NEW YORK – Despite the humidity and occasional rain, thousands of fans gathered at Randall’s Island Park on Friday to kick off the eighth annual Governors Ball music festival.

Jack White headlined the Day 1 acts as one of 23 artists to perform on one of four different stages. A new festival layout and expanded alcohol selections were introduced at this year’s event.

The inaugural Gov. Ball took place in June 2011 and got its name from its first location on Governors Island. Tom Russell told The Daily Orange in a previous interview that he began the event with the goal of “bringing New York City a music festival that it could call its own, and one that would feature music of all shapes and sizes.”

Day 1 included three Australian groups, as well as performances from Shawn Mendes, Post Malone and headliner White. This year’s Day 1 lineup was, however, dominated by men
– only two solo women artists took the stage.

Maggie Rogers and Tash Sultana performed from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. and 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., respectively. Rogers, 24, rose to fame after her song “Alaska” was played for Pharrell Williams during a masterclass at New York University while she was attending school there. One-musician multi-instrumentalist and “tour-de-force” Sultana performed at Coachella in April and will play at Bonnaroo in Tennessee on June 8, according to a press release.

Leigh Ann Rodgers | Staff Photographer

Sultana wasn’t the only Australian artist to take the Gov. Ball stage Friday. The Australian psychedelic rock group Pond — whose music is produced by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker — performed from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. at the Gov Ball NYC Stage. Fellow Australians, Flight Facilities, an electronic duo, played at the Honda Stage two hours later.

The “special performance” of the day, per the Gov Ball lineup poster, was that of Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes. He performed a series of originals and covers on the Honda Stage from 5:30 to 6 p.m. and told fans how grateful he was to play at a festival he’d always been a fan of.

Leigh Ann Rodgers | Staff Photographer

He sang hits like “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,” “Stitches” and “Treat You Better,” as well as his newer track “Lost in Japan” and a cover of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon. Mendes was in the audience at the 2016 festival and announced via Twitter in April he’d be performing this year.

Following Mendes’ set came Post Malone’s. Malone — whose full name is Austin Richard Post — is a Syracuse native, and he performed at Randall’s Island after playing the Darien Lake Amphitheater last weekend. His set included songs from his 2016 studio debut “Stoney,” as well as hits from his 2018 release “beerbongs & bentleys.”

Before several songs, the artist shared anecdotes about why – or who – he wrote the songs for. “Paranoia,” he said, is his perspective on how everyone knows everything that goes on in each other’s lives. Before he sang “I Fall Apart,” he dedicated the track to “the stupid b*tch that broke my heart.”

He played from 6:45 to 8 p.m. As he introduced his last song, “Congratulations,” he said the song was “Posty’s” way of telling his fans to express themselves.

The sun went down soon after Malone exited the stage, and audience members brought out glow sticks and light-up wands. The long-stringed balloons scattered throughout the park also lit up. A mellower crowd met Jack White at the Gov Ball NYC stage an hour later at 9:15 p.m.

While audience members jumped up and down and chanted lyrics along with Malone, White’s set saw them swaying and bobbing their heads to his guitar riffs. White returned to the festival this year after playing at Gov. Ball in 2014.

The up-tempo “Hotel Yorba” got the crowd back on their feet as they began to quiet down, and people stayed on their feet for “The Same Boy You’ve Always Known” and “We’re Going to be Friends.”

White seemed to sense the crowd’s fatigue at this point in his set, and he stopped to ask them, “Are you still there, New York? Do you want me to stay?” After some cheers, he played “Steady As She Goes.”

White is also known as the lead singer of guitarist duo The White Stripes but has since had success as a solo artist. He put on a surprise concert for a Washington, D.C., high school on Wednesday before performing at the festival. He’ll perform in France next month. His set concluded around 11 p.m. to wrap up Day 1.

Gov Ball runs from 11:45 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday. A total of 22 artists are set to perform Saturday, and 21 will perform Sunday. The festival is available to stream online on Twitter and on the web from 4:45 to 11 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday, as well as on television each night from 8 – 11 p.m. ET via AT&T and DIRECTV.

Published on June 2, 2018 at 12:49 am

Contact Colleen: cefergus@syr.edu | @ColleenEFergus2