Like most big outdoor music festivals, Governors Ball runs on the principle of information overload. But unlike summerlong series such as SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn!, or short-burst multivenue events like Northside Festival, Governors Ball crams a huge lineup onto just three stages, located just a quick walk from one another in scenic Randalls Island Park. Once you're there, you could just follow the crowds, but better to go in with a plan of attack. Here are our picks for the Ball's best sets.
RECOMMENDED: Complete guide to Governors Ball 2015
Every time we think Drake has peaked—last year's "Indiana Rahat" sketch on SNL, for example—he goes and outdoes himself. The 28-year-old Toronto phenom topped the Billboard 200 with If You're Reading This It's Too Late, a surprise February mixtape perfectly poised between swagger and vulnerability. He's got the hits and star power to own the Ball's mainstage.
Through 2009, Lana Del Rey, formerly known as Lizzy Grant, was still playing small downtown clubs to little fanfare. Since she hit it big with "Video Games," though, the polarizing singer-songwriter has only played one proper NYC headlining run. Here, LDR returns to silence any remaining haters with tracks from last year's outanding Ultraviolence.
Björk's latest, January's determinedly downbeat breakup LP, Vulnicura, isn't exactly party-time fare. So we're pretty damn curious to see how she'll approach her Gov Ball set. Will it be an ethereal, arty affair, à la the stunning series of seated gigs she played in NYC in March and April? Or a party-starting greatest-hits bash? Either way, the Icelandic diva is a must-see.
Every few years, like a wondrous eclipse, "Weird Al" Yankovic manages to perfectly align himself with the pop-cultural firmament. On last year's Mandatory Fun, the master parodist took inspired swipes at ubiqutious hits by Iggy ("Handy"), Pharrell ("Tacky"), Lorde ("Foil") and, most memorably, Robin Thicke (the riotously dorky "Word Crimes"). Fingers crossed for the latter, along with "Eat It," "Like a Surgeon" and all your other favorites, to turn up in Yankovic's Gov Ball set.
A seismic March 2014 Letterman performance catapulted Future Islands out of the DIY sphere and onto the world stage. While not exactly a household name yet, this Baltimore-based trio is by now a seasoned festival act. Expect the Gov Ball masses to lose their collective shit when frontman Samuel T. Herring unveils his patented shimmy-and-growl theatrics.
The wordy title didn't hurt, but the truth is that Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, the 2014 sophomore set by Sturgill Simpson, appealed to countless tastemaker types simply because it was that good. Live, the Kentucky troubadour and his band are as stripped-down and no-nonsense as they come. Though they're scaled for small clubs and honky-tonks, Simpson's plainspoken anthems ought to sound killer in the open-air festival environment.
These Vancouver punks turned tons of heads, including ours, with Deep Fantasy, a masterful 2014 album that crammed 10 fierce blasts into 23 thrilling minutes. Live, the band is a shock-and-awe force, powered by Kenneth William's laser-gun guitar, Anne-Marie Vassiliou's slamming one-two drumbeats and Mish Way's raspy lead vocals. Don't be surprised if you leave Gov Ball wearing their T-shirt.
Among a new breed of pop auteur who balances arty cred with Billboard clout, Karen Marie "MØ" Ørsted is one of the edgier acts on the 2015 Gov Ball schedule. Last year the Danish artist guested on a high-profile Iggy Azalea track and also issued No Mythologies to Follow, a bold debut featuring dance-floor-ready rallying cries such as "Fire Rides," with its icy "Ooh, bitch, you've got it wrong" refrain. This set might sting—in a good way.
This could be the summer when Rae Sremmurd upgrades its status from Southern hip-hop senation to global pop phenomenon. The Atlanta duo, which racked up two big, unshakably infectious singles in 2014 ("No Type" and "No Flex Zone") hits the Ball in advance of a blockbuster July and August tour opening for Nicki Minaj. Expect complete pandemoninum when brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy unveil their signature tunes in the June sun.
Like his 2014 tourmate Jack White, Benjamin Booker is from the school of ain't broke, don't fix it. The raspy-voiced singer-guitarist's sound, which draws equally on classic rock & roll twang, soul-baring R&B catharsis and raucous old-school hardcore, is a gas on record (see last year's self-titled debut) and, we're betting, a bumpy thrill ride live.
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