Governors Ball: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
NYC’s largest music festival returned to Randall’s Island for its ninth birthday May 31-June 2. Though the festival has been around for less than a decade, it is prospering, especially in comparison to other NYC festivals like the ill-fated Meadows Festival and the Panorama Festival, which is currently on hiatus. Each year, Governors Ball shakes the island and makes waves. This year was no different. From start to finish, the weekend was a ride. Here is our complete breakdown of the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good: The Music
This year, Gov Ball pulled out all the stops, bringing headliners of varying genres. The headliners featured rockers The Strokes, Florence and the Machine, EDM trio Major Lazer, and rap artists Tyler, The Creator, Lil Wayne and Nas.
Friday featured acts such as Blood Orange, Jessie Reyez, Hippo Campus and MØ. Fresh off his Rolling Loud cancellation, Lil Wayne performed prior to Gesaffelstein and Tyler, the Creator, who donned a lime green suit and left the crowd begging for more.
Saturday was jam-packed with performances from UK band Easy Life, rappers Playboi Carti and Ty Dolla Sign, country allstar Kasey Musgraves, and Chinese-American singer Zhu. Brooklyn native King Princess stole the show with a sea of fans while she performed an afternoon set on the Bacardi stage. Also, English pop rock band The 1975 performed on the main stage prior to Florence and the Machine and had the whole crowd grooving their entire hour.
Though Sunday started off rough, the acts that performed were solid. Bazzi is a young singer songwriter from Michigan who currently has a few hits on the top charts. EDM acts Louis the Child and Major Lazer performed b2b on the Honda stage while Nas performed on the Gov Ball stage. Inevitably they were the closing acts of the night.
The Bad: The Weather
Gov Ball has experienced delays or cancellations due to weather concerns in the past. In 2016 festival organizers cancelled the final day of the festival due to lightning concerns. This year, the festival was almost in the clear. However, Sunday prior to the gates opening, organizers put our a notice to hold off all attendees from coming to the island for concern of the weather. The notice indicated that they had concerns of incoming weather and that there would be an official update no later than 11:30 a.m. By that time, an update that there would be a delay in the gates opening on the island until 6:30 p.m. shot over social media.
Many acts, including Charli XCX, were cancelled due to the late start time. Scheduled times had to be shifted in order to accommodate as many shows as possible. The harshest move of the schedule was slotting SZA and The Strokes to perform at the same time. Many attendees were torn by the updates and felt slighted. However, neither ended up being able to perform.
Approximately at 9:30 p.m. when Nas and Louis The Child finished performing, all stage screens turn black with a message for attendees to immediate evacuate due to incoming weather. On the PA system, a message was repeated insistently instructing attendees to leave the ground and seek shelter immediately. As the crowd roared, so did the weather. A beautiful Sunday turned extremely ugly, and it turned extremely fast. The ground was rolling with waves, and the trees were shaking and arching as if they were about to snap. At this point, people finally began to take in the reality of the situation. We were on an island in NYC with limited means of transportation, and it was about to get nasty.
The “Not” Ugly of the Ugly: Founders Entertainment
I have to give nothing but the highest regard for Founders Entertainment. Their stellar execution of getting everyone home safely and as quickly as possible is reason for applause. Their diligence through the entire day is something that needs recognition. Of course it is a bummer to cancel the final night of the festival due to things out of their control, but they did so with eloquence. For starters, they remained diligent, keeping everyone ahead of the weather at all times. They did what they could with the day they were given. Since they kept consistent communication with their safety team, they were able to have a decent amount of acts perform.
The lines for transportation were lengthy, but Founders had the buses, ferries and cabs running as quickly as possible. At times three or four buses would pull up at the same time to continue carrying out the attendees. Within an hour, organizers also released emails and social media blasts regarding refund information for all who purchased weekend and Sunday single-day passes. As ugly as the weather was, it was not the worst part of the weekend.
The Ugly: The Crowd
We’re in New York City. People from all over the world come to Randall’s Island every June for Governors Ball. You get everything you expect and more from this city festival. The people who come to Gov Ball come to show up and show out. Dressed to impress in their hottest festival garb. You get the Instagram models in their electric pants, fringe and big sunglasses and the city boys in their Hawaiian pattern rompers and costumes. They’re eye-catching and fascinating to watch.
However, the beauty quickly turned when the weather concern grew apparent. As organizers instructed guests to leave the festival grounds, the crowd erupted. They became unmanageable and defiant. They rioted, chanted and did not follow the direction to leave. I watched in horror as people began to turn savage, bum-rushing to tear down the art installations, throw objects, and rip things off the vendor stands. Truthfully, the video below speaks volumes.