Day two of Governors Ball hosted a less impressive lineup but was a more enjoyable day than its predecessor by a mile with added amenities and additional portapotties and less of a mainstream crowd that was there for Drake and Florence the Machine. Bjork had the same time slot as Florence + The Machine had the day prior and it was nowhere near as densely packed.
Marina versus the Dragon: Little Dragon kicked their audience’s ass in the best way possible as things began to cool off later in the afternoon but unfortunately for them, they had to follow Marina And The Diamond. Dragon front woman Yukimi Nagono is a veteran performer, but the explosive charisma, catchy hooks (“I want to be your Bubble Gum Bitch”) and hypnotic showmanship of Marina Diamandis would have been impossible for anyone to outdo.
Competing headliners: Ryan Adams made clear he isn’t a fan of EDM sensation Deadmau5 and to the Mau5’s credit, he took the high road. Depending on your tastes, the choice between a hard rocking singer songwriter and an EDM superstar was clear. The vast, vast majority of attendees chose the latter, which resulted in a mellower, more mature crowd for Adams compared to the field full of intoxicated teenagers raving to the beats. While Adams’ return to the stage has been big news for his fans, his pension for mellow dramatic rants remained and after hearing him complain about “robot music” that is made on an iPhone, it was time for a heady dose of positivity. The new stage production incorporated by Deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) had its bugs (like five minutes of complete and total malfunction), it still made for a high-energy end to the night. The most of the big ticket EDM acts are globetrotting hacks that fist bump for 90 minutes after pressing play on a .WAV file. That said, Mau5 is elite for a reason and while much of his production is pre-programmed, he was mixing in the live, incorporating greater delay before the anticipated drops people adore on his studio work, effectively making them wait a little longer for that burst of gratification. The biggest issue with these two competing sets is that neither of them should have been a headliner. The past two years hosted a major EDM draw on one of the side stages while a headliner performed on the main stage, and had they done that this year with Bjork headlining, following Adams, with Deadmau5 had a field to himself on the side stage, it would have been a more naturally fitting, less awkward scheduling conflict. While Deadmau5 is a major draw, Adams is neither the spectacle, nor commercial draw that either Mau5 or Bjork is and he would have been better served with a Sundown set like Florence + The Machine had the night before. And that brings us to Bjork.
Butterfly Goddess: Bjork is about as mythical a creature as you get at an American music festival and this was her only festival date of the year. In support of her latest release, Vulnicura, she exclusively played a handful of dates in NYC at both the New York City Center and Carnegie Hall. For those shows, she wore the same costumes and with the exception of a single song here or there, performed an almost identical set list each night that placed a heavy emphasis on the new material. When folks sell out a theater to see just you, playing whatever you want is going to be embraced, but at a festival, where you are one of many acts, all competing for attention, you have to be more of a crowd pleaser. Please the crowd Bjork did as she emerged in a new, Butterfly themed costume, performing new material for the first half of the set before blitzing through a series of career spanning fan favorites that she didn’t play at any of her previous NYC shows. In addition to the first performance of “5 years” in literally over 5 years, Bjork played “Army of Me” off 1995’s Post, and closed her set with a deeper, darker arrangement of “HyperBallad.” While her set closer was a little harder to recognize compared to the studio product, her sea of fans had no problem singing along.
Photos by Andrew Bruss
Head over here to read about Day 1 at Governors Ball along with the Good and the Bad of it..
