The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of Governors Ball 2023
Sarah Rodriguez For 12 years, the notoriously cursed Governors Ball has succumbed to thunderstorms, COVID, transportation nightmares, artist dropouts, and even more thunderstorms. While this year’s fest seemed to have all the makings of a classic Gov Ball disaster — with the air having turned a toxic chalky orange days earlier thanks to Canadian wildfires — it thankfully managed to go off without a hitch, save for a quick 15-minute downpour. By Friday’s start time, the air had cleared, the sun was shining, and thousands began rolling into the fest’s new home in Flushing Meadows to listen to their fav artists (Lizzo, Lil Baby, Odesza, Kendrick Lamar, et al.) and chug overpriced frosé. So what actually happened on the ground? For those who missed it, we have compiled all of your necessary Gov Ball high- and lowlights below.
HIGH: The new location
Okay, maybe Gov Ball’s monkey’s paw hex really has ended. This was the festival’s first year at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, a setting that felt naturally suited for an event of this caliber. That meant no more Citi Field parking lots or trekking to awful Randall’s Island. At Flushing, there was plenty of shade, ample food options, and room to move. Even the spon-con pop-ups felt only kinda forced. —Alex Suskind
HIGH: Remi Wolf risking her New York City cred
Not only did Remi shout “This song is about an asshole — if you know it, ya gotta sing it with me, bitch” while wearing an “I like to get drunk and hump things” tee, she broke history by becoming what I assume is the first musician to openly admit to a New York City crowd that the Knicks jacket she brought with her was a fair-weather ruse. She had just learned who the team was that morning. “I only play Hacky Sack!” she explained. —A.S.
LOW: Lil Nas X had a bad day
Welp, it’s never a good sign when the first word out of a performer’s mouth is “Fuck!!” A few seconds into Lil Nas X’s opener, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” his in-ear monitors went out. Always a nightmare but recoverable — except, as he quickly noted once he returned and redid the song, he was already having a “terrible day” and “it just keeps getting worse.” The bad vibes lingered through his (still killer) set with Nas at one point saying he was fighting the urge to leave early. (His dancers, however, seemed like they could’ve stayed and slayed for hours.) Put this industry baby down for his nap! —Dee Lockett
HIGH: Odesza’s drum line
You can either mock festivals for repeatedly booking Odesza as a headliner or be normal and accept that these two dudes (it’s a duo, yes) get that gig ’cause they know how to put on a headline-worthy show. Crucially, Odesza are not just producers and DJs manning a booth all night — not that there’s anything wrong with that! They bring with them an elite drum line — each person outfitted to look like an extra in either Tron or a Daft Punk video (obviously, the drums light up in time with the lasers and other VFX) — a horn section, and a rotation of guest singers. And every bang of those drums hit harder than the fireworks. —D.L.
HIGH: Kim Petras in the rain
That brief downpour might have sucked (well, it did for me, since my poncho had a hole), but pop singer Kim Petras made the most of it, telling the crowd as people began to get soaked that some of her favorite shows of all time happened in the rain. She then immediately transitioned into her spicy, memeified 2022 track “Throat Goat.” The fan next to me told me the rain was “God crying” at the performance of this song — unclear if they meant happy or sad tears. —A.S.
HIGH: Ice Spice in all her confidence
It was the biggest crowd of the weekend this side of Kendrick. After a slightly underwhelming Summer Jam set, Ice Spice rolled up to Gov Ball like a returning monarch, smashing a breezy 30-minute performance with the cockiness of an artist who’d just played three nights in a row at Taylor Swift’s MetLife shows. After Sexyy Red popped up halfway through to perform “Pound Town,” Spice kicked it up with breakout single “Munch (Feelin’ U),” while middle-age moms around me repeatedly shouted “grraaahh.” —A.S.
LOW: Existential dread
If you ever wanted to know what a sad straight man singing Sisqó to himself looks like, you should have hung out with me during Amber Mark’s set. Her inspired salsa version of “Thong Song” was a definite high, but the reaction of festivalgoers around me (“I don’t know this song!” “What is this?”) was a serious low/self-esteem drain. —A.S.
HIGH: A glorious R&B matinee
For those of you still foolishly debating the “R&B is dead” convo (which I’m pretty sure began as a Diddy psyop), the Saturday and Sunday slate should have quickly put it to rest. The run-heavy afternoon featured California crooner Syd bringing a sly, understated sensuality to her set, flipping between recent solo work and old internet cuts. (“You guys make me feel so loved. I hope you are as well,” she said.) Greenwich Village local Amber Mark followed that up with something a bit funkier — a full band diving headfirst into work off her latest album, Three Dimensions Deep. Ari Lennox topped things off on Sunday with a soulful and delightfully blunt performance. “How many of y’all fucked in a car before?” she asked, before singing a song about that very thing. —A.S.
Literal HIGH (again): Pusha T knows his brand
The Virginia rapper switched out his much-discussed Cokechella set for the Snow Ball. If you know, you know. —A.S.
WHOA: Push missing most of his son’s birthday for this??
Hustle culture has gone too far: Midway through Push’s set, he announced that he loved us all so much that he might love us even more than he does his own son, Nigel, whose third birthday Push skipped to be at Gov Ball the Snow Ball. (Insert Drake joke here.) “There’s a whole zoo in Jersey right now, on God,” he more or less said. And to that, I say: Mrs. Pusha T, you better drag his ass today. Leading a birthday sing-along to “Nig” was a nice touch, but he’s still in dad jail for that. —D.L.
LOW: Diplo’s musical chaos
I had an idea of what to expect going into Diplo’s gig on Saturday afternoon, and a generic EDM remix of “Pop, Lock & Drop It” was definitely it. —A.S.
WHOA: Kenny Beats’s influencer-palooza
There were approximately 1,500 influencers crowded around the producer and DJ during his Coachella set. But NYC is still entering its influencer era, so Kenny’s posse this time was a bit tighter — just a few dozen of his “friends” and a few dozen more of their cameras and phones. Meanwhile, I spotted two influencers on the field, trailed closely by an assistant with a clipboard and a videographer with so much camera equipment. Did they get the vlog shot before they left after a few minutes? Idk, I’m not subscribed. —D.L.
HIGH: Rina covering Limp Bizkit
Rina’s set was all about range — of costumes (five! including an incredible transition into an all-red lingerie ensemble), of operatic Evanescence-like vocals, of capital-A acting (this was the rare act that felt like it had a story line and script), of live theater and prop work (see: a fake newspaper roasting critics of her John Wick judo skills), of rigorous choreo, and of genre and era. Rina loves to go retro, particularly late ’90s and early 2000s nü metal — the gold standard of which was Limp Bizkit. (Fight me.) That roughly 96 percent of her Gov Ball audience wasn’t alive when “Break Stuff” tore up TRL means nothing when Rina is up there mashing it with “STFU!” and headbanging harder than Fred Durst ever could. My one complaint? No one moshed. —D.L.
LOW: Aespa down Giselle
Giselle sadly had to miss the group’s historic Gov Ball debut — they’re the first K-pop group to play the fest — and will skip several upcoming performances due to illness. That’s a major bummer for fans but the only low. Karina, Winter, and Ningning were otherwise in top form (and in top fashion), even leaving space for Giselle during some of their formations without calling too much attention to her absence. Why am I emotional? —D.L.
HIGH: Lil Uzi Vert, Safety Patrol
Look, Uzi doesn’t mind if you shout his name during a show — just don’t do it when someone in the audience is in trouble. The rapper had no time for idle chitchat during his Friday night set after a fan in the crowd called for medical assistance. That means you, guy who kept trying to tell Uzi he got a tattoo of his face. (Uzi’s reply: “Nice! Just make sure no one next to you is passed out.”) —A.S.
HIGH: Lizzo reinvented the TED Talk
The thing to love about Lizzo, the thing that makes her such a legitimate star, is her ability to make her own show feel about you. Her concerts are effectively group work. She is as demanding of her own body and voice as she is of yours and her dancers and singers. They don’t just harmonize, synchronize, thrust, bend, two-step, and rejoice — we all do. And when the Voice of God tells you during an outfit change to breathe, stretch, shake, and let it go — bitch, you better! Lizzo asks if you’re ready to see something crazy? You drop that jaw and behold her and two of her touring musicians do a mini flute recital co-starring Sasha. If Lizzo says it’s time to sing a personalized birthday message to a woman in the front row, hit them notes. And when she addresses the fact this very performance was at risk of getting canceled due to the continued effects of climate change, take serious heed: “In light of all the environmental events and disasters, we need to listen to our First Nations, Indigenous people of this country.” —D.L.
HIGH: Kendrick’s (second) homecoming
K.Dot and New York City have a long, rich history. In 2011, he played a sold-out show at SOB’s that was a sort of litmus test for his rap future — at least commercially. ”I was once told that, shit, if you can come out here and get the respect from New York? You can get respect anywhere,” he said at the time. The Kendrick Lamar who headlined the final night of Gov Ball is an artist who has eclipsed respect and is now preceded by an aura closer to prestige — and he puts on a rap clinic to earn it — but he is an artist who, at 35, we now get to witness dust off decade-old tracks, admit that some of those Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and Section.80 lyrics are starting to escape him, then erupt with teenage joy at the realization that this multigenerational crowd could recite them all for him. It brought back those SOB’s memories, he said, calling this city his “second home.” I kept imagining his 22-year-old cousin Baby Keem, who joined Kenny for “family ties,” having similar flashbacks in another ten years. —D.L.
HIGH-M: Long live sister shtick
Yes, the Haim sisters have done this same onstage banter a million times, but it always hits. This weekend, it began midway through their afternoon set, when Alana (the youngest Haim) claimed she was the favorite sister. To which Este, the eldest, replied, “That’s the kind of thing the least favorite sister would say.” Soon enough, Danielle got into the mix: “It’s time for the motherfucking middle sister to talk, because it’s my favorite song of the set.” —A.S.
WHOA: Central Cee’s Kidz Bop
His music isn’t child-friendly, but the crowd at the British rapper’s set certainly was: I saw multiple kids under the age of 10 accompanied by their parents — not including the intrepid couple who wheeled their toddler in a stroller through a cloud of weed smoke and right toward the stage. —A.S.
LOW: What I heard a fan say during Central Cee’s set
“He’s not a culture vulture. He’s into Buddhism.” Okay then! —A.S.
LOW: Not enough genre diversity.
Why was Aespa the first K-pop act to play this festival in twelve years, and why were they still the only K-pop group on the billing? Gov Ball has certainly evolved with age — what once catered to indie sleaze and EDM heads has now pivoted hard to pop, rap, R&B, and more style-blending artists. Amazing! But now, I am asking this festival to broaden its cultural and genre borders even further and add far more Afrobeat, dancehall, country, J-pop and J-rock, and Spanish-language music across the diaspora. —D.L.
WHOA: Oliver Tree’s general Oliver-ness
There’s no easy way to explain Oliver Tree. If you go in with the understanding that he’s a comedian, it … still won’t make sense. But his whole vibe will. His sets are part rave, part hoedown, part infomercial. And they are a fashion show — no, like, he actually debuts a whole line during his show. I told you I can’t explain this shit! But the best part is the wig change. Find me another Gov Ball artist who went from bleach blond mullet to black bowl cut in 30 mins. —D.L.
WHOA: PinkPantheress’s 2000s-ass outfit
On one hand, I missed her set due to commuting issues, so I can’t comment on the music. On the other, I did witness the photos from her performance and will now be submitting a poetry-book proposal dedicated to this outfit. Obviously, she brought a purse (word to Aretha), but this belt? With that leopard-print-trimmed too-long tube top? Over those skinny jeans?? Holy 2000s Charlotte Russe. Sources say someone robbed my childhood closet and upcharged everything on Depop for this fashion statement. —D.L.
LOW: Put some respect on PinkPantheress’s other work
The British producer and singer was her usual charming self onstage, even though most of the assembled crowd from my vantage point seemed uninterested in anything other than “Boy’s a Liar.” Put some respect on “Where Are You”! —A.S.
