Event Recap: Saturday of Governor’s Ball 2011: A music festival for us?
If you live in the NYC area and want to go to a big music festival, you’re usually in for a haul.
Coachella is in the West Coast’s desert, Bonnaroo- the middle of nowhere, Tennessee, Lollapalooza- the middle of the country, and although I’m pretty sure Jay-Z is actually from New York, his “Made in America” festival will kick off this year in Philadelphia.
There is Governor’s Ball, though.
The fledgling festival just had its second run this past weekend on Randall’s Island on the East River.
It still has a long way to go towards becoming "the premier big festival of New York City”, the long-term vision from its founders, but it was certainly bigger and better than last year; extended to two days and drawing over 21,000 each day.
In an earlier blog I gushed with expectations from the volunteer experience I had last year- a duty that at times bordered VIP access to the festival.
This year, volunteering was less glamorous for the one day (Saturday) of the festival I went to. Areas bordering on artist relations had, since last year, been outsourced to professionals. The festival itself, though, proved an event I wouldn’t have minded paying the full ticket price to attend.
It was a completely balmy weekend to picnic, play croquet, fill up on some food truck food, and of course, dance around in the grass to some loud electronic music whilst the sun shined.
Taking tickets as a volunteer meant missing Major Lazer and Santigold which was sort of a bummer. Standing at the festival entry for a few hours with EventBrite, though, was an eyeful of street style that some awesome sets later in the day made well-worth the time.
Kid Cudi, Saturday’s finale, was a main attraction. It perhaps disappointed though, for anyone other than the hardcore Cudi fan, as it followed a headlining set by Passion Pit that was unexpectedly awesome for just about everyone.
Instead of shying away from huge commercial hits like “Sleepyhead”, which you can only imagine the Boston band is growing tired of playing, Passion Pit’s set patched together seamlessly outsize anthems with material off their new album due in July.
You didn’t need to know a word of their lyrics to enjoy their whole show. The encore performance of “Little Secrets" was a highlight.
Kid Cudi had probably the most star power when he took the stage, but it was unfortunately diffused over a long set of slower jams like “Man on the Moon”, and tiring series of call-and-response.
His slow set, plagued by technical difficulties, was a bit of a tease for a crowd that was practically pulsating from the start, “Crush a bit, little bit” (the opening lines of greatest hit, “Pursuit of Happiness”).
Fortunately, a lot of the crowd and I had enough of their fill on good music and good times to feel satisfied leaving before the Cudi set even ended. We may never know if he ever played "Pursuit" for the GovBallers that night.
Complaints aside, big names like Cudi at GovBall leave me pretty hopeful for next year, as well as the prospect of a premier music festival that's based in New York City.
Admittedly, the chants of sassy and competitive Catalpa Fest promoters who called out, “Snoop Dog, A$AP Rocky, The Black Keys, Same Place, Better Music!” as the ferry from Gov Ball unloaded, didn’t really make the future of NYC music festivals sound too bad either.
SARA MORANO
Coachella is in the West Coast’s desert, Bonnaroo- the middle of nowhere, Tennessee, Lollapalooza- the middle of the country, and although I’m pretty sure Jay-Z is actually from New York, his “Made in America” festival will kick off this year in Philadelphia.
There is Governor’s Ball, though.
 |
| GovBall 2012 |
The fledgling festival just had its second run this past weekend on Randall’s Island on the East River.
It still has a long way to go towards becoming "the premier big festival of New York City”, the long-term vision from its founders, but it was certainly bigger and better than last year; extended to two days and drawing over 21,000 each day.
In an earlier blog I gushed with expectations from the volunteer experience I had last year- a duty that at times bordered VIP access to the festival.
 |
| Met Das Racist @ GovBall 2011 |
This year, volunteering was less glamorous for the one day (Saturday) of the festival I went to. Areas bordering on artist relations had, since last year, been outsourced to professionals. The festival itself, though, proved an event I wouldn’t have minded paying the full ticket price to attend.
It was a completely balmy weekend to picnic, play croquet, fill up on some food truck food, and of course, dance around in the grass to some loud electronic music whilst the sun shined.
 |
| Street Style @ GovBall 2012 |
Taking tickets as a volunteer meant missing Major Lazer and Santigold which was sort of a bummer. Standing at the festival entry for a few hours with EventBrite, though, was an eyeful of street style that some awesome sets later in the day made well-worth the time.
Kid Cudi, Saturday’s finale, was a main attraction. It perhaps disappointed though, for anyone other than the hardcore Cudi fan, as it followed a headlining set by Passion Pit that was unexpectedly awesome for just about everyone.
 |
| Kid Cudi @ GovBall 2012 |
Instead of shying away from huge commercial hits like “Sleepyhead”, which you can only imagine the Boston band is growing tired of playing, Passion Pit’s set patched together seamlessly outsize anthems with material off their new album due in July.
You didn’t need to know a word of their lyrics to enjoy their whole show. The encore performance of “Little Secrets" was a highlight.
Kid Cudi had probably the most star power when he took the stage, but it was unfortunately diffused over a long set of slower jams like “Man on the Moon”, and tiring series of call-and-response.
His slow set, plagued by technical difficulties, was a bit of a tease for a crowd that was practically pulsating from the start, “Crush a bit, little bit” (the opening lines of greatest hit, “Pursuit of Happiness”).
Fortunately, a lot of the crowd and I had enough of their fill on good music and good times to feel satisfied leaving before the Cudi set even ended. We may never know if he ever played "Pursuit" for the GovBallers that night.
Complaints aside, big names like Cudi at GovBall leave me pretty hopeful for next year, as well as the prospect of a premier music festival that's based in New York City.
 |
| New York Rapper A$AP Rocky |
Admittedly, the chants of sassy and competitive Catalpa Fest promoters who called out, “Snoop Dog, A$AP Rocky, The Black Keys, Same Place, Better Music!” as the ferry from Gov Ball unloaded, didn’t really make the future of NYC music festivals sound too bad either.
SARA MORANO
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