A Recap on the 2018 Governor's Ball Music Festival
This past weekend, music lovers and artists came together in New York City to celebrate the annual Governor’s Ball Music Festival. For the past five years, Founder’s Entertainment hosts the annual festival to introduce new artists and entertain the audience with popular music in a lively environment. Despite the dreary forecast, concertgoers made the most of their time enjoying all of the artists brought onto the stage.
On June 1st, the first day of the festival, the audience was treated to multiple artists of all different music genres promoting their songs and new music. There were many memorable moments throughout the festival as Sir Sly and Landon Jacobs begin the show by giving fans a preview of their third upcoming album with their new song Pressure. Going along with a common theme in the music industry, expressing political views through music, Canadian rapper Belly introduces his song Immigration to the Trap with a statement against Donald Trump and his views on immigration. His message had a powerful impact on the audience and resonated with many immigrants. One of the biggest acts of the night was Shawn Mendes, who performed some of his hit songs such as In My Blood and a cover of Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody. His performance undoubtedly had many young girls swooning as the crowd echoed his lyrics. To close off the night, Jack White with The White Stripes captivated the audience with the steady bass beat and guitar riffs of their iconic song Seven Nation Army.
The second day of Governor’s Ball proved to be just as exciting as day one. The day’s events began with LANY’s frontman Paul Klein holding a lucky front row audience member’s hand during his performance of Made In Hollywood, ending the song with a backward somersault. Other well known artists such as rapper 2 Chainz appear and excite the crowd with his hip hop tracks, starting his act with his guest verse from Chance the Rapper’s song No Problem. He continues to perform more of his songs such as No Lie, Proud, and I’m Different, to bring a clubhouse feel to the Governor’s Ball festival. Halsey also makes her own appearance performing her radio hits such as Bad at Love and Him and I. Between her performances, she recounts on her time attending Governor’s Ball festival four years prior, leading into an inspirational message encouraging the audience to chase after their dreams and aspire to succeed. Many other notable artists such as Sin City (the musical collaboration between producers Mark Ronson and Diplo) and Travis Scott appeared to end the night with the same energy it began with. However, during Scott’s performance the clouds opened up to a downpour that sent the audience scrambling for shelter. Scott continued to energize the crowd in an effort to make them forget about the weather and enjoy the music that closed the second day of the festival.
Sunday, June 3rd marked the final day of Governor’s Ball 2018 with more exciting performances and unpredictable weather. Younger attendees waited in anticipation for rising artist Billie Eilish, who was joined onstage by Khalid to perform their new song Lovely and surprise the crowd. Khalid performed his own set later in the day in tribute to the graduating high school classes of 2018, which seemed appropriate when coupled with his song American Teenager, which he wrote around his own senior year of high school. Day 3 of Governor’s Ball featured more notable rappers such as Eminem, who hinted at the rumors of his relationship with fellow artist Nicki Minaj by referring to her as ‘wifey’ on stage. He is later joined by 50 Cent to perform their collaboration of Patiently Waiting. Overall, the last day of Governor’s Ball culminated in the same energetic vibe it began with, and the audience members left the festival satisfied with the experience.
Governor’s Ball showcases a number of rising talents in the music industry to the people of New York City. The audience is provided with a lively experience from all of the featured artists that is worth enduring any form of dreary weather. The festival’s lively environment can only be produced by the crowd’s enthusiasm for the music they love. For those who have not had a chance to experience the music festival for itself, Governor’s Ball is an annual event that is hosted in New York City, and is a highly recommended experience for any music lover. Perhaps your favorite artist will be featured on the festival lineup in the years to come.
