Governors Ball Music Festival

Governors Ball Music Festival

Genre	Indie rock, Alternative rock, Hip hop, Electronica
Dates	June 5–7, 2015
Location(s)	Randall's Island, New York City, USA
Years active	2011–present
Website
governorsballmusicfestival.com

The Governors Ball Music Festival (commonly known as Governors Ball, Gov Ball or Gov Ball NYC) is a multi-day music festival held on Randall's Island in New York City. Launched in 2011, the festival features an array of genres and styles of music, including rock, electronic, hip-hop, indie, americana, pop, folk, and more. It is produced by Founders Entertainment, an independent festival promotion company based in New York City. Aside from the wide variety of music, the festival features a multitude of popular NYC restaurants and food trucks, as well as a slew of activities, such as a Silent Disco, ping pong, photo booths, and lawn games.

Governors Ball 2011

Governors Ball 2011 was the inaugural year of the festival and was held on June 18, 2011, on Governors Island in New York City. The one-day lineup featured Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Empire of the Sun, Big Boi, Neon Indian, People Under The Stairs, Mac Miller, Das Racist, Passion Pit (DJ set), Miami Horror, Outasight, and Reptar. Governors Ball 2011 amassed the highest attendance of any event in the history of Governors Island, outselling Dave Matthews Band Caravan, and Bassnectar's Bass Island in 2011. Reviews for the 2011 festival were positive, with Flavorwire saying, "As many area festival attempts often fall flat due to poor execution, the Governors Ball was a pleasant exception to the rule, leaving us looking forward to its return next year,"^[1] and Gothamist saying, "A gorgeous day at Governors Island...everyone seemed to leave sunburned and happy."^[2]

Governors Ball 2012

Governors Ball 2012 was the 2nd year of the festival and was held on June 23–24, 2012, on Randall's Island in New York City. Expanding to a two-day event, the festival featured a more diverse array of acts, including Beck, Passion Pit, Kid Cudi, Modest Mouse, Explosions In The Sky, Fiona Apple, Chromeo, Major Lazer, Phantogram, James Murphy, Atmosphere, and Cults. Randall's Island was chosen as the venue due to the event's growth, and looks to be long-term home to the festival. Food offerings at the 2012 event included Coolhaus ice cream, Luke's Lobster, Waffles & Dinges, Mexicue, Food Freaks, Philz Steaks, Ports Coffee, and Pie for the People. Activities at the event included lawn games such as cornhole, ladder golf, and croquet (sponsored by Zog Sports), ping pong (sponsored by SPiN New York), and silent disco. Reviews of the 2012 festival were positive, with Time Out NY saying that "[Governors Ball] has all the necessities of a first-class music fest,"^[3] and Vogue saying, "The summer music festival New Yorkers can finally call their own."^[4]

Governors Ball 2013

Kanye West headlined the festival in 2013

Shortly after the 2012 festival, Founders Entertainment announced that the 2013 festival would take place on June 7–9 on Randall's Island.^[5]

It rained heavily on the Friday, June 7, the opening day of the festival, which caused massive transportation delays to and from the island. The festival was also forced to shut down early on Friday evening due to weather-related safety concerns, and several performers were cancelled including headliner Kings of Leon.^[6] Much of the green lawns sprawled throughout the grounds for the festival had been mushed to mud by Saturday morning, leading to extremely muddy conditions for most of the festival.

Lineup: Kanye West, Guns N' Roses, Kings of Leon, Nas, Pretty Lights, The Avett Brothers, Grizzly Bear, The xx, Feist, Beach House, Kendrick Lamar, The Lumineers, Thievery Corporation, Animal Collective, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Young The Giant, Cut Copy, Erykah Badu, Bloc Party, Beirut, Of Monsters and Men, Foals, Crystal Castles, Local Natives, Azealia Banks, Yeasayer, Gary Clark, Jr., Best Coast, Dirty Projectors, Portugal. The Man, Cold War Kids, Dinosaur Jr., Holy Ghost!, Japandroids, Twin Shadow, Divine Fits, Alt-J, Deerhunter, The Vaccines, Poliça, Steel Pulse, Dillon Francis, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Paper Diamond, Fucked Up, Wild Nothing, Icona Pop, Foals, The Knocks, Haim, St. Lucia, Freddie Gibbs, Robert DeLong, GRiZ, Ms Mr, Reignwolf, Solid Gold, Bear Mountain, Swear and Shake, Cherub, Pacific Air, The Rubens, The Revivalists, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Moon Hooch, Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics, ON AN ON.

Governors Ball 2014

On January 8, 2014, dates were announced for the festival's 2014 edition. It took place once again over three days on Randall's Island from June 6 to June 8. On January 9th, Rolling Stone announced that Outkast would be one of the headliners; the lineup included The Strokes, Disclosure, Vampire Weekend, Jack White, Skrillex, Interpol, and others.^[7]

Governors Ball 2015

Governor's Ball 2015 will take place June 5–7, 2015 and will be headlined by Drake, The Black Keys,Deadmau5, Florence and the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Björk, My Morning Jacket, Ryan Adams, and many others.