BY EVERYNIGHT CHARLEY CRESPO | Many music festivals have come and quickly gone in New York City over the years, but one annual event celebrated its 14th year this summer. An estimated 120,000 people attended the Governors Ball Music Festival (commonly known as Governors Ball or Gov Ball) at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park during New York’s Music Month from June 7 to June 9.
Unlike numerous earlier, stormy Gov Balls, the hordes of fun-lovers enjoyed live music, food and other activities under perfect spring weather.
Largely marketed to the 20-something market, the event hosted more than 60 bands on the Gov Ball NYC stage, the GoPuff stage and the IHG Hotels & Resorts stage. Post Malone and Rauw Alejandro headlined on Friday, the Killers and 21 Savage on Saturday, and SZA and Peso Pluma on Sunday. The live music began at noon each day and ran continuously until 10 p.m.
Once past the gates, attendees entered an alternate universe where rows of tree trunks were draped in furry, pink coverings on a path leading to a massive bust of the Statue of Liberty sporting sunglasses and tattoos on her torch-bearing arm. Twenty-seven “Beyond the Music” corporate sponsors enticed potential customers with free interactive activities, photo options, donuts, soft drinks, wine samples, chocolate candies, T-shirts, hats and hand fans. Forty restaurants, mostly from the Queens Night Market, sold food and beverages. Across the park’s fields, several corporation-sponsored booths presented DJ sets. Nonprofit groups informed attendees about community efforts, including Headcount registering voters and This Must Be the Place supplying participants with free opioid-reversal kits to help prevent drug overdose deaths.
This year’s performances were more wide-reaching than usual, in that, several world-music artists attracted audiences that otherwise might not attend the festival and also introduced previously unexplored genres of music to the younger set. These included Arabic music by Saint Levant and Elvanna, and Latin music by Peso Pluma, Rauw Alejandro and Farruko. P1Harmony, only the second K-pop band ever to play the festival following Aespa in 2023, likewise ethnically diversified the lineup. Numerous L.G.B.T. artists also performed, including Chappell Roan, Renee Rapp, Kevin Abstract, Ryan Beatty, G Flip, Underscores and Alex Chapman.
Post Malone brings fans on stage
Just one day after making two surprise appearances at CMA Fest, where Post Malone publicly put in motion his new country music trajectory, his fans may have wondered if his set on the Gov Ball stage would launch his forthcoming country music album. Bearded and barefoot, often speaking between songs with a red cup of beer in his hand, later stripping his shirt to reveal a plethora of upper-body tattoos, he charmed his Gov Ball audience instead with a string of his rock, pop and hip-hop hits. He performed only one country song, a solo rendition of his current hit, “I Had Some Help,” as the evening’s penultimate track.
Midway through his set, Post Malone noticed a fan in the audience waving a sign, asking if he could play guitar on a song. Post asked security to allow the fan on stage. Meeting face to face, Post Malone recognized him as having played together in the past. The fan said this was the third time Post Malone selected him from the audience to play guitar. Malone noticed another fan with a sign reading “Can I sing ‘Stay’ with you?” and invited her up on stage as well. Post Malone and the two fans jammed together on his song “Stay.”
Puerto Rican reggaetón star Rauw Alejandro reveres NYC
Soon into his co-headlining set on the GoPuff Stage, Puerto Rican reggaetón superstar Rauw Alejandro shed the jacket of his brown-and-white striped suit to reveal a white athletic shirt that matched the outfits of his six dancers. At one point, he moved into the audience and performed a pair of songs surrounded by his fans. There, he shared his reverence for New York City, naming Latino natives, including Big Pun, Jennifer Lopez, Willie Colon and Romeo Santos.
“I’ve always had a special connection to this city,” Alejandro said. “My dad was born in Brooklyn. It’s a meeting point for many cultures. Many of us left our country in search of opportunities and dreams. And I feel that here you can fulfill all the dreams that you want to do in life. In my case, a dream is being fulfilled by sharing it here with all of you, a dream that I am living today, thanks to all of you who have supported me since Day One.”
The Killers feature a guest drummer
Eight years after headlining Gov Ball in 2016, the Killers returned to close night two on the Gov Ball NYC stage. The Killers warmed up for the headlining show by performing at the much smaller Bowery Ballroom the night before, on the 20th anniversary of the release of “Hot Fuss.” The Gov Ball set started and ended with the biggest hits from the album, the career-launching “Somebody Told Me” and “Mr. Brightside.” Over 90 minutes, the Killers performed rockers from other albums, but nothing from the band’s most recent album, 2021’s “Pressure Machine.” The set also included a cover of Erasure’s “A Little Respect,” and a snippet of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps,” which the band worked as an interlude on “Runaways.”
Formed in 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Killers is now a legacy band, older than many fans in the Gov Ball audience. Vocalist Brandon Flowers, the group’s only consistent member since its origins, told the audience, “If you came here tonight looking for some rock and roll, you came to the right place,” adding, “We happen to be the purveyors of some of the finest rock and roll on planet Earth. Can I get an amen?”
A fan in the audience caught Flowers’s attention by holding up a sign asking to play drums on “For Reasons Unknown” to celebrate his grandmother’s 73rd birthday. Flowers invited him up on stage and, after introductions and logistics, announced to the audience that the guest was Anthony from Mamaroneck, New York. Flowers did not know that this was the same fan who played guitar on a song in Post Malone’s Gov Ball set the night before. Once again, Anthony did a magnificent job.
21 Savage models Supreme
Before 21 Savage took the GoPuff stage, the audience heard a taped message by his mother claiming that every choice she made was for his betterment. Born Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph of West Indian descent in London and raised in Atlanta, the 31-year-old Savage now was co-headlining one of America’s biggest music festivals. Mom did a good job.
Dressed head to toe like an advertisement for a Supreme advertisement, even down to gloves on a warm spring afternoon, 21 performed an hour-long set of his hits and his collaborations. His repertoire was heavily autobiographic, with numerous references to his violent and criminal history. Otherwise, he covered familiar material by Drake, Metro Boomin’, Young Nudy, Travis Scott and Post Malone, all rapped in his trademark monotone drawl. The fans rapped along with him, even filling in lyrics for him when he moved his microphone away from his mouth.
The set included a video interlude of news clips detailing his immigration saga. In 2023, 21 Savage became a lawful permanent resident of the United States and received his green card. He is eligible for American citizenship in 2028.
SZA daringly swings on wrecking ball
Solána Imani Rowe, known professionally as SZA, headlined Gov Ball this year with more hit songs in tow than the last time she performed at a local festival, Panorama, in 2018. In her 90 minutes on the main Gov Ball NYC stage, she managed to squeeze in 25 songs, some in medleys. Although she has an upcoming album, “Lana,” scheduled for release later this year, she sang only one song from it, “Saturn,” which she released in February.
SZA’s debut album, “CTRL,” was released exactly seven years to the date of her headlining performance, and so she started and ended her performance with songs from it. She performed twice as many songs from her second and most recent album, 2022’s “SOS,” however. The wildest moment of SZA’s set was during “Low” from that second album, when she rode on a swinging faux wrecking ball high above the stage.
Peso Pluma suffers onstage injury
“You finally got Peso Pluma here,” the singer told his large audience from the GoPuff stage.
Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, known professionally as Peso Pluma, became the first-ever Mexican singer to co-headline at Gov Ball. He performed an hour-long set of corridos tumbados blended with hip hop and reggaetón.
Powered by his large band, Pluma and his troupe danced on a sloped stage to his series of hits. During “IDGAF,” however, he suffered a foot injury. Nevertheless, he persevered through the evident pain.
Guest performers were rare at Gov Ball 2024, yet Pluma introduced Rich the Kid, a Queens native, to perform their song “Gimme a Second.” Pluma then gave Rich the Kid the opportunity to perform his hit single “Plug Walk.” After the Rich the Kid interlude, Pluma limped back on stage, barefoot and bandaged.
“I can’t even barely stand, but I don’t give a f—,” Pluma told the crowd. His production team produced a chair, but Pluma tossed it into the pit between the stage and the audience barrier.
“I’m here for you all, to hell with the chair. Let’s jump around, New York, I want to see you all jump,” he said, before launching into “AMG.”
Right after his performance, Pluma was rushed to a local hospital. From there, he confirmed by photographs on social media that he had fractured his right foot.
Chappell Roan cosplays Statue of Liberty
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, known professionally as Chappell Roan, was perhaps the buzziest artist in the Governors Ball lineup. She gained fans earlier this year as the supporting act on the Olivia Rodrigo tour. This weekend, her 2023 debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” rose to Number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart.
As far as entrances, no other artist at the fest did it better. The set began with a backdrop displaying a Google search for “Am I gay?” Roan’s band appeared in outfits based on the design of New York’s yellow taxis. In a cloud of smoke, a crew dressed in black suits slid a literal Big Apple to the edge of the stage. They then passed around an oversized joint before spinning the apple. The apple cracked open to reveal Chappell in head-to-toe green body paint and an outfit reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, except with chaps that exposed her green buttocks. Like the famed statue, she wore a crown and held a torch in one hand — though in the other she held a giant joint, which she passed to one of her backup dancers. She stopped and stared into the audience, which was sprinkled with fans wearing pink, glittery cowboy hats in her honor.
“I’m in drag of the biggest queen of all,” she told the audience. “But in case you’ve forgotten what’s etched on my pretty little toes: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’ That means freedom and trans rights. That means freedom and women’s rights, and it especially means freedom for all oppressed people in occupied territories.” The crowd erupted with cheers and applause.
Roan later changed into a yellow cab-inspired outfit to match her crew’s taxi print. Before performing “Casual,” she drew attention to her boots, emblazoned with “1-800-ROAN,” and checkered gloves. The outfit was completed with air-freshener earrings.
While Roan’s aesthetic is influenced by the drag queen culture, her songs were inspired by 1980s synth pop and early-2000s pop hits. She started her set with “Femininomenon,” the first of 10 songs she would perform, almost all from her album. She also premiered a new ballad, “Subway.”
Roan told the audience she had declined the Biden administration’s invitation to perform in honor of the L.G.B.T.Q. community this June. She then dedicated her angriest song to the government. Speaking directly into the camera, she said that she would sing “My Kink Is Karma” as a “response to the White House, who asked me to perform for Pride. We want liberty, justice and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”
For more of Evernight Charley Crespo’s coverage of New York City’s music scene, check out his blog, themanhattanbeat.
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