Governors Ball Festival In Photos: Day One

Lorde and her Arcteryx-clad background dancers lit up the Governors Ball main stage last night (June 5), nine years after the New Zealand-reared artist debuted at the New York festival. “This is the most nervous I’ve been for a show in a while — partly because we’ve never done this show before and partly because I’m obsessed with you, and I can’t even pretend that isn’t the case,” she admitted.

The 21-song set began with a previously unreleased number, during which Lorde played synth. A shortened version of her breakthrough hit, “Royals,” followed, with Lorde filling the aluminum water bottle that serves as her Instagram profile picture mid-song from a water fountain located on stage right.

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A number of songs were played in alternate or shortened versions, including “Buzzcut Season,” an extended intro-featuring “The Louvre,” “Green Light” and “Supercut.” The crowd went predictably wild for the Lorde remix of Charli xcx’s “Girl, so confusing,” which helped the two pop queens bury alleged beef between them upon its release last year.

Lorde closed the show by singing “Ribs” up by the barricade while en route to the B-stage, but not before shouting “Let’s go Knicks” to an audience that was surely checking the score of the team’s NBA Finals matchup against the San Antonio Spurs.

Other notable moments from the opening day of Governors Ball included Baby Keem’s return to the festival following a 2023 cameo with his cousin, Kendrick Lamar, which was split evenly between six songs each from his 2021 debut The Melodic Blue and this year’s Casino. Girl group KATSEYE followed a recent head-turning performance at Coachella with another set of posi-vibes global pop — a performance enlivened both by its effortless rapport with the audience and their own flamboyant outfits.

Governors Ball continues Saturday with performances from 2hollis, Snow Strippers, Blood Orange and Stray Kids.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

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