New York is Always a Good Idea: A Reaction to the Governor’s Ball 2016 Lineup

I’ve had my eyes on Governor’s Ball 2016 since the lineup dropped one month and one day ago. To set the scene, imagine me just waking up from my slumber on one rainy Seattle Friday. I immediately roll over and check all my social medias like the morning paper, and I’m struck by an overwhelming number of Twitter notifications (I’m not the most popular on Twitter), so 3 notifications is out of the ordinary.  I click the bird, and a striking red image is on top of my feed.

gov1

It’s this. Here is the beautiful lineup.

I looked to see if I was alone in my room, and I was, and then proceeded to let out a slight yelp-type sound. An annoying and slightly embarrassing noise that only comes out when something incredible music-wise has made its way into my life. This time it escaped in my reaction to the 2016 Governor’s Ball lineup on Randall’s Island, in New York City.

To explain my slightly unnecessary, but completely necessary excitement, this lineup was actually made for me. It’s like the directors of this year’s festival sat down in their boardroom and said, “Let’s make this year’s festival for Anna Kaplan.” An East Coast gal who’s gone to the West Coast but who still has an uncanny obsession with NYC and their music scene. Then they proceeded to pull up my last.fm (@annnaconda – this is just going to be a shameless self-promo of my socials okay) and choose a selection of not only my favorite bands, but also bands that I love and have never seen before.

When I say my favorite bands, I’m not putting that lightly. Kanye, The Strokes, and The Killers are all in my top 15 artists. Go look it up.

This photo actually represents my music taste. My main men, and all three are headlining Gov Ball.
This photo actually represents my music taste. My main men, and all three are headlining Gov Ball.

And let’s focus on those three for a paragraph. Kanye West, The Strokes, and The Killers. Within three days. I have been waiting nineteen years to see Kanye and The Strokes, and I would have probably had to wait nineteen more without this lineup (I luckily ran into tickets for The Killers back in high school and made the four hour drive to South Carolina for the show. Absolutely incredible, by the way).

Moving on down the lineup, Death Cab for Cutie, Beck, M83, HAIM, Chet Faker, and Two Door Cinema Club are the next three lines. I’ve only seen DCFC out of those, yet four of them are in my Top 20 on my last.fm. There are twenty five lines!! How is this real! This is further proof they pulled up my last.fm during the lineup pitch meeting.

A longer list of bands I haven’t seen but am going to when I go to Gov Ball 2016: Father John Misty, Jamie xx, Bloc Party, Gary Clark Jr., Big Grams, Lord Huron, Courtney Barnett, Cold War Kids, Vince Staples, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Misterwives, Albert Hammond Jr, Betty Who, Bat for Lashes, Circa Waves, Louis the Child, Day Wave. I’ll just link my last.fm here for the third and final time for you to fact check me on how much I adore all of these artists.

Moving away from the fact that these three days will be the best and most enriching of my life, let’s do a quick analysis of the actual lineup graphic itself. The simple red, gold, and black layout of the lineup got my hooked before I could even read the artists on it. I’m so tired of seeing overwhelming design flows where I can’t even read the names of the bands (I’m looking at you Bonnaroo and Firefly, and even Gov Ball of previous years). The red is striking, the black sits nicely on the left, and the minimalistic font and gold color just add the perfect Manhattan edge to the graphic. The artists this year speak for themselves, so there is no need for anything besides the words. I also appreciate how closely they keep ties to NYC artists (peep The Strokes, Misterwives) but I would have liked to see a couple Brooklyn newcomers on this list such as MOTHXR and Lucius. But that’s really the only problem I have with this at all so it’s okay.

So the reason why this is on your feed today: Gov Ball announced their day by day lineups today, and this has spurred me into an all time overdrive concerning Gov Ball. I had to purge my feelings towards this list, and I’ve accepted that there will never be a greater lineup for me this year, and arguably for the next few years. With that being said, I need to go ahead and take about three shots and then proceed to choke down the $300 price tag to buy my ticket ASAP. Who cares about spring quarter exams? Not me, because I will be in New York City attending this year’s Governor’s Ball Festival the weekend before. Sorry mom and dad, I really do love school!!

I’ll leave this post with this: this will be the greatest lineup of 2016. I still lowkey have high hopes for Outside Lands but it won’t reach this level of perfection, I am sure of it. Get to Gov Ball 2016 or regret it.


 

Ed Note: Here’s the full lineup for Governor’s Ball 2016. You can buy tickets here.

Kanye West / The Strokes / The Killers
Beck / Robyn / Death Cab For Cutie / M83 / Haim
Of Monsters And Men / Chet Faker
Chvrches / Two Door Cinema Club
Miike Snow / Father John Misty / Jamie XX
Bloc Party / Gary Clark Jr. / Miguel
Big Grams (Big Boi + Phantogram)
Matt & Kim / Lord Huron / Action Bronson
Purity Ring / Mac Miller / Courtney Barnett
Joey Bada$$ / Thomas Jack
Eagles of Death Metal / Galantis
Duke Dumont / De La Soul / Cold War Kids
Years & Years / Vince Staples
Catfish And The Bottlemen / Misterwives
Against Me! / Christine And The Queens
Vic Mensa / Albert Hammond Jr. / Betty Who
Bat For Lashes / Jon Bellion / FIDLAR
Marian Hill / Bob Moses / Elle King
Thundercat / The Knocks / Torres / Bully
Boogie / Circa Waves / Meg Mac
Black Pistol Fire / Blank Range
London Souls / Louis The Child
Public Access T.V. / Day Wave / Nothing
Holly Miranda / Whilk & Misky
Eliot Sumner / Tor Miller / Transviolet


ANNA KAPLAN | Days since Eric has texted me: 9 | KXSU Reporter

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