Governors Ball 2016: 5 things you missed Friday
NEW YORK — Despite a damp forecast, rain held off for most of Friday at Governors Ball, which returned to New York's Randall's Island Park for a fifth year. Along with headliners The Strokes, Robyn and Beck, here are some of the other highlights from the sold-out music festival's first day:
Kanye arrives early — well, sort of. French singer Christine and the Queens kicked off the day with a sprightly, eccentric set, rocking a sleek gray suit and white t-shirt, and leading a group of identically dressed men in a series of jerky, contorted dances. High points included some of her best-known songs, Tilted and iT (featured in this past season of HBO's Girls), as well as a mesmerizing electro-pop rework of festival headliner Kanye West's Heartless, achingly mashed up with French artist Christophe's Paradis Perdus.
West Coast rap makes a strong showing. Although he is one of the weekend's lesser known hip-hop acts, Boogie may as well have been a headliner, judging by the ecstatic response he received from concertgoers during his early-afternoon show. "This is my first time playing a festival, so let's turn up," the Compton, Calif., rapper exclaimed, before running through a punchy set including his breakout Bitter Raps and blistering single Oh My. In one of the day's most bemusing moments, Boogie led the mostly white crowd in chants of "(expletive) the police," as he launched into his racially charged Make Me Over.
Action Bronson serves up outrageousness. It's safe to say that no one went into Gov Ball expecting to see Mario Batali take the stage. But rapper and Vice food correspondent Action Bronson brought out the celebrity chef during his wild hometown set, which also included special guests Big Body Bes and Meyhem Lauren. Bronson, who is beloved for his boisterous personality, did not disappoint as he smoked through his swaggering string of hits: eating a pan of mystery grub during one song, cradling a watermelon (gifted by a fan) during another, and even pulling out his phone to FaceTime his daughter as he wrapped up.
Drake, Don't You Want Me go electronic. Jamie xx is known for his flickering, laid-back brand of dance music — the kind that seems better suited to one's headphones late at night, rather than a sweaty, overcrowded festival show. But the British producer was mostly successful in translating his critically acclaimed debut, last year's In Colour, to a live setting, thanks to a vivid light show and a sprinkling of fan-favorite reworks (of Florence + the Machine, Human League and Gil Scott-Heron, among others). Highlights of his DJ set included Loud Places with Romy and I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times) with Young Thug, as well as a remix of Kyla's Do You Mind (sampled in Drake's chart-topping One Dance).
"I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson." Last fall, indie-pop duo Phantogram brought us one of music's most unexpected recent pairings when they teamed up with Atlanta rapper Big Boi to form hip-hop trio Big Grams. Bringing their act to Governors Ball, concertgoers seemed mostly unfamiliar with the supergroup's self-titled EP, which translated to a mostly lethargic atmosphere for the early-evening set. Fortunately, the energy picked up significantly when the artists played songs from their respective catalogs, culminating in a loose and lively mashup performance of Outkast's Ms. Jackson and Phantogram's Mouthful of Diamonds.