By Allston Pudding Staff
So Gov Ball came and went two weeks ago. If you're still suffering withdrawals, as in every Saturday at 9 since the event you're wistfully sitting at the bar thinking of how you were dancing to Jack White at this time x amount of weeks ago, we're right there with you. So let the magic live on, or live for the first time, for these are our Governors Ball best and worst of show, karmic, beefiest, hearing loss, Lady Gaga and many other awards.
Winner: Washed Out
Yeah, yeah, I get it - it’s stereotypical to associate Washed Out with weed. But stereotypes always originate out of some truth, so shut up. If you’ve never listened to Washed Out aside from your time spent rewatching Portlandia, it’s about time you picked up a copy of Within and Without. Washed Out is the pseudonym for Ernest Green whom, up until this Gov Ball appearance, I assumed performed alone (my mistake). Friday afternoon he took the stage with a backing band and was my perfect introduction into this year’s festival. With inflatable zebra totems, joints passed left and right, and Green’s melodies floating through the air - we were chilling mad hard.
This is a set that could equally enjoyed from the barricade or a grassy knoll in the sunshine. For me, Washed Out is a mood and an experience rather than a “show.” Green is able to translate his tracks perfectly from recordings to a live setting and that can only be credited to great attention to detail and a lot of practice. I spent a decent portion of this set with my eyes closed and I ain’t mad about it.
The Lady Gaga Award for "Best Entrance"
Winner: Janelle Monae
I’m not one to ever compliment Lady Gaga but girl knows how to make a statement. Janelle Monae made an entrance that the queen herself would have approved of. Backed by a giant 60s mod style black and white swirl, Monae was wheeled out to the center of the stage in a white bodysuit that upon closer inspection revealed itself to be a straightjacket on top. I honestly don’t remember what audio was backing this entrance because I was so distracted but I imagine it was some grand drumroll or horn mashup fitting for a royal (yet creepy) entrance.Seemingly waking up from a coma-like state as her set began on the main stage, Monae shook out of her restraints with vigor and bug eyes. Monae doesn’t need any help, she is her own hype-man.
*Monae earned this award twice on Friday as she made a sneak appearance and stole the spotlight in the middle of “Hey Ya” during Outkast’s closing set that night. It was either a Mexican jumping bean or Monae….we’re pretty sure it was Monae.
The Wayne Coyne Award for "Best Crowd Walk"
Winner: Phoenix
No hamster ball, but that didn’t stop Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars from hoisting himself on top of the massive crowd on Friday afternoon. Three cheers for the crowd on that one, for enabling the singer to walk a solidly on hands and elbows, supporting his mic wire, and taking their turns shaking his hand. Phoenix played a high energy set and set the bar high for the remainder of the weekend. The set list included older and introspective cuts like “If I Ever Feel Better” to sing-a-long dance tracks “Liztomania” and “Lasso.” For a band that I’ve written off as background noise this many years into their career, Mars and his band proved that I should be paying more attention (s/o to whoever puts together their colorful background graphics as well). Phoenix knows how to put on a perfect summertime show.
PS - Did you all see Sofia Coppola with her daughter in the photo pit? Between being star-struck and having my heart melt seeing Mars’ daughter see her dad playing for a crowd of thousands - I experienced a much wider range of emotions during Phoenix than I ever anticipated.
-- Jeeyoon Kim
Winner: The Strokes
It was 82 degrees outside, probably 90 in the direct sunlight that I was standing in. Broken Bells was wrapping up their set, and though I had seen them earlier this year and wasted $35 on a disappointing House of Blues show, I was still standing in their crowd and I wasn’t leaving. But so was everybody else, as people began to lay out blankets and sit on the beer and trash soaked asphalt, marking their spot for The Strokes. And by everybody else, I mean everybody else. After my hour long wait, in which my friends lapsed into 3 steadily growing meeker singalongs of ‘Someday’, we finally stood up with the rest of the crowd. I was face to sweaty back with a pack of bros, there was barely any air at my 5’3 height and in standing on my tiptoes to try to get a breath in, I wobbled and collided into the tangle of arms and legs behind me.
So maybe ‘hype’ isn’t the best word for it, and ‘lack of air space’ is better, but The Strokes still made it worthwhile. I heard rumors of the state that Julian Casablancas was in in his long awaited return to the stage (“He’s all fat and old now, man.”), but in his summery blue Hawaiian shirt, shaggy black bang glory, he did look a little aged this is true, but nonetheless still full of that effortless coolness that The Strokes built their empire on. They chose their set selection wisely, calming down the over excited mass of people by opening with songs off of the less popularly received Angles and Comedown Machine albums, and then they delivered the good stuff - “12:51”, “Hard To Explain”, “The End Has No End”, “Last Nite”, “Whatever Happened” and of course “New York City Cops”, to name a few - all of the hits that everybody desired to hear were excellently performed, with all of the glory of the first time that we listened to them years and years ago. I’ve listened to “Someday” honestly probably once a month since I was 17, but I never thought I would be able to see it live. So when the bright opening chords ripped through the speakers and the enormous crowd cheered instantly with recognition, it was a truly fascinating and glorious experience and ultimately, a celebration of good music the inexplicable feelings that come with it.
The Pitch Perfect Award
Winner: Jack White
Jack White proved that deities truly come in all forms - the Rock God took to the main stage in a cool blue light, which reflected his pale skin, dark hair, and white flowered shirt. He was truly the reincarnate of 70s rock Gods past, shredding his guitar with sexy, powerful and electrifying chords as plumes of smoke exploded behind him. He performed several songs off of Lazaretto, including a haunting and powerful performance of “High Ball Stepper”. As White was one of the of the biggest acts of the festival, he seriously did not disappoint. He was wild and unbridled on the guitar, barely pausing to take a break during his hour and a half set. And of course, he played all of the hits from The White Stripes glory, and not only that - he tweaked and reworked them into special live versions, he amped up the tempo of “We are going to be Friends” into a sweet, blue grassy version, added extra guitar snarl to “The Hardest Button to Button” and even performed “Steady As She Goes.” He exhibited a truly refreshing performance of musical glory, talent, and innovation.
--Helen Chen
The Dion And The Belmonts Award For "Best Backing Band"
Winner: Chance the Rapper
I’ll let my other staff writers fawn over the closest thing we have to a raspy James Brown in today’s music world, but Chance’s absolutely electric show couldn’t have happened without the strength of his ridiculous backing band. Special shouts to trumpet extraordinaire Nico Segal, who has a fantastic mixtape of his own here (http://www.okayplayer.com/news/nico-segal-donnie-trumpet-ep-mp3.html).
Chance the Rapper (plus band) could bring soul to the desert. They could bring funk to the Justice Department. They could bring the party to a morgue. They did all of that, and then some. Chance himself was wringing sweat out of his impeccable Superman t-shirt from the second track on, deservedly so. He moves so quick and so wonderfully that you don't care the audience has to fill in the last words of every track.
But the fact that they did so signified a huge achievement for Chance (something that he also recognized): everyone knows his songs now. Before this festival, his mixtapes 10 Day and Acid Rap were blog smashes and magazine cover-earning works, but at his non-Chicago shows, they failed to reach the level of memorization. I'm saying this because even he noted that everyone was screaming this shit back at him. It was glorious. It was beautiful. I didn't know any of it, of course, because I'm an idiot. But it was beautiful. I can't think of a better rapper (and backing band) to be on the escalator to Superstardom, on Level 2.
-- Marc Finn
The ‘Started from the Bottom’ Award
Winner: Chance The Rapper
I remember when Chance The Rapper released his Acid Rap mixtape last summer. My friends in both California and Boston alike had began murmuring about him and I could feel a steady stir beginning to amp up about the rapper’s almost ‘acidic’ sounding rapping - by the nasaly high registers that he dips into bar after bar in his songs. How surreal it was, a year later, to hear the song that my friends had ripped off of datpiff.com out of lack of being on youtube or spotify, performed to a massive crowd at Gov Ball and not only that, to which every audience member seemed to know every word and was yelling it with feverish devotion. Every one of Chance’s songs was well received and recognized - even his cover of the ‘Arthur’ theme song.
-- Helen Chen
The Jackie Chan Award For "Best Stunt"
Winner: Diarrhea Planet
In a festival full of fantastic amateur stuntmen/stuntwomen, (shouts to the kid who somehow, against all odds, punched my ankle while falling down. That’s right, punched my ankle. You had to be there) the award for Best Stunt easily goes to Diarrhea Planet, especially to guitarist Evan Bird for climbing to heights unseen. Go to 3:10 of this video to see why:
DP brought the ruckus to the early Saturday crowd (as they put it, “Why the fuck are you people even awake right now?”), mixing in their incredible high energy with off-the-cuff Outkast covers and fantastic participation from the security crew. Aside from the ankle-puncher, the crowd was great, and happy as ever. More stunts, DP. Keep stuntin’.
The Thick-Cut Sirloin Steak Award For "Beefiest Crowd"
Winner: Disclosure
Ever hear of something called Hadrian’s Wall? Hadrian’s Wall was a wall spanning the length of England, built to keep the Roman Empire safe from invaders to the north. Bits of Hadrian’s Wall still stand today, and it remains a popular tourist destination in the UK.
But if the Romans had electronic duo Disclosure in their possession, and paid them a ridiculous sum of money/alcohol/substances to keep the party going for X number of years, they could have saved a lot of labor. This crowd was, in a word, impenetrable. Not even the patented “follow the huge frat guy into the throng” strategy was working, and that move got me to the front of Sleigh Bells with ease. Spare text messages between three friends, all stuck in various parts of the Honda Stage crowd flittered into my phone like desperate carrier pigeons, each saying something along the lines of, “I can’t move,” or “‘Help Me Lose My Mind’ shouldn’t be this dusty.”
Disclosure themselves, actually, were kind of underwhelming. It wasn’t just the crowd, but the acoustics for the Honda Stage seemed a bit off-kilter for the act, surprising since it handled Earl Sweatshirt, Skrillex, and other such sounds with ease. Others felt it too, judging by conversations throughout the weekend. Not a bad show, certainly, but perhaps one that had been overrated (though, I’m not ruling out the excessive heat as a contributor here). Still, though. That crowd was like March of the Penguins-level unreachable, and Disclosure have to be commended for drawing it.
-- Marc Finn
Winner: James Blake
James Blake was unfortunately assigned to play the ill equipped Honda stage, of which the reach of the speakers just barely extended beyond the stage, barely touching upon the massive crowd that gathered to hear the sweet songbird’s dulcet croning over dirty London style underground bass. Blake still attempted to showcase the excellence and high registers of his voice, which probably sounded magical and great to the front of the crowd, but lost and drowned out at the back - especially when the crowds of friends sensed the lull and began to talk about how excited they were to all be together and at James Blake and oh-my-god-did-that-molly-hit you-yet. However, Blake’s bass and electronic portion actually worked. The bass accents of “I Never Learnt To Share” was heavy enough to pulsate successfully to the back, sending wavy vibes throughout the crowd.
The Chillest Crowd Award / The Dads in The Band Award
Winner: Interpol
The crowd had notably thinned for Interpol, depleted of the more energetic and neon clothing dressed fans who had flocked to Empire of The Sun. Flower crowns and bandeaus disappeared, to be replaced by a subdued, calm crowd, excited to hear the dark and cool stylings of El Pintor. The highlight of the crowd’s chillness was a roll of toilet paper that was playfully flung throughout the crowd, it’s tail streaming and bouncing over slightly stoned heads - that eventually made it’s way to hit a misplaced drunk girl who had climbed on top of somebody’s shoulders, which was received by mass cheer and applause.
Interpol took the stage, showing considerably more age than Julian Casablancas but still maintaining all of the sleek coolness of their reputation by wearing crisp white button downs, black blazers, and their hair long. The band played through the hits of their discography, including ‘Stella Was a Diver’, ‘Evil’ and a slow and pronounced commemorative ‘NYC’ under soft yellow, pink and blue lights. They also debuted several songs off of the highly anticipated album ‘El Pintor’, which in case not already previously understood, is an anagram for their band name.
The Great Depression Award For "Most Dust"
Winner: Tyler the Creator
Odd Future (are they even a part of it anymore?) mafiosos Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler the Creator dropped back-to-back sets at the Honda Stage and Big Apple Stage, respectively, causing both a mass exodus between sets and a clear divide between the OF gear-clad youths as to which one they preferred. (It’s worth noting that the stages weren’t too far apart.) Earl came out and just destroyed the place, as he is known to do (and as he did in Boston), and mixed in some rarely-played tracks (including my personal favorite, “20 Wave Caps” off of Doris) with mainstays like “Kill,” “Chum,” “Hive,” etc. Earl and Tyler both chatted about which material to play or save, given that they were both about to head across the field and basically continue the ruckus there.
Which, by god, they did. Whereas Earl is indisputably a more talented and professional live rapper, Tyler brings a punk attitude to his sets, and this was no exception. From the get-go, his hysterical stage banter and screaming threw everyone into fits of laughing, arm-waving and jumping, and his tracks seemed louder and zanier than his younger crewmate. I had seen videos of Coachella crowds going nuts to “Tamale” before, but being smack-dab in the middle of it was something else. It quickly became so dusty that I feared my Diarrhea Planet shirt would become unrecognizable (RIP to my Dan Deacon shirt of the same color, which became unwearable due to similar levels of dust during Death Grips’ set at FYF 2013.) I can’t stress to you how funny and, dare I say, genuine Tyler and his crew actually are when they’re in front of a festival crowd. They seemed hell-bent on making sure everyone had a good time, which is really the reason why people spend exorbitant amounts of their own money (or, as Tyler noted to a cheering crowd of teenagers, “Their fucking rich daddies’ money.”) to go to these things.
Also, “Jamba” easily wins the award for “Best Opening Song” of the festival. Adrenaline spikes are inevitable when that sucker drops.
The GWAR Award For "Strangest Props"
Winner: Vampire Weekend
What the fuck are Doric columns and a giant mirror doing on a festival stage? More importantly, why?
With most other acts, this would seem Morrissey-like in terms of ego and, again, why-ness. But with Vampire Weekend, everyone’s favorite indie crossover act, its chalked up to yet another (successful) attempt to make songs about upper-class problems worthy of festival-headlining status.
I say that as a big Vampire Weekend fan, naturally. It’s really, really hard to pick this band apart, not that we should always try. Their mix of upbeat indie pop and new-ish forays into experimental songwriting (“Diplomat’s Son”, “Cousins” etc.) allow them to hop across whichever demographic they see fit to conquer next.
All of these demographics came in force during Foster the People’s set, including me. It’s worth noting that choosing to sit through that set in lieu of seeing James Blake was my worst decision of the festival, by far (name me three real differences between that band and Bastille. Go ahead. I’ll wait.), but such is Vampire Weekend’s allure. I wasn’t alone by a long shot, as everyone around me seemed to be doing the same.
The performance itself, naturally, was just about perfect. I don’t know of a better lead-in to an encore than “Obvious Bicycle” (if you have one, drop me an email), but that track capped a furious, bouncy show that didn’t leave any hit behind. Their back catalogue is small enough that everyone knows every song, but big enough to still leave some mystery as to which track they’ll drag out next. I have no complaints.
Except for the fucking columns, of course. But I guess they’re fetching, or something.
Winner: J.Cole / The Honda Stage’s Sound System
The Honda Stage was awarded to big electronic / dance names, of which it seemed that the festival planners anticipated to be bigger than the other names performing inside of the valuable real estate of the shady Gotham Tent. However, the stage setup itself sucked. It, like all of the other stages at Gov Ball, was mercilessly depleted of any shade whatsoever. Furthermore, as fans crowded and gathered in large sweaty lumps underneath the boiling sun, it didn’t even seem worth it - the sound system itself’s reach was pitiful. It needed at least two sets of speakers more. I could barely hear Disclosure’s funky beats over the guy behind me singing, “When a fire starts to burn, right.” J.Cole’s set also was swallowed up by the inadequacy of the Honda stage, as the rapper tried to engage the crowd in the pausing of popular lines and motioning with the mic to the audience to fill it in. While I’m sure it was really cool for the fans in the front 3 feet of the stage, and of course obviously very cool for J.Cole, all it sounded like to people in the back was silence. I found myself realizing that J.Cole himself was only actually singing three words of ‘Work Out’ because of this. And honestly, if I wanted that, I could have avoided the third degree sunburn and just put on a scratched up CD at medium volume at home.
The Danger Award
Winner: FDR Bridge
I made the grave mistake, in my post festival euphoria, of thinking a nice little stroll back to the subway station in Harlem would be the smarter investment than waiting for the dauntingly packed buses. This was very, very wrong. The festival staff seemed to be almost as misled as the staff members at The House of Blues, and after walking down the wrong path and being encouraged to cross the street as a fleet of cars charged at me, I was finally directed to the actual direction of the FDR bridge. Masses and masses of people who had made the same mistake that I had were headed in that direction, but in a severe drunk and blind leading the drunk and blind fashion. And here’s the clincher: the bridge itself seemed to be surrounded by and under construction, the path marked by uneven concrete and potholes that were unable to seen as the bridge was basically dark, except for the dim glow of a hopeful streetlight in the distance.
-- Helen Chen
The Karmic Award
Winner: The Man Who Adds New Toilet Paper to the Porta Pottys
Here’s to you, perpetually disturbed looking sweaty man who had to spend his entire day clutching rolls of toilet paper to put in the grimmest place on earth, the makeshift bathrooms of a festival. I can only imagine the horrors you have seen and smelled in that realm. Thank you for your valiant efforts to incorporate a sparse bit of hygiene in our day. I hope the multiple showers you have had to take after these past three days had the perfect water temperature, the best massaging shower head, and the best soap in the world. You deserve it.
-- Helen Chen
Best Overall Performer: Best In Show
Winner: Outkast
Performances with this much hype can only go one of two ways…a 20th anniversary? It’s either going to be a roaring success or a monumental letdown. Going into the first day of Governors Ball, I was nervous for a couple of reasons:
- What if I had to write a negative review of Outkast? Talk about heartbreak…
- As a casual Outkast listener…was I worthy? I certainly can’t sing along to every line…
Coming out of Governors Ball, I was nervous answering “Well…one of the top was Outkast, I mean it!” to the 3,000 times I’ve been asked what my favorite set was upon returning to Boston this week out of fear of that oh-come-on-eye-roll. I suppose the only fact I just illustrated is that I’m a nervous person.
Outkast killed it. The hype is well deserved. André 3000 and Big Boi are true showmen. Their performance began with the two in statue poses inside of a 20-by-20 mesh cube, André 3000 was wearing a one-piece suit labeled “art or fart?”, and the duo brought out a group of fine females on stage to be on their baddest behavior during “Hey Ya.” The only downside to this headlining set were the gyrating pelvises practically fused to my backside. I’ve gotta hand it to Outkast fans, even that close proximity didn’t stop them from wiggling and it was infectious. The upside was, we got to hear all of the hits from Stankonia’s “Ms. Jackson” and “So Fresh, So Clean” to Speakerboxxx’s “Roses.”
My condolences go out to Mr. Damon Albarn. Truth be told, I ran out on Outkast’s set to try and catch a few songs from Albarn’s set but only made it in time to hear the closer “Heavy Seas of Love” off of Albarn’s 2014 release Everyday Robots. The talented mastermind behind Blur and Gorillaz was wronged by the festival and deserved a proper slot and a proper audience. Gov Ball team, please don’t disservice such a talented musician again.
-- Jeeyoon Kim
Runner Up: The Merciful Summer Breeze
Making cameos during The Strokes when I thought I was going to pass out from inhaling too much sweaty recycled air, making a surprise guest appearance during the opening songs of James Blake, always being there under a shaded tree, Merciful Summer Breeze, though your performances were brief and left me physically panting for more, you truly made my Gov Ball experience. I sincerely hope to see you at festivals across the country this summer.
-- Helen Chen