Memorable Moments from Governors Ball 2023, Day 2

Lil Baby

Day 1 of Governors Ball 2023 was a grand success, despite a 15-minute downpour. Tens of thousands returned to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park on Saturday for Day 2 of the three-day pop music festival. Odesza and Lil Baby were the main events on this day, and Lauv, Oliver Tree, Aespa, Kenny Beats, Finneas, and Rina Sawayama also drew fans by the thousands.

Odesza

Odesza

Odesza is an EDM duo, but the presentation at Governors Ball was much more than heavy dance beats and a light show. Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches, stood on high platforms surrounded by drums and electronic instruments. Below and around them, a choreographed drum line marched on and off the stage, the drums lit in time with the laser lights on many songs. Various songs featured guest vocalists and a horn section. The intricacy of the was equally over the top. The electro-house dance music often incorporated the expected laser lights and pyro explosions. Not all the music was for dancing, however, as the many layered musical arrangements sometimes lent themselves to lengthy slow grooves. The show ended with a majestic fireworks display high over the stage.

Lauv

Oliver Tree

Oliver Tree’s performance intertwined videos, stage productions, costume changes and comedic pop-rock songs, together performed in a lively and joyous manner. It was unique, like Mad Magazine transformed into a live rock show.

Finneas

Aespa

On Thursday, Aespa threw the first pitch at a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Two days later, Aespa again made local history by becoming the first K-pop artist ever to perform at Governors Ball. One of Aespa’s four vocalists, Giselle, stayed home due to illness, however, so the remaining three vocalists/dancers, Ningning, Winter, and Karina, forged ahead, leaving space for the missing member in many of their dance formations. Aespa’s hyper-pop music was as visual as it was aural.

Amber Mark

Kenny Beats

Before commencing his set, Kenny Beats invited a few dozen enthusiastic fans onstage, most on a long raised platform behind him. Beats played bass-heavy beats and dramatic drops, and occasionally moved away from his table of electronic equipment to dance with his onstage guests.

Syd

Rina Sawayana

Rina Sawayama was among the many performers who emphasized the show in show business. During her one-hour set, she changed into five outfits, including a red lingerie ensemble. Dance sequences with her team interpreted her lyrics, sung through a powerful voice. Her music was rooted in pop, and borrowed from trance, dance music and nu-metal. Her set was marred by technical difficulties during her second song, “Hurricanes,” but the old adage in show business is that the show must go on.

KennyHoopla

Koffee

Once again, Governors Ball showed that it had an eclectic format when it booked a Jamaican pop singer, songwriter, rapper, and guitarist. Mikayla Victoria Simpson, better known as Koffee, performed a set that included reggae, afrobeat and other world music. Before she came on stage, Koffee had her touring mate GENRUS perform a few songs.

Evan Giia

Snail Mail

Baltimore’s Snail Mail strolled on stage to low fanfare, but with a few notes of soundcheck, the audience cheered. “Don’t get excited, we’re not playing yet!” singer Lindsey Jordan told the audience. Indie-rock bands were few in number at this year’s Governors Ball, so Snail Mail’s mid-afternoon set was a welcome change. “It’s always nice to play outside,” Jordna said. “Usually it’s a dark, dingy cave-type thing.”

DJ Tiana Verhagen

Suki Waterhouse

British singer Suki Waterhouse played a rising rock star on the television mini-series Daisy Jones & the Six. Here, fiction finally becomes truth. Tied to both a film and music career, she currently lives with English actor Robert Pattinson in Los Angeles. “This song is about suffering in Los Angeles,” she said before launching into “Melrose Meltdown.”

Zolita (photograph by Anna Downs)

Lovejoy (photograph by Roger Ho)

Flipturn (photograph by Paigge Watson)

Sarah Kinsley (photograph by Henry Hwu)

The Amazons (photograph by Mickey Pierre-Louis)

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The Manhattan Beat covers New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.

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