Governors Ball 16

I'm at the front right of the sound booth at Bully in my red "MAKE FESTIVALS GREAT AGAIN" shirt.

For anyone that has Viceland, they are playing the strokes now

Caught Bully, Christine & the Queens, Of Monsters and Men, Beck, Bloc Party and The Strokes.

Beck & Bloc Party were the highlights of the day for me.

Great day. Loved BPF, Bob Moses, Beck, and The Strokes.

Farris, sorry I missed you at FJM. I was bored during that.

Hit it off with a chick waiting for the Strokes, talked during their late arrival, hoping to run into her tomorrow.

I got so many comments on my make festivals great t shirt that I wanna wear again tomorrow. I went into a whole Trump routin - "I've been to all the festivals, I've been to the best festivals, you know what we are gonna do? We are gonna make festivals great again. We're gonna build a wall and keep out those people who are there for stuff other than the music, and we are gonna make them pay for it! Etc.

Starting w Torres tomorrow.

Totally agree bout the The Strokes...seen them about 5 times and despite their late start this was by far the best set I've seen them do....with the exception of Ask Me Anything...that song is terrible and does not translate live

Awesome day yesterday. The Strokes were the standout - was my second time seeing them (last year's Shaky Knees being the first) and I was anticipating a let down but boy did they bring it. Pretty random and varied set list - haven't taken a look at it on setlist.fm yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the longest set they've played in a few years

Anyone else get caught in the bridge foot traffic hell when leaving the fest last night?

"Upgraded" tent is the same crap. Looks like a huge space till you cram 30000 people in there. And you can't see the stage if you are not under the tent because the soundboard is in the back of the tent blocking your view

Edit: I'm also "old" for the festival scene at 32 and can't stand the EDM crowd so my view may be harsher than others

Caught Black Pistol Fire, Bully, Bob Moses, Of Monsters and Men, Father John Misty, Beck, and The Strokes yesterday. Black Pistol Fire really impressed us with a throwback to hard rock/blues sound of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Bully was great. We were able to snag a spot within 20 ft of the stage, and proceeded to have our faces melted off. After Bully, we checked out Bob Moses for a few songs (not bad, but it seemed like they were having some sound issues), got an early dinner, then headed over to Of Monsters and Men. While they sounded fine musically, we quickly realized their music doesn't translate well in a festival setting. My friend and I left about halfway through the set because we were being put to sleep. Next up was Father John Misty. I have to say this was the most disappointing set of the day. Dude showed up 15 minutes late (probably piss drunk), and didn't play "I'm Writing A Novel", "Strange Encounter", or "The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment". He didn't even play "I Love You, Honeybear" or "The Ideal Husband" until the very end. Made it over to Beck halfway through his first song, and thankfully his performance put out our day back on track. He ran through hit after hit, and everyone was dancing their arses off. Loved the cover of "Raspberry Beret" and the tribute to Prince and Bowie at the end of his set. After Beck, I ran over to catch a few minutes of Jamie xx while my friend held down a decent spot for The Strokes. Caught "Loud Places" and would have stayed longer had he not been scheduled before The Strokes. In typical Strokes fashion, they showed up 25 minutes late, but it was well worth the wait. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of the setlist (too many songs from FIOE and not enough from ROF), they delivered a terrific performance and showed why festivals are still inviting them to headline in 2016. Opening with "The Modern Age", and ending with an encore of "You Only Live Once" was so gratifying for me. The fireworks at the end of YOLO was a nice touch to celebrate the return of a beloved hometown band on the first evening of the festival.

Since I rambled too long about the music, I'll be brief in my discussion of everything else. Getting to Randalls Island via the subway and walking was a breeze, but leaving was an absolute clusterfuck. It took well over 2 hours to get back to my friend's apartment in Forest Hills. The grounds were beautiful and the grass was well-maintained. Plenty of solid food options (and hard cider!), but as expected, everything was quite expensive. Travel between stages was easy, and there were never any large lines at the water refill stations. I've been to Firely twice, and in terms of festival organization, Gov Ball put Firefly to shame. Looking forward to a relatively laid back day, with Haim, Miike Snow, and The Killers being our only must-see acts. We will probably check out Albert Hammond Jr., Lord Huron, and De La Soul as well.

Getting out of there last night was an absolute disaster. Me and my friends sat in VIP for like 20 minutes waiting for things to clear out. BIG MISTAKE. We are staying in Long Island City, a block from Queensboro Plaza, and didn't get home until 2:15. We tried to go back through the grounds to the East Gate to catch the bus or the foot bridge at 103rd, and we were told the East Gate had been closed (wtf?). If we wanted the bus we had to go to the West Gate and around. Then 20 minutes later when they realized their ginormous QUACK UP, they re-opened the East Gate. Because of the terrible planning, the shuttle over to 125th was free at that point, but we just said screw it and did the zombie walk. As far as their organization goes, this was the first problem I've ever really had, but it was a pretty big mistake. We wanted to leave by 10:30 today but as of now we're all struggling to get out of bed even.

The Ramen Burger was pretty good. Hoping to hit up Wafels and Dinges today.

Just so you know since your staying by queensborough plaza you should walk over the Triboro bridge to Astoria...it's somewhat crowded though a lot less crowded than going to Manhattan and you can hop on the N train from Astoria

Haha I totally get that, but I loved that they played it. It was the moment when I realized they're finally playing the stuff they want to play. Self indulgent for sure, but a welcome change from the usual for me.


And China Girl! Beck is the musician the world needs. Thank fuck we still have him.

People on twitter are bitching about sound being too low at the Honda Stage yesterday. Did the fest seriously not address this after Lana last year?

Beck mashed Princes 1999 with Where Its At! That was a thing that happened. So amazing

I left my spot up front during Strokes early to catch a bit of Robyn.. and then turned right back around and caught that last half of Strokes. They killed it.