Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
It's the morning of Friday, May 31st. I wake up at around 6:30AM, and immediately scurry to my phone. I was up until 2AM the night before, trying to figure out how I was going to get to the Manhattan-based ferry that would take me to Randall's Island for every Staten Island teen's dream: a musical rite of passage known as Governor's Ball. I quickly learned my first lesson of festival life: transparency is key. Know your plans. The lucky-strike I received of a last minute ride with my friend, Mike, a mere HOURS before the fest starts may not always work in your favor. But once you have your things together, the energy transformation of those pellets of anxiety into pure excitement is to die for. In the car, I secured the bracelet that was playfully advertised as being basically indestructible onto my wrist, and it felt like some sort of a pact. This thing was going to be stuck to me for the next two days, and fumbling and playing with it during the more time-consuming parts of the weekend would become an important staple for me. I also had to stick the ferry pass around my arm, so I could actually get on the thing. I had to remember a lot of pieces of jewelry for this event, and I'm glad I actually managed to. Based on stories I've heard and festival stereotypes that are universally known, I was kind of scared for the ferry experience. I was in total mob-mode, preparing to fight my way through the security and bag check just to get a decent seat. To my, and I'm sure literally everyone else's surprise and extreme relief, it was actually very well done. The boats were scheduled to arrive in 15 minutes intervals, so, even though we missed the one that dipped as soon as we got through a rather breezy bag check, we didn't have to wait too long to get another one. Also, the security and etc. employees were very nice, something that also shocked me, but in a pleasant way. We had a detailed conversation about the dock lady about Wendy's. It's the little things you remember the most vividly. After a pretty smooth ride, we finally got to the hidden kingdom, the lost paradise, the long-awaited Randall's Island. A little indie act by the name of Still Woozy was playing at the American Eagle stage, a medium sized tent right across from where the ferry docked. Since it was noon and most of the festival-goers were just arriving like us, there were no pits and the crowd was far from crazy. It also helped that SW is a pretty chill-sounding band that I enjoyed enough to go home and start listening to them for real. We were pretty far back since we just stopped by for a casual listen, so a lot of my focus was on the people around us. Glitter, fanny packs (that complimented my own), and a lot of weed, Juuls, and various other vaping equipment that I'm too straight-edge to know the names of managed to set the scene for the next 2 days. The thing I learned about Gov pretty quickly is, that when one act ends, the next one almost always automatically begins. Injury Reserve, a rap group I've always brushed off as just "being another BROCKHAMPTON," was setting up at the Honda Stage, right across from where Still Woozy just rocked it. I never heard a single song from them, but I decided, "Screw it. This is the reason I'm here. To jam out to music I know, and to discover more of it." It began to be something of a mantra for me. I'm grateful because of that mantra, because without the realization of it, my preconceived notions of this talented, creatively ambiguous, and attention-grabbing group would have remained the same. I came because of how impressed I was that they were making so much positive noise with only three people, and stayed because of the crazy performance, which included one of the guys leaving the stage for one song and then coming back with his shirt entirely off. I still wonder what happened to it. After seeing them, I highly believe that they are critically underrated, so you should go and listen to them. I wasn't just excited about the music aspect of Gov. There's a whole culture involved underneath the festival, featuring things such as free stuff, activities, and food. Lots and lots of food. Bopping my head around to the tune of songs I didn't know at all got me pretty hungry, and luckily there was a whole ROW of different options right next to the stage. Many different ethnicities, fried, grilled or sweetened, but all of it was Instagram-able, obviously the most important aspect of a trendy event such as this one. I eventually settled with a timeless favorite, a vegetarian burrito. As I was destroying it along with a bottle of CORE™ water, I watched as another band who's name slipped away from me begin their set on the AE stage. I had yet another realization...this was the life. This was the goal aesthetic for Gov right here, and I was killing it. Shorty after that, we returned to the AE tent once again to see Hippo Campus. This was my fourth time seeing them, I am very honored to admit. And, I must say, out of all of the performances, this may have been the best one. The fact that it was outside and during the day might have factored into it; They have the perfect sound to compliment the feeling of the sun coming down from around the tent and the wind hitting your face in rounds. Also, the crowd was great. For the past two Hippo shows I have been around some crazy fans, but the people at this show looked like they were just here for the chill experience, which I totally respected and resonated with. Like I said earlier, this band just makes me happy, and walking away, feeling completely satisfied from their performance (chock-filled with Bambi-era tunes combined with some older stuff), was a feeling I wish I could bottle up and sell as some sort of legal drug. After a few hours of eating more junk, chugging water, walking, walking, walking, and taking the perfect Insta pics with the pretty murals, it was time for the absolute highlight of Friday: BROCKHAMPTON. Now, I have to admit, I was petrified. It was just around 6PM, the sun was positioned directly above the main stage, and the endless sea of trendy teens was piling up behind me. I had my water, I had my portable charger, some sunblock applied, and I had my internal pep talk going in my head that if I WERE to faint I have caring people with me that would without a doubt carry me to the medical tent. I was kind of looking forward to mosh to some of their songs, but as soon as Bearface came out, perched on a levitating floating platform 20 feet above us, I realized that it was going to be impossible. "SUMMER" is a pretty chill concert-opening song by them, but I already felt the tension building in the dense, sweaty air as Ciarán was belting his heart out. And then, "BOOGIE" started up. Words cannot accurately describe the various ways I got thrown around for a good portion of the set. I felt so bad for the dude in front of me, because I was propping myself on top of him the entire time. I could feel how greasy and disgusting my hair was getting, and thanked the Lord we decided to take pics before this event started. It was a similar sensation to drowning, I feel, except instead of empty blue nothingness around you, I was surrounded by indie kids. Disregarding the obvious displays of struggle I was put through, the actual set was absolutely amazing. The boys started out enclosed in a gold plane, which they emerged from once "SUMMER" was done. The plane was propped up by two gigantic blue hands, which I guessed symbolized all of the blue face getup peppered throughout the SATURATION trilogy. I wish the videos and pictures I managed to take in the short, sweet moments I felt safe enough to hold my phone up in the air were better, but it was the experience of getting whacked like some mashed potatoes in a great big kitchen bowl I'll remember the most. The reason this set was so meaningful was not just because BROCKHAMPTON has been one of my favorite bands since last March. Mike and I's friendship started out as texting each other about BH when iridescence dropped last year. We always discussed the far-fetched possibility of what would happen if we ever witnessed "BOOGIE" live together, but it actually happening was still insane for me as I was preventing myself from becoming a stowaway in that hellish mosh. The biggest highlight of the weekend was definitely witnessing this friendship come full-circle in the form of 8 crazy men jumping around and rapping and yelling strange things in a gigantic aircraft. And then, just ask abrupt as it started, BH ended their set. I really did not know how to feel at ALL. My brain was mush, my arms were tired, and I just wanted to make sure everyone in our group was alright. I couldn't really reflect on anything else for now, though, because like I've been saying, Gov moves fast. We had to get ready for Tyler, The Creator in an hour and a half. We got some sinfully delicious mozzarella sticks, found a nice spot on a hill, and watched Lil Wayne's absolutely atrocious set going on across from us at the Bacardí stage. Listen, I really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but his voice was just not there. Half of the songs he played didn't even have him in it! I could have sworn I heard "SICKO MODE" blasting over there. After 20 minutes of helplessly cringing, it was back to the main stage we went. This time, thank God, the sun was finally down. Maybe it was the sudden temperature change, or just that the people surrounding us the the crowd this time were a little bit older, because once the first note in "IGOR'S THEME" was played, I immediately noticed a difference in the lack of pushiness. Thanks to the calmed-down crowd, I was able to fully appreciate the theatrics and the creative intellect of Tyler's performance, because there was a lot to look at. He came out in his newly-signature blonde wig, and his shimmering sky-blue suit. And don't even get me started on his amazingly choreographed dance moves...actually, I'm not even sure if they were choreographed or not. I think that was just natural Tyler goin' at it. The setlist was balanced and generous, with mostly songs from Igor mixed in with some of the classics, sprinkled with surprise appearances from Wolf tunes such as "Tamale" and "IFHY." Along with this, I am happy to announce that after failing to during BROCKHAMPTON because of my lack of mobility, I finally got the chance to mosh during "NEW MAGIC WAND." It was like fate; There was a pit that opened up right in front of Mike and I. I felt it call. It was beckoning me, practically asking me when I'd get this chance again. So I jumped right in. I got pushed around a little, but I pushed right back. It was like a sweaty whirlpool. Honestly, I enjoyed it, but only for a certain window of time. When the chance came around to mosh again during "Who Dat Boy," I stood on the sidelines, choosing to laugh and record Mike getting sucked inside it instead. After screaming along to "EARFQUAKE," discovering I still knew all the words to "Boredom," and finishing up with a soulful rendition of "See You Again," it was over. The entire DAY was over. Even though there was still Saturday, I still felt a little sad as we trudged through the mud left by the surprisingly large Lil Wayne crowd. As we were riding the ferry back to Manhattan, I felt like what was just the greatest day of my life was slipping away from me. Or....maybe that was my voice. ***** On Saturday morning, I woke up at the bright and early time of 10AM, and quickly realized that when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. That's right, after a whole day of screaming along to BROCKHAMPTON, Tyler, and the one song I knew by Still Woozy, my throat was killing me and I was almost completely mute. I'm soooo thankful for that almost though, because the vociebox genies blessed me so that when I actually COULD speak, I sounded like a 13 year old boy going through his first crash course of puberty. Of course, as soon as I picked up Mike, and as soon as we met up with my other friend, Lisa, they immediately ridiculed me for it.
Despite my lack of speech, there was no stopping me from taking on GovBall Day 2. Our first stop was to get some absolutely smashing ramen burgers up on the hill near the entrance. They. Were. Heavenly. I really do miss them, and I need to find out where they sell them so I could experience the euphoria all over again. As I was going HAM on this ham, we watched the Bacardí stage as this very prominently-British lady Suzi Wu preformed. (She was good; I actually saved some of her songs later!) After that, I somehow acquired a cowboy hat, and before I knew it, Lisa and I were being dragged by Mike to go see Denzel Curry, a rapper whose existence was only through memes for me. The sun was beating down on us once again, the ground near the Honda stage was muddy, and the crowd of mostly-lacrosse boys from Connecticut (No, really! We talked to some and they were from there!) was overwhelming. I wasn't sure if I wanted to mosh again under these circumstances, and plus, I had to protect Lisa, because her anxiety levels were much higher than mine. As soon as the man himself walked out and the crowd dispersed like an earthquake, Mike disappeared into one of the many pits happening and it was up to me to protect the Mosh Virgin of our little family. I didn't know any of the songs that he played for the first part, and failed to remember any that would stand out among me trying to fight for my life. When he started up "Ultimate," though, the meme favorite, it was all over. I held onto Lisa, Lisa held onto me. I closed my eyes and cringed as the lyrics came pulsating out of the speakers... "I AM THE ONE DON'T WEIGH A TON BLAHBALHBLAHBLAHYAHYAHYAH" I almost fell down. My sunglasses got lost several times. The cowboy hat was flying all over the place. Needless to say once the set ended and we managed to crawl out of the remains of the crowd, Lisa and I declined Mike's next request, Playboi Carti. We decided to head over to the Main Stage for a much-needed Girl's Set, and who better to host it than the newest rising yeehaw queen, Kacey Musgraves? Don't get me wrong, I do not see the appeal of country music at all, but there was something about how positive Kacey was on that stage, along with her songs that blend poppy alternative beats along with banjos and other country sounds that just made me happy. The crowd was calm, and we were surrounded by couples of all sexualities and drunk 20-somethings in our little section. Honestly, that might have been the best crowd all festival. Lisa and I both left that set glowing, living our best lives, and ready to come back in a little while for the 1975. From what Mike reported, Carti was wild as expected. "Picture Denzel, but 100 times worse," he told us. So, needless to say, we dodged a bullet on that one. It was time to immediately report back to the main stage for The 1975! I saw them before at Madison Square Garden years ago, but I was interested to see how they were going to rock an outside stage. A lot of the Kacey crowd stayed in their same spots and waited for them. I guess their fanbases intertwine in some strange Venn Diagram. In my last article about them, I took notes about Matty Healy sitting down and lighting a cig while seated at the edge of the MSG stage. He did the same thing again, this time, with some sort of liquor in the other hand. I don't really know a lot of songs from their newest album, but when they played older songs such as "Sex" and "Robbers," I truly thrived. Side note, don't make the same mistake as me and talk about how much you love the first song I mentioned loudly. It sounds wrong. The rest of the show was great, and we were the only ones around us going crazy and singing all the words because we were surrounded by shy teen girls and unenthusiastic dads. I have to say, I preferred the other show to this one, but just because I feel the sound (no pun intended) that they have is more fitting for a stadium. Despite this, we got fairly close, and it truly was an unforgettable gig because of how fun it was singing along to all the classics. Walking away from the stage and back into the general public of Gov was scary at this time of night. A DJ named ZHU just took the Bacardí stage and the crowd was unbelievably large, so we had to take a long muddy backroad way to get back near the Honda stage. We haven't seen an EDM set yet, and Mike was claiming that those were usually the best shows at a festival. Major Lazer was taking the stage in about an hour and a half, so we decided to eat even MORE burritos, this time with a side of way-too-cheesy cheesy fries. We also made the mistake of going BACK to the Bacardí stage, which was currently a certified Rave Zone, to try to get some shirts at the merch booth. We bumped into so many people, and somehow Lisa managed to almost strangle a passer-by with the portable phone charger that was hanging out of her bag. The lines were long, people kept on cutting us, and by the time we got up there they ran out of the original pink Igor shirt I wanted. Even though I liked the white one I got instead, it still sort of annoyed me. By the time we finally got what we wanted, it was completely dark, and the only thing that we could see was the pulsating lights from the ZHU set. Without any hesitation, Mike grabbed Lisa and I by the hand and started ripping through the crowd of drunk dancers. Thinking back, we were also dancing and laughing like crazy, so we might have blended in perfectly. By the time we made it out of the rave from Hell, it was time to start queuing for Major Lazer, so we stood in the crowd for about 45 minutes as it started to build up allll the way back. The only significant thing I remember about waiting is this guy and a girl getting into a chicken fight at the front, for some odd reason. Besides BROCKHAMPTON, of course, this was probably the most claustrophobic set for me. There were a lot of people. When the many DJs, men, and women dancers that make up Major Lazer's squadron came out on stage, it was a lot to take in. They played Reggaeton, other various Spanish songs, "Bam Bam" by Sister Nancy, "Sicko Mode," along with lots of other popular songs, for some even more odd reason. It was like one gigantic prom all over again. It sounds like I'm talking down on the set a little, but you couldn't any more wrong. I had such a good time dancing, moshing, and raving to all of this. It was different from the other sets because it wasn't just the band's original content, but it was better, in a way, because I didn't feel like a fake fan at all. Like, let's be honest; I really doubt there was anyone in that crowd who religiously listened to ML's discography the night before! Everyone was just here to have fun and to freak out to the beat drops, and with this understood, I finally started to realize why EDM sets were the best part of festivals. After a long hour and a half of non-stop jumping, witnessing someone lose their phone and being terrified for them, getting separated from my group by an emo couple, and completely losing it when one of the guys in the ML entourage asked the ENTIRE crowd to move to the right at the SAME TIME, it was finally starting to wind down. They finally played "Lean On" and "Light it Up," practically the only two songs anyone knows by them, which was an amazing thing to witness. Shortly after that, it was over. My complete time at GovBall was over. **** As I grabbed Mike and Lisa by the hands and started guiding them through the crowds to get to the long, winding ferry line, I got very upset. I was going to miss this way of life so much. I just started to get into the routine of waking up, going to the city, getting on the ferry, returning to the island, and seeing acts right away. I just started to feel at home. I couldn't go on Sunday, but I believed that was for the better in the end since it got absolutely rained out and the entire island had to be evacuated. That would have made for an even more interesting article, but a completely ruined experience for me. I'm glad I only had the absolutely perfect Friday and Saturday to look back on. For a first festival, GovBall was pretty amazing. Honestly, the only personal complaints I have were the very long lines for the free water and the merch, but there's really not much you can do about that. I had to spend three years in the shower the next morning and was sore everywhere, but it was a small price to pay when you consider the memories I made. It's so crazy to think that I was so scared of everything, from the moshes to the heat to the porta potties, when in reality, nothing was that bad. It was straight up fun, and a total overwhelming amount of euphoria from the amount of bands that I managed to see. I'm already looking into more festivals, because this cannot be the last time I have that great of a time. I'll admit that those "camp-out" festivals like Glastonbury don't seem that desirable to me, but there's so many other ones out there in the world that I can enjoy. If you are a festival virgin like I was at the beginning of the month, I highly suggest going to one as soon as you can. It truly was a life-changing experience, and completely morphed the way I see the act of a "concert" as a whole. You get to see so many different types of people in the crowds, and you discover bands you never would have known. It's a bustling creative hub for artists, musicians, and aspiring music journalists alike, and I will take the lessons and experiences I had at GovBall 2019 as I venture into my college career, and, into the rest of my life.
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Oh Lord. I knew this day was coming for a while, but it feels fake, typing this out right now. It is currently the night before my high school graduation, and all I can think of is the time that zoomed past me at Road-Runner speed. Even though I was already a sophomore when we started the blog, this really has been one of the most important building blocks of my four-year career.
I've been going back and glancing over early articles lately, to see how much the subjects I've wrote about have changed through the years. Obviously, they've developed a lot, as I've discovered more songs, went to more concerts, fell in love with more bands, and overall expanded my musical knowledge. The great range of my music taste may not be as noticeable to you as it is to me, so I thought, as a graduation gift to all of you, I'd spell it out, starting from freshman year and ending at this current era in time. I've had a playlist on my Spotify titled "songs that got me thru high school" for a while now, so this is basically going to be an explanation of most of it. You're welcome to listen along! |