Located in Queens’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Governor’s Ball doesn’t come equipped with aesthetic ferris wheels, glittery salads, or Vanessa Hudgens. Unlike its popular counterparts Coachella and Lollapalooza, it’s about one thing: music. It’s more like its city, not too frilly or overly manicured. While this festival isn’t a stranger to some Instagrammable art installations (in 2023, it’s not a true festival unless you can post about it, anyways), its priority is always the art on stage.
It delivers. Its upcoming lineup includes A-listers such as Kendrick Lamar, Lil Uzi Vert, Lizzo, Lil Nas X and Ice Spice. Historically, Governor’s Ball has hosted A$AP Rocky, Post Malone and Billie Eilish. It is a homage to pop, hip-hop, rock and every Top 40 song in between.
A large variety of food vendors (sans glitter, hopefully) are accessible throughout the shows’ duration. As for the quality of the food, the festival proudly claims “come for the music, stay for the food” — but take this with a grain of salt, because nobody really stays at one of the country’s best and biggest music festivals for the food.
Do come with heavy-duty shoes, however, and be prepared to mosh — as a college student wrote in 2021, the festival left them with “Toes: bruised. Brain: concussed. Hair: pulled. Phone: dropped. Head: empty.”
The Specs
- Around 150,000 (whew) attend.
- Tickets are available for both 1-day and 3-day admission, with four tiers: General Admission, GA+, VIP and Platinum. Check out ticket resale here.
- Parking isn’t available, so use public transit — the festival recommends taking the subway’s 7 train.
- Take a look at Fifty Grande’s guide to New York here. (There’s a lot going on beyond the island of Manhattan.)
2023 P0ster
