Photos, Videos: Big Crowds At Gov Ball For Florence + The Machine, The 1975, Playboi Carti And More

Saturday at Governors Ball is traditionally an insanely crowded affair, and yesterday on Randall’s Island was no exception, with some 50,000 people bouncing around between the festival’s four primary stages. The actual grounds remain something of a disaster, mud-wise, but with all the food and drink on hand, the art installations, and, of course, the 11 hours of music, some mud isn't spoiling the fun.

One of the great pleasures of a festival is walking up to see a performer you're not really familiar with and joining hard-core fans who know (and sing) every word of every song. This happened to me three times yesterday, at sets by the rock band Sunflower Bean, by rapper Denzel Curry, and by DJ-singer-songwriter Elohim.

Maybe the wildest set of the day was by mid-card rapper Playboi Carti, when the audience area got so crowded and security continuously pulling people out who were fainting or just scared in the crush.

Singer Kacey Musgraves brought along her four-piece band for a great set on the main stage (she was also the inspiration for all the cowboy hats you saw around the grounds). Ty Dolla Sign had the crowd packed in and sweaty under the only enclosed venue of the event, and Vince Staples got everyone jumping (and was amusingly heckling audience members in between). Zhu proved to be the perfect sunset / fade-into-darkness act, with 75 minutes of danceable but chill tunes making for a nice transition into the night.

The 1975's set almost felt like that of a headliner: tight and lively, filled with hits, extremely well-received by the huge main stage audience.

Closing the night out was an almost two-hour set the beloved Florence + the Machine—several fans got to the front gate at 6 in the morning yesterday, then raced to the front row when the it opened at noon so they could be right there at 9:15 p.m. when Welch started twirling across the stage. Meanwhile, in the back field, Major Lazer's fondness for pyrotechnics forced the FDNY to close out the photo pit.

Saturday also marked the start of Pride month, and Gov Ball celebrated the occasion with rainbow flags, three parades around the grounds, rainbow bagels at the “bodega”, and drag shows at the big outdoor bar. Several acts made explicit LGBTQ-friendly gestures from the stage, which never failed to elicit shrieks of delight.

Governors Ball closes out its 2019 fest with The Strokes, Nas, SZA, and more on Sunday.

UPDATE: Sunday's schedule has been revised for weather.