Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier, Tyler, the Creator

Olivia Rodrigo has headlined some big festivals before, but Saturday night was her first time gracing the stage at Gov Ball — after the weather delayed sets and threatened to cancel her set altogether. “I’ve always wanted to come,” she told the jam-packed crowd that ranged across all ages. “Thank you so much for being here and braving the rain. I’m so grateful. Now are we ready to have some fucking fun?” Backed by her stellar all-female band, she transformed Flushing Meadows Corona Park into Olivia Land, tearing through her megahit albums Sour and Guts — albums that were always destined to be played at festivals — as the crowd endlessly screamed (we know our age, and we act like it). As if the night wasn’t already an instant Gov Ball highlight, she brought out David Byrne, dressed in a white shirt and red overalls like a legendary art-rock Santa Claus. With synchronized dance moves, they delivered a sizzling duet on “Burning Down the House,” introducing the Talking Heads classic to several children in lavender cowboy hats. “Holy shit, that was so cool,” Rodrigo said as Byrne exited the stage, echoing all of our thoughts. She kept that rock star energy going, capping the evening off with a scorching “Brutal,” “All-American Bitch,” “Good 4 U,” and “Get Him Back!” If we experience any deja vu from this, we’ll count ourselves lucky. —Angie Martoccio

If there were any residents of Queens, New York, who weren’t aware that Tyler, the Creator was headlining Gov Ball, there’s a good chance they found out Friday night — after the Chromakopia rapper and singer performed such an explosive headlining set that it felt like the entire borough should be rattling along with the bass booming out of the speakers. The California artist sauntered on stage across the Chromakopia shipping container, clad in the military dress uniform and mask he’s favored in this era. He went on to use flashing pyrotechnics and hypnotic energy to guide fans through “Noid, ““St. Chroma, and “Sticky,” but it was the sweltering humidity and the crowd’s exhilaration at hearing old favorites “EARFQUAKE,” “Tamale,” and “IFHY” that turned the performance into something almost intimate. “Y’all niggas caught me in the middle of motherfucking tour right now,” Tyler said at one point, sweat dripping down the mustache unearthed after he ditched the plastic mask. “Bitch, I’m tired than a bitch. Goddamn. I can’t lie to yall.” There was clear joy in the crowd when the bouncy intro to “Balloon” rang out, complete with Tyler’s request in front of a recorded video of Doechii giving her all: “Hey could y’all do my sister’s verse?” But the moshing and sweating — so, so, so much sweating — all built until it crashed with the final song “See You Again.” Let’s hope it’s a promise. —CT Jones

Hozier takes his whiskey neat, his coffee black, and his tea in a thermos positioned within reach of his microphone stand on the main stage. After the blaring resistance record “Nobody’s Soldier” kicked off his headlining performance on Sunday, the musician revealed that a virus recently ravaged himself and his band “like a shark with knees and legs.” The audience tried to be sweet about it, telling him they could barely tell he was sick. “You’re fucking liars,” he responded. It’s true. You could hear it in his voice when he spoke and see it in the red of his nose. “I promise I sound about five percent better than this on average,” he said. Regardless, Hozier put his all into showcasing the most distinct elements of his artistry. 

When he performed “Unknown / Nth” and “Cherry Wine” from a B-stage, vocal cracks and all, tears poured from the crowd. Despite needing to adjust certain keys on records like “Work Song” and “Eat Your Young,” Hozier still managed to deliver a five-minute-long speech calling out the collapse of democratic systems. “I would advise you to say no to the types of imperialism that leads to the types of cycles of violence that we’re seeing at the moment,” he said, adding a call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as well as “peace and safety and security for everybody in that region, which of course means seeing a Palestine that’s free from occupation.”

After working through lively performances of “Too Sweet” and “Almost (Sweet Music),” Hozier was nearly breathless while thanking his band. And yet he performed “Take Me to Church” with every bit of the fervor he always deploys. Anyone who witnessed Hozier live for the first time at this set might not have been lucky enough to experience the full range of his distinctive voice, but they did walk away knowing two essential facts about who he is as an artist: someone who powers through and someone who speaks truth to power. —Larisha Paul

Benson Boone is learning how to play the pop game as he goes. During his Friday night set, the 22-year-old pulled out special moves and cheat codes to get New York hooked. He took what the crowd thought they already knew about him — that he sings super high on that one viral song and really likes doing backflips — and used it to his advantage. Within his first half-hour on stage, Boone flipped around four times, in addition to the cartwheel-back handspring combo he whipped out early in the set. Even the people who showed up ironically couldn’t look away. This is how he got them. While he had their attention, he pushed his vocals to the limit for showcasing performances of “There She Goes,” “Slow It Down,” “Be Someone,” and “What Was.” He also got in on the joke. “Whether you love it or you hate it, if any of you have been on the internet lately, I’m sure you’ve been wondering what on earth is moonbeam ice cream,” he said. “Well, I don’t know. I really don’t know.” After leading the crowd in an “Ay-Oh!”-esque singalong, Boone made his way to “Beautiful Things.” The song concluded with an eighth and final backflip, this time right into the crowd. He won this round. —L.P.

The stage was totally empty, except for a giant 3-D face hanging from the top, and Feid was nowhere to be seen, but it didn’t matter. The crowd on Saturday broke into cheers and started chanting his nickname: “Ferxxo! Ferxxo! Ferxxo!” Right on cue, the Colombian superstar stepped out, leaping into the air and clearly thrilled to be there. “My biggest goal when I sing in space like this is to have new people get to know my work,” he had told Rolling Stone earlier in the day. He got what he wanted as both longtime followers and impromptu recruits flocked to him to hear hits like “Alakran,” “Ferxxo 151,” “Classy 101,” and “Perro Negro.” A particularly delightful highlight came when he brought out Nineties rap legend DJ Premier for their collab “Le Pido a Dios.” —Julyssa Lopez

Last year, Tyla told Rolling Stone that parties in America shut down way too early compared to the South African scene she’s used to. “Why are you guys going home at 2 a.m.?” she asked. “Our parties go till whenever — some people leave at 1 p.m. the next day.” The singer didn’t have hours at her disposal on Friday, but when she hit the stage, she showed New York how to really party. “Everybody say, ‘Tyla, we wanna party!” she prompted the crowd. Backed by a guitarist and drummer, Tyla ran through a series of hits, fittingly beginning with “Push 2 Start,” and encompassing “Truth or Dare,” “Water,” and the live debut of “Bliss.” The amapiano torchbearer decorated each song on her set with signature ad-libs that captured the lighthearted, cathartic spirit of South Africa’s house-music style with a global flair. In between her sleek vocal showcases, and sometimes during, Tyla broke into extended dance breaks with her six-piece crew. There’s an effortlessness to her performance style that makes it feel as though she really is just having a good time — and also proves that she’s a natural-born, über-charismatic pop star. After 45 minutes, it was time for the party to end way too early, just as she’d predicted. —L.P.  

There are few artists like Clairo. Who else would have a pre-show playlist of Irma Thomas, Peggy Lee, and Harry Nilsson, and walk onstage with her band holding glasses of red wine, sitting around a conversation pit? Clairo, a.k.a Claire Cottrill, played a headline-worthy set in the Sunday-afternoon rain — no one cared about the freezing drizzle, no one walked out the door with their bags. Wearing a lacy black dress and heels, waltzing around the stage that resembled a Seventies TV show set, she dove into cuts from her excellent new album, Charm, basking in the jazzy pop of “Add Up to My Love” and the fan favorite “Juno.” She also threw in some older songs like “Sofia” and “Steaaam,” recorded with her band Shelly. When Clairo last performed at Gov Ball in 2019, she was on the cusp of releasing her debut, Immunity, trying to find her artistic footing after going viral on YouTube as a teen. The last six years have shown that she’s one of the most brilliant songwriters of her generation, who isn’t stopping anytime soon. —A.M.

A little while after stepping onstage on Friday in a dramatic, ultra-elegant suit with red trimming and a top hat, T-Pain looked around and surveyed the crowd. “Why the fuck ain’t nobody dressed up!” he shouted at fans, who watched him with enthusiastic, raucous energy. “They said this was a ball with the governor — I thought we were doing fancy shit. I did all this for nothing,” he joked. He kept the bit going by asking his DJ to occasionally burst into little classical-music interludes throughout the set, which was built on his massive 2000s-era chart-toppers: “I’m Sprung,” “Bartender,” “I’m in Luv,” “Buy U a Drank.” The show was a reminder not just of his own hits and longevity, but also how omnipresent T-Pain has been in pop music through tons of features and collabs over the decades: He made time for the Kanye cut “Good Life,” the Jamie Foxx classic “Blame It,” and, for the grand finale, the DJ Khaled smash “All I Do Is Win.” The triumphant end meant fans forgot about being fancy, but went completely wild and cheered Pain on, even after he’d left the stage with his dancers. —J.L.

Toward the start of Car Seat Headrest’s early Saturday evening set, Will Toledo took a moment to express his gratitude to the sizable crowd of indie-rock fans gathered at the festival’s third stage. “We’re glad we made it, and we’re glad you made it,” he said. “We’re going to fill this time with as many songs as possible.” He was talking about that day’s weather-related delays, but also about the health issues that have limited the band’s touring this year to a handful of shows and festival dates. Focusing on songs from their recently released LP The Scholars, Toledo and his bandmates made the most of the abundant hooks in “The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)” and transformed dense, proggy epics like “Gethsemane” into tightly paced festival rockers. When they took it back to 2016 with “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” — one of the indie anthems that got them to stages like this — the crowd sang along with all its heart. —Simon Vozick-Levinson

The clouds over Gov Ball cleared up toward Saturday evening, allowing Puerto Rican phenom Young Miko an unimpeded showcase of her diverse catalog at the festival’s second stage. Wearing cargo pants and a denim vest that resembled a skeleton, the 27-year-old was dressed as boldly as her exuberant brand of reggaeton and Latin trap sounds. There were bright house tracks like “Madre” (that she vogued to) as well as more trap-flavored tracks like “WASSUP,” carrying all the energy of her she offered the full gambit of her 2023 breakthrough EP, Trap Kitty, and her Grammy-nominated debut album, att. Miko performed and spoke mostly in Spanish throughout her set, save occasional gratitude to the New York crowd and a Pride-month related query: “Is it gay here or is it just me?” She had the fans eating up her every word as they cheered her and sang along to her hits on the eve of New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade. Even if you weren’t fluent enough to follow all of her lyrics, the flag-waving crowd’s reverence for Miko spoke for itself. —Andre Gee

If dressing for the job you want is the best way to get your dream role, then maybe Role Model is trying to crack the code. During his Friday set on the Gov Ball Grove stage, the Kansas Anymore musician introduced himself to the crowd as everyone except himself — tossing out names including Clairo, Benson Boone, Troye Sivan, and “the 1965.” While the pseudonyms abounded, so did some of Role Model’s hit songs, as he serenaded a young and rapt audience with two-step-inspiring pop tunes “Writing’s on the Wall” and “Look at That Woman.” The hour-long set was chock full of fan favorites including “Scumbag,” “Superglue,” “Slipfast,” “Some Protector,” “Blind Run,” and his bedroom pop take on the 1975’s “Somebody Else.” But the shock of the night was his viral hit “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out,” which came complete with a surprise appearance from Conan Gray — who ran onstage and immediately locked lips with Role Model before dancing around with the screaming crowd. Many if not all appeared to agree with the simple wish expressed on Gray’s white-and-blue T-shirt: “I wish I were Sally.”  —C.T.J.

A wall of gray smoke covered the Gov Ball mainstage on Friday evening. Somewhere within the haze stood Mk.gee, his long hair an additional partition as it fell over his face. Still, the musician never felt far away. Under overcast skies, he entranced the crowd with an opening performance of “Rockman” in all of its skittering, glitchy glory. He followed with “Dream Police” and “How Many Miles,” two intoxicating selections that brought the tone of the set to a place of subdued serenity. And just as quickly, Mk.Gee unraveled it: Chest-rattling bass accompanied “Candy,” “DNM,” and “New Low,” as the smoke pumped back onto the stage after dissipating moments earlier. Every sweetly harsh sound reverberated through the ground. When he greeted the crowd mid-way through the set, it was like being pulled from a trance. The heart of the performance rested in “Alesis.” The sharp guitar melody scraped against his gritty vocal performance as he captured the scene in front of him: “I’m in another body who’s in somebody else/Both of the headless and heartless/Dancing with themselves.” —L.P.

The Beaches delivered a bold, cheeky, and fun set at the Grove stage early Friday evening for Gov Ball’s rock lovers. The Toronto band opened with “Cigarette,” off the 2023 album Blame Brett. A hot and humid evening didn’t stop the vibrant crowd from chanting along to every song, including fan favorites “Kismet,” “Last Girls at the Party,” and “Edge of the Earth”. During the 45-minute set, The Beaches performed their latest bouncy, high-energy single, “Did I Say Too Much” for the first time. Their upcoming album No Hard Feelings will be released on Aug. 29 (the same day the Beaches headline Rolling Stone’s Gather No Moss rock & roll tour stop in Chicago). Guitarist Leandra Earl proclaimed at the show that their new album “will be very gay!” At the close of their set, singer Jordan Miller took in the moment while thanking the audience, letting them know “it’s always been a dream for us to play here,” then screamed, “Who’s ready to blame your fucking exes?!” before ripping right into their viral hit “Blame Brett”. —Yaasmiyn Alam

What do you get when you give a theater kid with too many feelings, a penchant for yearning, and an ample budget a primetime slot on a festival mainstage? You get Conan Gray Presents: Gov Ball, the Musical. The singer-songwriter set sail with an ocean voyage-themed set complete with a full sailor costume and the kind of melancholic blues that come with being lost at sea, only this sailor is lost in love. Gray kicked off with the live debut of his newly-released single “This Song” before launching into the anthemic pop record “Never Ending Song.” It wouldn’t be a Gray production without some deep, lovelorn ballads to move the narrative along. The somber “Wish You Were Sober” flowed smoothly into the aching detachment of “People Watching.” Gray performed it all as though he was on Broadway, rather than a borough away in Queens, serving up a level of over-the-top theatrics that created the perfect atmosphere for the drama of “Bourgeoisieses” and his cover of Dolly Parton’s country classic “Jolene.” Afterwards, he switched his attention to two other girls, first “Heather,” then his closest friend. Gray had the pleasure of getting the stage warmed up ahead of Olivia Rodrigo’s headlining set. “Give my best friend the loudest screams for me,” he asked of her audience, which overlapped pretty heavily with his own. Before he sailed off stage, he guided the crowd through a storm of emotions on “Memories” and a shipwreck of a situationship on “Maniac.” —L.P.

Ghanaian-American star Amaarae showed up to Gov Ball with a simple mission: to rock out harder than anyone else who stepped foot on stage this weekend. “New York City, are you ready?” she asked. “This is the Black Star experience.” Rumbling bass boomed from the speakers as the musician instructed the crowd to open up the mosh pit. Amaarae charged into “Wasted Eyes” and the currently unreleased tracks “S.M.O (Slut Me Out)” and “I Might Be” before slowing things down for “THUG (Truly Humble Under God).” After rocking out to her own hits and new tracks, Amaarae put a spotlight on what she called the greatest city in America. In an homage to New York, the Bronx-born artist blasted out Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” Pop Smoke’s “Dior,” Ice Spice’s “Deli,” and Nicki Minaj’s “Itty Bitty Piggy.” It was a grand homecoming that wrapped with her own signature contribution to the lineage of great music from New Yorkers, the party-ready “Sad Girlz Luv Money.” —L.P.

When British artist Raye spoke with Rolling Stone in 2023 after the release of her hard-fought debut album, My 21st Century Blues, she said the experience was both a career highlight and something that already had her mind spinning toward the next thing. “I’m thinking of what I’m going to be able to create next and the potential of what I’ll create before I die,” she said. “I know it’s dramatic. I’m very dramatic, but it’s validating.” When the “Mary Jane” vocalist took the Gov Ball stage on Sunday, she put her money where her vocal cords are — giving a bouncing, engaged audience club-inspired versions of her hits, and ending almost all of them with angelic, free-flowing vocal riffs. After opening with “Oscar Winning Tears,” Raye told the audience she’d be ditching some of her usual melodic jazz requiems for a beat-heavy set. “I’ve written a lot of depressing songs , but I’m not gonna play a lot of those tonight,” she said, laughing while twirling the microphone around her purple satin dress. She launched straight into the horn-heavy “Worth It,” keeping the energy alive with a  reverb-indulgent version of “Five Star Hotels.” before flowing into “Genesis,” “Flip a Switch,” “Secrets,” and “Black Mascara.” She shouted out the viral success of “Prada” with a quick “thank God for TikTok,” before leading the all-in audience into “Escapism.” Anyone who started the set as casual listeners and left with a newfound appreciation for Raye’s impressive vocal stylings shouldn’t be surprised. Raye practically warned everyone from the beginning. “I hope you don’t mind, Gov Ball,” she said early on in the show, flashing a mischievous smile. “I like to do a really dramatic ending.” —C.T.J.

With a star on her cheek, Marina welcomed Gov Ball back to the life of Electra Heart. In a glimmering, hooded sequin dress, the pop powerhouse delivered a masterclass in breaking hearts, protecting your peace, and having it all. “How to Be a Heartbreaker” served as a reminder of the singer’s unmistakable, unabashed attitude that laid the foundation for her newly-released album Princess of Power. In her distinct British tone, Marina put New York to the test starting with rule number one: “You gotta have fun.” The audience passed with flying colors and followed her in demanding even more adoration during “Primadonna.” The festival’s delayed schedule change meant Marina only had time for eight songs, but she made each one count. Princess of Power occupied half of the setlist as Marina got her audience moving with “Princess of Power” and “Cuntissimo.” When she reached “Cupid’s Girl,” she mimed shooting an arrow into the crowd as if they needed any extra help falling in love. Marina closed out her set with “Bubblegum Bitch,” leaving the stage with a bow, a kiss, and everyone’s bubblegum heart. —L.P. 

When the Japanese House began releasing music back in 2015, some foolishly thought it was a secret project of the 1975’s Matty Healy. But Amber Bain has spent the last 10 years debunking that theory, releasing consistently great indie dream pop, frequently touring, and recently appearing on Charli XCX’s “Apple” remix. She took the stage on Sunday afternoon in all denim, playing cuts from her stellar 2023 breakup album, In the End It Always Does. She dedicated the highlight, “Boyhood,” to trans people, saying she wrote it while “coming to terms with being gay” and “all my gender shit. This is the most important time you’ll ever have to speak up for trans rights. We see you, we love you. We’d be nowhere without you.” —A.M.

With hundreds still rushing into the festival grounds following Saturday’s weather delay, Wallows launched into a set that gave stragglers a reason to run to the main stage at 6:15 p.m. If they were only jogging at the first sound of the opening track, “Anytime, Always,” they were breaking into a full-on sprint when “Scrawny” began. “Glad you made it in,” frontman Dylan Minnette told the growing crowd. The band treated them to “Pleaser” and “Bad Dream” before Minnette treated them with an up-close-and-personal visit. The musician darted off stage and into the crowd during “OK” and, when he returned, settled behind the drum kit typically occupied by Cole Preston as the drummer took the mic for “Quarterback.” During “Calling After Me,” the storm finally rolled through. It started with quick, scattered droplets. Then came the downpour. Some viewers ran for shelter, while others partook in the spiritual experience of screaming along to “Remember When” and “Are You Bored Yet?” in torrential conditions. So much for staying home to watch the sunset. —L.P.

The band Mt. Joy is best known for tracks that artfully blend stoner chic and indie rock into psychedelic studio offering after studio offering. The fivesome hit the Gov Ball stage on Sunday fresh off of the release of Hope We Have Fun, their first album since 2022. The band was all gratitude as they led the crowd through “Coyote,” “Sheep,” “Julia,” and “Highway Queen” before being joined onstage by singer-songwriter Gigi Perez for their newest collab, “In the Middle.” After that, fans were treated to a raucous cover of Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag.” (Lead singer Matt Quinn said they jammed out to the 2000 hit during rehearsal a few weeks earlier and felt like it had to make the set.) With another round of thank yous to the gathered fans, Mt. Joy struck up their hits “Astrovan” and “Bathroom Light,” and tried to bow out — before realizing they still had time left to play. “Leave it to a bunch of stoners to map out an hour’s worth of time and this is what you get,” Quinn joked. But after a rousing performance of “Silver Lining,” it was back to the gratitude, complete with a band sendoff and one last thank you from Quinn to the audience, red plastic cup raised sky-high. —C.T.J.

Glass Animals feel tailor-made for the festival circuit. When they last appeared at Gov Ball in 2022, their set looked nearly identical to the one they performed this year; the only difference is they swapped out most of their Dreamland selections for new additions from their latest album, I Love You So F***ing Much. It’s a reliable formula: Just as before, they kicked off with “Life Itself,” that unmistakable, thumping percussion pumping the grooving crowd full of energy. Performing in front of an intergalactic-themed set, the band took a trip through space and time with “Your Love (Déjà Vu), “A Tear in Space,” and “The Other Side of Paradise.” They tucked the impassioned singalong “Creatures in Heaven” into the middle of the set before frontman Dave Bayley made his way into the middle of the crowd for “Gooey,” which sounds as brilliantly bizarre now as it did a decade ago. The audience flowed toward him in a magnetic pull. There’s an instant sense of familiarity that accompanies their performances. They brought that feeling home with a relentless run of undeniable staple records that concluded with their smash hit “Heat Waves.” And though it’s not quite the middle of June, Glass Animals brought the heat. —L.P.