Chicago has Lollapalooza, California has Coachella, Tennessee has Bonnaroo and New York City has the glorious Governors Ball. The 2024 edition of the East Coast bash may have been the first year in which the rest of the world may have felt FOMO. From Statue of Liberty cosplay and getting a taste of the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada via indie legends The Killers, Gov Ball proved that its star-studded weekend marked one of the hottest moments of the year so far.
On Friday, the bright sunny skies served as the perfect backdrop during Blonshell’s killer set. The ‘Sepsis’ singer made her way on stage with her signature blonde curly locks, vintage tee and mic in hand ready to show the crowd what she was made of. She performed her latest single ‘Docket’ which had fans in the front row screaming along as if each lyric was a bible verse. Blondshell told the crowd that she attended the festival back in 2017 when she “had mono and was drunk at the same time,” and wrapped up her set with songs from her debut LP such as ‘Olympus’ and ‘Kiss City’.
At the GoPuff stage, Yung Gravy – adorned in a breezy white floral suit –treated the crowd to three unreleased tracks ‘Back On The Horse’, ‘Lone Ranger’, and ‘I Went To Jail In Georgia’. The tracks provided a taster of his new country-inspired era and the hyped crowd was fueled by Gravy’s suave yet funny demeanour dancing and rapping along to his hits.
Later, Dominic Fike walked onto the main stage with his nephew in his arms waving to the swarm of attendees who had been waiting to see the musician grace the festival. His electrifying set included tracks like ‘How Much Is Weed?’, ‘West Coast Collective’ and ‘Frisky’ as well as Fike classics ‘Babydoll’ and ‘Phone Numbers’.
The real show-stopping moment came from the Latino community who were prepped and ready for the likes of Farruko and Rauw Alejandro who were set to take over Queens in back-to-back slots.
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Unity is something that Gov Ball has always prided itself on and was at the forefront at last year’s edition. But within that crowd, it oozed out as fans in the pit danced and couples held each other close and hit some dancehall moves. The energy thrived and remained at an all-time high as Alejandro arrived, with his set featuring a NYC subway cart and a newspaper that read “Rauw Alejandro headlines Gov Ball!,” a massive feat for the reggaeton singer.
Post Malone took over the mainstage to close out night one. Though his latest project ‘Austin’ saw the singer focus on a country sound, Posty went back to basics and ran through the hits. Fuelled with beer, weird dance moves and positive energy, the singer spent every second captivating the massive crowd while everyone cheered during ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Congratulations’, especially with all of the pyro and fireworks that ignited the night sky, almost signifying that the rest of the weekend would become one to never forget.
NYC natives Telescreens opened up day two with a rowdy set that saw them remind everyone of the streets they were raised on and exclaimed that “rock’n’roll is our religion”. The crowd ate up their confidence and lost their minds when the first few notes of ‘Phone Booth’ NME heard as circle pits opened up.
Across the elaborately decorated park – filled with pink fur-lined trees, sponsored exhibits and the festival’s signature Statue Of Liberty sculpture – P1Harmony made Gov Ball history as the first K-pop boyband to perform. With perfectly synchronized dance routines and flawless singing, they easily demonstrated why the K-pop genre remains strong.
It was as if the winds were turning as festival goers travelled en masse to catch Sabrina Carpenter who was one of the festival’s highly anticipated sets. Dressed in a pastel yellow ensemble, the singer in custom crystal platform boots dominated the stage, treating the crowd to the live debut of her newly released track ‘Please, Please, Please’. In true Carpenter tradition of ad-libbing the outro to her song ‘Nonsense’, the pop singer sang: “Do I text him back, that’s such a tough call / that won’t fit inside me I’m dumb small / people who hate pride can suck my Gov Ball” into a sea of phone cameras raised up by attendees to snap that exact moment.
As the sun was setting, the barricades began to swell up with fans who had been waiting for Las Vegas’ very own The Killers. Brandon Flowers and co provided a showy ending to day two and their headlining set came a day after their seminal album ‘Hot Fuss’ celebrated its 20th anniversary; ‘Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine’ and ‘All The Things That I Have Done’ still hit just as hard. They even took a moment to perform a stripped-down rendition of NYC indie icons Yeah Yeah Yeahs song ‘Maps’ and transported Gov Ball back to the indie sleaze parties of 2004.
Day three began with a bang as Fcukers – comprised of Shanny, Jackson Walker Lewis, and Ben Scharf – brought their bouncy beats reminiscent of 90s Dee-lite out from their usual late-night sets and onto the IHG stage. Their recently released song ‘Bon Bon’ had the attendees dancing and grooving while their debut track ‘Mothers’ made everyone scream and sway to its vivacious beat.
At the main stage, Miss Chappell Roan arrived in full Lady Liberty gear – or as she said “in drag of the biggest queen of all”. It appeared that every single one of this year’s festival goers was ready for this set and in the pit, so much so that drone footage showed the massive crowd in an Instagram post later that day.
The pop star – who quickly changed from Lady Liberty into a yellow cab car – treated the swarm of fans to an unreleased song titled ‘Subway’. Roan also revealed that she had turned down an invitation to perform at the White House for Pride and said: “We want liberty, justice and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”
To close out the weekend, SZA transformed the stage into a ship, keeping with the theme of her ongoing ‘SOS’ tour, and performed her hits such as ‘Love Galore’ ‘Broken Clocks’ and ‘Drew Barrymore’. She and her backup dancers danced as if they waited for this exact moment their entire career. At one point she appeared on a wrecking ball to sing in a mesmerising fashion. ‘20 Something’ was performed as the final song of the night and groups of friends huddled together to shout the lyrics as loud as possible.
It felt like all of the years past were building up to this exact moment in Gov Ball history, the moment in which everything fell perfectly into place. The energy throughout the entire weekend was palpable. From everyone who gathered in the pits to support all the New York locals, to the hundreds of thousands in pink cowboy hats who witnessed the star power of Roan and the festival constantly one-upping itself day after day, set after set. Move over, Coachella…