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Jun 16, 2024 By Andy Steiner Photography by Marie Lombardo (lead photo) Web Exclusive

The final day of New York City’s Governor’s Ball festival, which took place from June 7 to the 9th at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, was flush with pink cowboy hats. They were at every stage, in every crowd, they materialized every time you turned your head. Finally, around 4:30 in the afternoon, all those pink cowboy hats assembled for Chappell Roan, the star whose stratospheric rise over the last few months has been meticulously tracked in charts, discourse, and sheer crowd size. Roan emerged from an apple, dressed in full drag as the Statue of Liberty (who she referred to as “the greatest queen of all”). In the middle of the set, she revealed that she declined the White House’s offer to perform for Pride, in solidarity with oppressed people.

Like her recent sets at other recent festivals, Roan lived up to all the Star Power expectations. Every song already feels like a hit in the crowd. When I saw her at Coachella just two months ago, she taught the crowd her dance to “HOT TO GO!” For Gov Ball, that was no longer necessary. When the chorus hit, everyone’s hands launched up. “H-O-T-T-O-G-O,” they mimicked. Fitting enough for a New York festival, Roan debuted a new song rumoured to be titled “Subway.”

Chappell Roan has been the center story of this year’s festival circuit, but Gov Ball offered more than just the chance to catch her while you can. The final day had strong representation from New York City’s indie rock bands. For Hotline TNT, Geese, and Beach Fossils, this was a homecoming of sorts. Hotline TNT took the earliest slot, playing cuts from last year’s phenomenal Cartwheel and opening a can of Liquid Death water right in the mic. Geese formed while its members were in high school in Brooklyn. It looked like some family-members were in the crowd, waving, holding signs, and singing every word with Backstage wristbands. At the jangly Beach Fossils set, vocalist Dustin Payseur brought his daughter on stage to join for a song.

Governor’s Ball is a Live Nation/C3 festival, and you can feel that on the grounds. The company promotes many of the country’s biggest festivals like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Shaky Knees, Boston Calling, and ACL (which often share nearly identical lineups and overt air of commercialization). And while the atmosphere of the festival doesn’t have much of a unique identity compared to other Live Nation festivals, this year is a massive improvement. Flushing Meadows Corona Park hosted the festival for the second year in a row, much preferable to when it was held at the parking lot of Citi Field. Plus, the solid showing from New York indie bands bulked up the lineup and provided moments that could only happen at a hometown show. After all, Gov Ball is a festival in New York: it might as well embrace all the bands that call the city home.