweatier.
So you woke up today, and you saw it was going to be one of the hottest days of the summer in New York. How do you pick your outfit for that?
I just let my girlfriend do it. I was gonna wear jeans and a flannel shirt and a winter jacket, but she caught me before I left the house.
Interviews have been edited and condensed.
