Maxim Gets Muddy At Governors Ball
Nas had a New York homecoming, Kanye dropped new tracks, and Guns N Roses shredded (kinda).
Nas had a New York homecoming, Kanye dropped new tracks, and Guns N Roses shredded (kinda).
(All photos: Cameron Berkman)
Governors Ball invaded Randall’s Island this weekend, and the grounds will likely never be the same (and not just because of the face-rocking or whatever that went on there). Friday was cut short right before the headliners due to torrential downpours and high winds. The festival rebounded quite well, rescheduling Friday’s headliner Kings of Leon for the next (and more dry) day.
However, they couldn’t do much about the mud that covered most of the island.
Luckily, the crowd made the most of it. Real cool, guys.
Saturday’s most fun set went to Toronto band Fucked Up. It may look like the singer decided to bail and leave his shoes on stage, but it turns out he just shed his shirt (and shoes) and dove into the crowd, as he is wont to do.
There he is. Glorious.
Edward Sharpe, a man who looks precisely as he smells, does some crowd work.
Animal Collective did what they do best. (What they do best is getting really weird.)
Nas had maybe the best set of the day, with a set list that spanned his whole career. Not that we weren’t already big fans of his.
Guns N’ Roses closed out the night with a set that was delightfully light on Chinese Democracy tracks. Even still, Axl seems like a shell of what he once was, and his slow plodding around the stage isn’t enough to hold up even the most vintage of GnR jams. But, at least they had fireworks!
[pagebreak]In NYC this weekend Nas had a homecoming, Kanye dropped new tracks, and Guns N’ Roses shredded (kinda).
(All photos: Cameron Berkman)
The relatively-unknown Freddie Gibbs started up Sunday with an impressive flow and bottomless well of energy.
This energy was kept up by Cold War Kids, who jerk around the stage like electric football pieces without missing a note.
Gary Clark Jr., who is no stranger to big crowds on lots of drugs after performing with The Rolling Stones, effortlessly destroyed his hour-long set, getting sounds out of his guitar that seem more almost impossible.
This is the “Silent Disco.” You strap on some headphones that DJs are mixing directly into and dance around to music that nobody outside can hear. It’s the perfect destination for anyone who wants to look like a world-class bozo.
Between this and a giant stand-up bass, Beirut creates the best music you can possibly make with comically sized instruments.
The xx dropped their moody jams at stomach-rumbling volumes just as it was getting dark. Luckily for them, that’s the moodiest time of day.
Kanye closed out the festival in front of eleventy trillion people, and he did so in the most Kanye way ever: opening and closing with the same (new) song, ranting about the commercial appeal of his new record, and debuting a new song with the lyrics – “I am a God / So hurry up with my damn massage / In a French-ass restaurant / Hurry up with my damn croissants.”
Never change, Yeezy.
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