Governors Ball NYC Photo Gallery: Day Two
With sunnier skies and warmer weather, the second day of Governors Ball (June 6) drew in more people and even more action on the stage.
With Sharon Van Etten's new EP, I Don't Want to Let You Down, dropping on Tuesday (June 9), it seemed like the perfect time for her to share new material. While she only played the EP's title track, she did perform a number of songs from her latest full-length, Are We There, including "Your Love is Killing Me" and "Nothing Will Change." But what made her set more memorable – especially for the Brooklyn singer-songwriter herself – was that her parents came to see her play that afternoon. "They're really rock and roll," she gleefully informed the crowd.
Meanwhile, Little Dragon hit the main stage hard. Although Bjork, who would perform there right after the Swedish quartet will most likely win the award for most outlandish outfit, frontwoman Yukimi Nagano gave her a run for her money. Her cropped, bright yellow zipped jacket and shiny silver skirt that went down to the floor made Yukimi look like an intergalactic rocker. And even though had a number of ruffles that could be a hindrance to some performers, it didn't stop the singer from getting down with some booty and shoulder popping. Performing tracks from their latest, Nabuma Rubberband, their poppy electronic-meets-R&B sound rumbled through the speakers.
The Gotham Tent was packed to the brim for Future Islands' set – not only for their upbeat and catchy songs, but to catch a glimpse of Samuel T. Herring's dance moves. From the intense body rolling to his dramatic hand motions, it makes you wonder how he can drop it down so low in those fitted jeans. For anyone who wanted to get more of their dance on, Governors Ball partnered with German mic and headphone company Sennheiser to put on a silent disco for attendees. Outfitted with their state of the art headphones, festival goers partied it up to DJs like Talisa and Jonny Famous with the Fat Jew. And if you didn't have the headphones on, it provided for a fun people-watching experience as it looked like everyone was dancing to nothing.
Conor Oberst drew large crowds the Honda Stage. While he's known for his more emotional and sometimes somber songs, he energized the crowd with more upbeat tracks. Although his closing song, "I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)," might sound like a downer, the horn section and his vigorous guitar playing made this a strong end to the Omaha troubadour's set. Flume put on another highly attended set. Although Deadmau5 was set to close day two of the festival, the 23-year-old Australian DJ and producer proved that he was also a DJ force to be reckoned with. His ability to fuse electronic sounds with R&B, hip-hop and soul tracks spins dance music on its head and was a clear draw for a lot of people who attended that day.
Bjork was one of the major artists to play at Governors Ball on Saturday. Unfortunately, her set was not as highly attended as expected. While her devoted fans were front and center, it seemed there were more people passing by her set with the intention of looking for something else. Despite this, her performance was dramatic yet beautiful in an offbeat way. Wearing an elaborate outfit complete with face mask, she took us down memory lane by performing songs like "Army of Me," "Hunter," "Bachelorette" and "5 Years" – a song she hasn't performed live in a ages.
Those who weren't up for going to a club party, aka Deadmau5's set, opted for Ryan Adams, who was also closing the night on the other side of Randall's Island. Bringing some old school Americana to his set with an elaborately decorated stage that included a stuffed tiger, massive amps, two arcade game consoles and a vintage Dr. Pepper soda machine, it seemed Ryan gave that crowd exactly what they were looking for. Despite the enthusiastic cheers from each song, Ryan couldn't help but voice his distaste for the electronic music going on at the other stage. "Try to make this song on f---ing iPhone," he said before playing "Oh My Sweet Carolina."
Adams clearly plays by his own rules and also decided to make up a song about a fan eating a hot dog in the front row. Like just about everything else he played on Saturday night, everyone loved it.
Check out photos from the second day of Governors Ball in the gallery above.