The History
Governors Ball takes place every year in June on Randall’s Island in NYC. It is not a camping festival, which is usually more my preference. The lineups though are something comparable to Coachella as in a wide variety of artists who play and have some acts that can be hard to see anywhere else.
The Vibe
Getting to the festival is relatively easy because it’s in the middle of NYC. Every day we were able to take the subway, which is really nice. Upon entering the festival, security was thorough but brief. They weren’t nearly as bad as many previous festivals I have been to.
The crowd was a bit much for me. usually with day festivals, it attends to attract a younger crowd. With the younger crowd comes numerous fulfilled stereotypes. Kids overdoing themselves, a bit rowdy, and “EDC bros.” This was a huge downer for me, as I experienced many things that were negative to my experience there.
I thought production should have been handled way better for the price point of the festival. Deadmau5 had his stage shut down and blew half the sound, another stage’s sound had a couple speakers blown, and there were long lines for practically everything. Also, it was a bit difficult to move around when the festival was at capacity.
My Festival
I had a good friend from high school that was kind enough to host me, so I spent the festival with her and her friends. They made an awesome group! Every day, we would get breakfast and the ladies would get ready, then we would head in on the subway.
The festival was pretty hot every day, so we would spend most of the time sitting in the back watching artists we wanted to see play. At night, my group became a bit more lively. We all pretty much agreed on artists we wanted to see which rarely happens. There was minimal group splitting.
I also had a ton of other friends that were attending this festival, so every day I made it a point to hang out with them. Each day was spent seeing friends and walking around the small island seeing different acts.
Favorite Sets: Favorite artists I saw in no particular order (even though this was really hard to do).
- Drake – was the first time I was able to see him live.
- Bjork – is a queen and always a must.
- Future Islands
- Florence + The Machine – is always one of my favorite acts no matter where I see her.
- Angus and Julia Stone
- Tame Impala – was a first timer for me to see and were absolutely amazing.
- Hermitude – another group that I got really into while living in Aussie.
Afterthoughts
I would attend this festival again if I really liked the lineup. The major downfalls were the crowd and production of the festival. I personally think they oversell it to capacity and this makes it very difficult to maneuver the festival. I do however really enjoy the lineup curation they have yearly.