Upon scanning my bracelet at the entrance to the Governor's Ball Music Festival and being given the green light to enter Randall’s Island Park, I was exposed to a world of excitement. The very first thing I noticed, besides the crowds of people in festive and creative outfits, were the eye catching decorations found throughout the park, starting with the Statue of Liberty decked out in sunglasses and tattoos. There were pieces of art scattered throughout the park, showcasing different artists work, which many used as the backdrops to their portraits or group pictures. The Infatuation curated the menu found at the Governor’s Ball which included various food vendors, such as Dō, Mac N’ Cheese Truck, Mister Dips, Dough Donuts, and Tacombi, many of which are well known and heavily talked about restaurants in the New York City area.
Many artists performed at the festival on Friday, including headliner Chance the Rapper, and many other big names such as Lorde, Flume, Schoolboy Q, Charli XCX, and Bleachers. Personally, I camped out at the Gov Ball NYC stage the entire day in anticipation of Lorde’s set. The line up on this stage included Tkay Maidza, MUNA, Kehlani, Bleachers, Lorde, and finally Chance the Rapper.
MUNA is a female-fronted American pop-rock band, consisting of three women. They played a mix of songs off of their most recent album, “Around U” and from their previous EP’s. Their set also included inspirational exchanges with the crowd along with a poppy cover of Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life”.
Kehlani, an R&B and pop singer, performed following MUNA’s set wearing a leather jumpsuit,. Her performance consisted of songs mostly from her 2017 album, “SweetSexySavage” and was heavily based on choreography between her and her two backup dancers. Crowd favorites included “CRZY” and “Undercover”, which she dedicated to the LGBT community in honor of pride month, as she reminded fans "to never stop being proud".
Following Kehlani’s set was Bleachers, a band fronted by Jack Antonoff that had released their new album, “Gone Now” the very same morning of the festival. The performance was filled with energy throughout, on Jack’s part and as well as the rest of the band. As he introduced the entire band, they each did powerful solos. For example, the guitarist climbed on top of a speaker to perform his solo, and another played the saxophone to match the cheers of the crowd. Antonoff even stood into the crowd as he was performing their last song, “I Wanna Get Better”. The set included crowd favorites from the band’s first album “Strange Desire” such as, “Wild Heart” and “Rollercoaster” as well as songs off of their sophomore album, such as “Don’t Take The Money” and “Hate That You Know Me”. The band also covered “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac alongside their own hits.
Lorde began her performance with an a cappella version of the introduction to "Green Light" as she appeared in a black sheer top paired with matching wide legs pants. The star quickly moved onto fan favorites from her debut album, such as “Tennis Court”, “Buzzcutt Season”, and “400 Lux” before playing music off of her upcoming and highly anticipated album, “Melodrama”. The set included a glass box which contained interpretive dancers, which Lorde joined to play “Ribs” and “Sober”. The performance included the artist ultimately being left alone in the what was once filled box and then being caught by the dancers as she purposefully fell out of the glass structure as a transition into “Sober II (Melodrama)”. The set included plenty of friendly stage banter revolving around how happy the artist was to finally be playing her new music, that has been in the works for years, in front of such a large crowd. Jack Antonoff, co-producer of “Melodrama”, joined Lorde on the stage to perform “Liability” and a cover of Robyn’s “Hang With Me”. The chemistry between the two friends was evident in both their performance and the music. Lorde debuted “Perfect Places,” a song the artist dropped one day prior to the festival, live on the Gov Ball NYC stage. Lorde wrapped up her set with previous hit singles such as “Royals” and “Team”. During “Team” she left the stage to be on the same level as the crowd, here she shook hands and received gifts from fans. Lorde’s final song was “Green Light,” which was accompanied by roaring fans, green smoke, and a firework display.
