“Summertime, Child, your living’s easy.” That’s the way we like it Janis and with brilliant weather; conditions were prime to kick off the inaugural Governors Ball Music Festival. All we had to do now was make it to the little island that could. Not as easy as it may seem for the later risers. Hopping down to the South Street Seaport around 2pm, we found a supa dupa long line of music lovers. Let the people watching begin! The atmosphere was most certainly buzzing as music fans were interacting immediately. You have to love this aspect of festival goers – we’re all fam. On the ferry ride over (I’m on a boat!) attendees were already in altered states; this was summed up best by the following statement: “I want whatever she’s on.” Well said Party Robot. With that, New Yorkers and travelers alike were officially ready for a Long (Musical) Day’s Journey into Night.
Arriving near the end of Mac Miller’s set, one could tell the party had just started to jump off, and as he was rapping over an old school Beastie Boys beat the dancing had commenced. Beasties, always a great call. But as Miller was finishing up his successful set, it totally dawned on us that we missed out entirely on Das Racist (we also missed Outasight, Reptar and the Passion Pit DJ set) who by all accounts told to this writer – killed it. Our apologies gents, too much “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” on the way over slowed us down. We kid, but seriously from the rhymes/beats Miller was putting down (he recently recorded a track with Talib Kweli), he’s an artist worth keeping on your radar. Blip, blip!
Now this being the first annual Governors ball, festival organizers were big on each act performing with no overlapping sets. Which meant us kids of the ADD generation needed to somehow stay occupied. To combat this, the good people at GB set up cool “activities,” for us to partake in during breaks such as: basketball, beer pong and volleyball to name a few. Oh yeah, there were also several art installations. Opinion on no overlapping sets varied, as some people thought there should be DJ’s performing between sets, while others were content to just soak up the sun. We’re going to go on record as saying, that the siestas were welcomed, as it gave people further opportunities to chill and mingle – creating a true party climate. Acclaim achieved.
Miami Horror was next on the docket. To be honest, we don’t know much about these cats except that they’re an electro-poppy disco band who likes to rock out. Respectable. To that point, we didn’t hear much, but what we did hear was part dancy, part mellow and complete fun. All solid attributes, so judgment will be reserved for a later date.
Heading back to the Gotham Stage (there were 2 stages: Gotham + Big Apple) we entered the second half of the day. West Coast rappers, Thes One and Double K, who comprise the People Under the Stairs were determined to prove that the roller coaster known as Governors Ball, was just getting started. Before we go down that route, let’s take a moment to point out what this group is doing to improve the scene. Starting an artist collective group called PieceLock 70 (circa 2004) or PL70; the People Under the Stairs are taking the power back from the record labels by – producing, licensing, manufacturing and selling all their own music directly to you, the fans. Refreshing to say the least.
Now back to the show. Hip-hopping to new and old jams alike, the P.U.T.S. ignited a human fire within the crowd when they played “Trippin at the Disco!!!”. Peeps were a grooving and a moving. It was around this time, that this writer got slightly sidetracked, as we spotted Sarah from Phantogram enjoying the show. Not to get into details, but we can say the following to describe Ms.Barthel: Cool. Smart. Humble. On top of her musical shit. And after leaving this cloud of pleasant distraction (this is the ADD generation after all) the People Under the Stairs ended their crucial set with the classic “San Francisco Knights,” bringing back Mac Miller to the stage and letting loose an electric current that charged the crowd the rest of the day.
At this point one kind of felt like a human pinball and Governors Island was the machine. Back and forth, back and forth, from the Gotham Stage to the Big Apple Stage we went. All day and night. What are we cattle? Was Gov’s Ball part of the Scott Pilgrim movie set? Neon Indian put on a clean set from what we saw, but in anticipation for Big Boi preparations had to be made…and back to Gotham we went to grab the neat spot.
The Son of Chico Dusty arguably threw down the best performance of the whole festival. Mixing in his new joint “Shutterbug,” from his latest solo effort, Big Boi got the crowd riled up! Nothing but love for the latest album, but when Big Boi took us time-traveling in his Outkast Delorean – a Hip-hop explosion of epic magnitude tore the roof off the sucka (yes, we realize there was no roof). And when we landed in “Hill Valley,” a medley consisting of “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,” “ATliens,” “B.O.B” and “Rosa Parks” told us that there exists such a grand gadget known as the flux capacitor and it indeed is highly functional. No bull, dance circles were busting and breaking out all over the place and good times were being handed out for all who were willing to accept. Governors Ball was now legit, “Stank you, very much.”
Extravagant costumes galore are the boys from Empire of the Sun’s thing and they kept the good moods a rolling with their hit “We are The People.” The nostalgia and euphoria of the Big Boi set was still lingering in the air though, and it didn’t really matter what Empire played, because the happy vibe had already been set in motion; everything was alright.
Over at the Gotham Stage we went to see what all the hype was about for some dude named Girl Talk. The engineer turned super mash-up DJ has created quite a name for himself over the years and rightfully so. Since releasing the album Night Ripper, Gregg Gillis has been on a touring and house party (you can thank your home speakers for this) rampage. Can you name the last time you were at a party and didn’t hear one of his jams? Didn’t think so. And with dawn turning into dusk, the freaks were all coming out. All day people were having a fabulous ole time, but something about Gregg started making people wile out. Suddenly there was pushing, shoving and the tiniest bit of negative attitude. Not from Girl Talk of course, rather from the crowd. All in attendance wanted a piece of this guy and if they couldn’t get up front, no one could. A big reason Girl Talk is successful, is because he’s aware of this fact. Come on…he was an engineer…don’t fuck with the smart kids! Regardless, he hit us with a little “Oh No,” and never looked back. The set was a rocking hip-hopping mosh pitting challenge. No joke, people were trying to crowd surf and FAILING. Miserably. Bodies fell, people were dropped and egos flattened by mother earth. For all the dancing that goes on during his sets, one thing is abundantly clear – this is our modern Rock N’ Roll. Don’t forget it. If you own his albums, you know the deal. And just when you thought shit couldn’t get anymore bananas foster than this, Girl Talk stopped the show, stood on the turntables and said, “Can we take this shit one step further?” In throwing down the gauntlet, he lead the crowd in hand-clapping, assembling us for what was coming next…once he had full audience participation, he dropped UGK’s “Int’l Players Anthem,” over Outkast’s “B.O.B.,” Game over. After that balloons, ticker-tape and overall awesomeness surrounded everyone. We’d just survived the Girl Talk experience. One word puts the aftermath of this into perspective: Tired.
Fatigue was a theme with a lot of people, as they decided to catch the early ferry home before Governors Ball brought out their own version of Mo Rivera – Pretty Lights. As crazy as the tour de force of G.T. was, Pretty Lights was a breath of fresh air. He slowed it down a bit by opening the set with his newest gem “I know the Truth.” F.Y.I. – Pretty Lights was coming off a 6 hour set at Bonnaroo and homeboy was still amped to perform for NYC. Who isn’t? He ran through some of his older songs, which we love, but where Girl Talk ends, Pretty Lights is just getting started (Click here to see what we’re talking about). For example, Pretty Lights mashed-mixed and put his unique touch on: Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place,” vs. Nirvana’s “All Apologies” vs. Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.”…breath that in…then add to this…Pink Floyd’s “Time,” Kanye’s “All of the Lights,” so on and so forth. Taking to the next level what a mash-up actually is and can look like. What all these guys are doing is super interesting. Nearing the end of the show, he simply amazed us. Giving a shout out to New York, he played Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.” over Nas’s “N.Y. State of Mind,” and when you thought it couldn’t get any better closed out the festival with his version of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” (which includes Biggie’s “Juicy,” and a verse from Jay-Z’s “Hello Brooklyn”). It’s scary to think about, but his version might actually be better than the original. We said it.
The first Governors Ball is now in the books. Attending the last All Points West, we speak from experience when we say our city needs this. And from perfect sunshine to the starry night that proceeded it, it felt great to see and hear all the artists come out and represent hard. If this festival is a preview of things to come, than we’re headed in the right direction. Nothings ever perfect, but the inaugural Governors Ball was a – Job. Well. Done.
Author: Del Toro Alma
Photographers:
Ali G
Andre Fankhauser
Andrew Shinohara
Del Toro Alma
Steve Adkins
Equipment Manager: Amy Blitzer
