Governors Ball, New York City’s signature music festival, is poised to have another memorable year this weekend with a mixture of hot new names and seasoned headliners. However, with a packed three days on the horizon, what should you make a point of seeing? Here’s your rundown of what shouldn’t be missed during this year’s iteration of the annual festival.
1.Kanye West – main stage, Sunday
The polarising performer is headed out on to the festival circuit following the winter release of his controversial opus, The Life of Pablo. His appearance is particularly worth seeing since, apart from the Madison Square Garden album launch/fashion show where West literally played the album’s tracks from his computer, and an appearance at Coachella alongside A$AP Rocky where his mic cut out, West hasn’t yet performed the album live. Which guests will join him? Which fashion house will he go into a 15-minute rant about? Will Kanye trot Saint West out and hold him up Lion King style? All will be revealed.
2. Courtney Barnett – Big Apple stage, Sunday
The Australian singer-songwriter has the opportunity to stamp her authority on the festival – and the US music scene at large – after an appearance as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live’s recent season finale. One of the most critically acclaimed acts at the festival, Barnett is bound to win over even more fans with her coruscating live set, including a bunch of songs from her debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, and perhaps a couple of new tunes too.
3. Miike Snow – Big Apple stage, Saturday
After landing on playlists worldwide in 2009 with their massive alternative hit Animal, Miike Snow (Swedes Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, alongside American Andrew Wyatt), are back on top with the infectious single Genghis Khan, the debut track off their powerhouse third album iii, which was released in March and boasts an array of hooky, experimental and sometimes downright strange dance pop tunes. They should provide all those qualities and more live too.
4. Eagles of Death Metal – Big Apple stage, Sunday
However much we might wish otherwise, it’s hard to talk about Eagles of Death Metal without invoking the horrors they and their fans suffered last November, when terrorists burst into their show at the Bataclan in Paris and murdered 89 people. The aftermath has been controversial, with statements by Jesse Hughes, the band’s traumatised frontman, suggesting that the massacre was an inside job seeing them kicked off festivals bills in France. Despite all this, the group has resolved to rock on, and perhaps the best thing to do is rock on with them.
5. Father John Misty – Big Apple stage, Friday
After writing a section of Hold Up for Beyoncé, Father John Misty, the moniker of guitar-strumming singer-songwriter John Tillman, is on more familiar territory. Having done the rounds of the festivals last year playing his excellent 2015 album I Love You Honeybear, he’s back for another bite. However, if his set is anything like his rambling “bio” on the Governors Ball website (a 3,632-word treatise on love songs among other things), then expect none other than something completely out of the box.
6. Christine and the Queens – main stage, Friday
Bilingual and pansexual, Christine and the Queens (actually the nom de disque of solo artist Héloïse Letissier) are sure to provide a banquet of provocative electronic pop like standout earworm Tilted. A huge star in her native France, there’s no one else like her on the bill, and her theatrical, gender-fluid performance is not to be missed.
7. Jamie xx – Bacardi House stage, Friday
Though he’s currently working on a third album for his band the xx, Jamie xx is revisiting his alternative musical persona as a DJ and all-round purveyor of good vibes and peppy jams culled from last year’s standout album In Colour. Will he be joined by some of his many guest stars from the record (like Young Thug from smash track I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times)? We’ll all just have to wait and see.
8. Satellite shows
Let’s say you missed out on a ticket, or just don’t like the immense crowds the festival attracts. Well, you’re in luck as the organizers behind Governors Ball have a variety of After Dark shows popping up around New York throughout the weekend for those skipping the actual festival. From Duke Dumont (the man behind dance smash Ocean Drive) appearing at Williamsburg’s Output on Friday night to late-night guitar stylings from Albert Hammond Jr at Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday (the day after his main band the Strokes headline the festival on Friday), there are a variety of extra shows to please various tastes.
9. The food
A classic Governors Ball experience isn’t fully complete without spending some of your hard-earned cash on high-priced grub. But what great grub it is! The festival doesn’t just dole out hotdogs and hamburgers, but much-hyped New York bites like treats from Momofuku’s Milk Bar, to sustain you along with that warm, weak beer.
