The first act we took in on day two was a testament to the fantastic scheduling efforts of the festival coordinators. While all the bands from the first day could be easily placed into a popular radio station's playlist (even Julian Casablancas+The Voids had their pop elements), Deafheaven was an entirely different story. Playing a strange hybrid of black metal, shoegaze and post-rock, Deafheaven was the black sheep of the festival. Much like the crowd for Julian Casablancas+The Voids, the crowd for Deafheaven was mostly there for the following act Chance the Rapper. Needless to say, when Deafheaven played their first song, pummelling the audience with breakneck drumming and the frontman George Clarke's screams, most of the audience were overwhelmed. For some though, myself included, this was an almost transcendent experience, with Clarke conducting us with his outstretched hands through this twisted form of meditation.
While this is a music blog, I couldn't rightfully describe The Governors Ball experience without talking about the food. Instead of just offering cheap hot dogs or hamburgers, the organizers found talented up and coming restaurants and food trucks to offer high quality food to the festival attendees. One such restaurant was New York's own, Pommes Frites. Offering huge portions of fries shoved into cones and then smothered with a selection of delicious sauces, this almost overtook all the musical acts as my favourite part of the festival.
After refuelling on unhealthy amounts of fries, we decided to camp out the main stage to get a good view for headliner Jack White. Luckily this meant we also got a chance to see New York natives, The Strokes, play one of their very first shows after a long hiatus. The crowd was packed together tightly, with everyone wanting to be as close as possible to see one of this generation's greatest bands play for their hometown audience. The Strokes did not disappoint, playing a good mix of crowd favourites, deeper cuts, and for their encore played one of their best songs, "New York City Cops." The following Youtube clip not only displays this song, but better yet, shows just how how the energy in the crowd was.
After a fantastic first day at the Governors Ball, it would have been hard to see any other day topping it, if not for the fact that day two had the act that had brought me back to New York, Jack White. White has achieved near mythological status, playing in the The White Stripes for almost 15 years, but also putting out records with The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, and now his own solo work. Not performing with a set list, he carried on this improvisational attitude to his backing band as well, playing them almost as instruments. Pointing out specific musicians if he wanted them to solo, or stop playing, his songs would morph as they went on, turning classics such as "Seven Nation Army" into almost entirely new songs. During his set, he stopped to say that this festival had a unique energy to it, an almost palpable sense of excitement. I'd be one to agree, although I'd say White doesn't do himself justice in accepting that the source of that energy may in fact stem from him and his guitar.
What type of food do you think best compliments a concert? Is Jack White the best or the greatest? Let me know in the comments below.
No comments:
Post a Comment