This past weekend, one of the biggest music festivals on all of the East Coast returned to New York City’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Governors Ball has established themselves as one of the most anticipated weekends of the year for music lovers from all over who travel to town to experience the magic of the festival. Every year, the iconic festival stacks their lineup with unbelievably talented artists over the course of 3 days defining an experience unlike any other. This year was no different with headliners, Post Malone, SZA, and The Killers taking control of the mainstage on their respective nights. Here’s a breakdown of how the festival went.
Day 1
The first day of any festival is always an exciting one as everyone explores the grounds to see all the various activations, food venders, stage locations, and all else that Governors Ball has to offer as part of the experience. The artists billed for Friday include Post Malone, Rauw Alejandro, Dominic Fike, Labrinth, Farruko, Yung Gravy and more. The great thing about Governors Ball this year is that even though there were 3 stages spread across the festival grounds, none of the headlining artists clashed in times with each other which allowed fans to catch almost all of their favorite artists. Rauw Alejandro brought in many Reggaetón fans to the gopuff stage where he performed many of his biggest hits like ‘Santa’, ‘Desesperados’, and ‘Todo De Ti’. After he concluded his performance, the crowd migrated over to the Gov Ball Mainstage, where Post Malone got ready to perform the closing set of the evening. From beginning to end of his hour and half performance, you felt the passion from him in every single song he performed. You almost forget how many hits Post Malone has until you realize that every single song he sang was iconic in their own ways. He didn’t leave out a single song as he ‘I Fall Apart’, ‘Sunflower’, ‘Circles’ and all of his other major hits that everyone knew the lyrics and sang along to. There was no doubt that he had one of the best performances of the entire weekend.
Day 2
The second day of the festival started a bit earlier but that only meant fans arrived earlier to explore the festival. Day 2 was headlined by The Killers, 21 Savage, Carly Rae Jepson, Sabrina Carpenter, and many more. Pop superstar, Sabrina Carpenter, was definitely a major highlight of the day and with her performing earlier in the afternoon, this meant the festival grounds was packed up earlier than usual. She put on an incredible performance on the Gov Ball mainstage where she sang hit songs ‘Espresso’ and her newest single ‘Please Please Please’. Another headliner that performed on the Gov Ball mainstage was Carly Rae Jepsen who created one of the most singalong moments of the festival when she performed her iconic hit ‘Call Me Maybe’. Sexyy Redd and 21 Savage performed on the gopuff stage where mayn of the hip-hop acts took place over the weekend. There was no doubt that 21 Savage was one of the most anticipated and most crowded stages of the weekend. Closing out Day 2 of the festival was the legendary rock band, The Killers. Their large library of hit tracks including ‘Mr. Brightside’, ‘When You Were Young’ and ‘Somebody Told Me’ brought in a wide variety of fans of all ages showing that their music is truly timeless.
Day 3
The final day of any music festival is always bittersweet. Having spent 2 incredible days at the festival already, there is no doubt that everyone in attendance wishes it can go on for a few more days. However, if it has to end, there is no better closing to Gov Ball than with SZA. The final day of the festival saw performances from Don Toliver, Kevin Abstract, Chappell Roan, and Peso Pluma. There is no doubt that Peso Pluma was one of the biggest highlights of the weekend. Fans of the artist were draped in the Mexican flag and gathered at his stage early to secure the best spots possible to witness him perform. Unfortunately, he fractured his leg early into his set which limited his movements throughout the rest of the performance but he didn’t let that stop him from performing an incredible show to all his loyal fans. The main attraction for the evening definitely belonged to SZA as she closed out the festival on the mainstage. Fans sang along to her all set as she performed all her biggest hits from ‘Kill Bill’, ‘All The Stars’, ‘Snooze’, and ‘Nobody Gets Me’.
Festival Grounds + Food
Governors Ball festival grounds are always widely decorated to create an immersive experience for all in attendance. Trees are covered with pink fur, various statues are placed throughout the festival and many photo opportunities are available every where you look. They also have everything situated in a way where all the food venders are in the same location and bars are collected together so that you don’t need to search too hard to figure out all your options. This year had a large variety of food options with many iconic restaurants including Roberta’s Pizza, Luke’s Lobster, Fuku, Magnolia Bakery, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and much more. There ere also many activations spread across the festival with even an NBA Finals booth where there were many photo opps and you even the chance at watching the Finals game during the festival. Rakuten was also on site and hosted their own arcade which featured various prizes that you could win. The activations truly added to the experience for fans to enjoy in between performances.
VIP Experience
Like all other music festivals, Gov Ball offered a variety of tiers for tickets. GA, GA+ and VIP were the most accessible but there were also cabana options that gave you an elevated table section that oversaw the mainstage. If VIP is within your budget then it is definitely worth your money. Each stage had their own designated VIP viewing area that was near the front of the stage separated from the rest of the crowd. Within the VIP section, there were unique food options that were unavailable to the rest of the festival along with different games like corn hole, Jenga and other fun activities to enhance your day. There were also tables and chairs to relax at in between sets and even some shade to stay cool from the sun. The VIP section between the gopuff stage and the Gov Ball mainstage was actually connected so fans were able to hop between the stages with ease. The Gov Ball VIP experience was definitely the definition of partying in style and certainly created an elevated experience for all those who had access.
Governors Ball has established itself as one of the most anticipated music festivals across the East Coast every year. With so many talented artists billed on the lineup and the festival experience continues to evolve year after year, there is no doubt that Gov Ball is a must attend event. If you didn’t get the chance to make it out to the festival this year, make sure to stay on the look out for the date announcement for next and year and secure your tickets early because this is one festival you simply do not want to miss.