Governors Ball NYC will always rep Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island, and the BX, but it’s becoming extremely hard to denote its penchant for meshing scenes together. The three-day music bender thrives on local street grub and the communal feel of New York’s Randall’s Island, and if the lobster rolls and deli entrées don’t hit your sweet spots, Gov Ball’s carefully curated lineup will. The fourth edition of the festival provided a little bit of this and a little bit of that on Friday (June 6th) as Jenny Lewis and Kurt Vile tugged on alternative, Washed Out and La Roux warped textures, and Run The Jewels, Ratking, Damian Marley, and Janelle Monae flickered with their own pieces of NYC (Brooklyn, ATL, Kingston). It all eventually led to OutKast’s hits-heavy reunion set but as some might tell you, Grimes was the one that killed it. The alt popper teased her new full-length – including “Go”, a track originally written for Rihanna – and the euphoric head-thrashing at Gotham Tent made everyone forget that TV On The Radio were playing nearby.
Check out our photo sets below via Dylan Johnson and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for more live stills from Gov Ball Saturday + Sunday.
RUN THE JEWELS (KILLER MIKE + EL-P) at HONDA STAGE
KURT VILE at BIG APPLE STAGE
RATKING at GOTHAM TENT
JANELLE MONAE at GOVBALLNYC STAGE
WASHED OUT at GOTHAM TENT
JENNY LEWIS at HONDA STAGE
LA ROUX at GOTHAM TENT
DAMIAN “JR. GONG” MARLEY at HONDA STAGE
GRIMES at GOTHAM TENT
