As we welcome the new year with open arms, festival lineups around the world are being announced from left and right. And to start this year off right, one of New York’s premier festivals has just released the lineup for their live summer event. The Governors Ball will be coming back to NYC for its ninth consecutive year on Friday, May 31st until Sunday, June 2nd.

The performances will continue to be held at Randall’s Island Park, including some of the biggest artists in the business, along with breakout artists who have made a name for themselves in the previous year or so. Headliners for the event include Tyler, the Creator on Friday, Florence + the Machine on Saturday with The Strokes ending the festival on Sunday. SZA, The 1975, BROCKHAMPTON, Jorja Smith, Kacey Musgraves, Vince Staples, Blood Orange, Playboy Carti, Mitski and Noname are just some of the other 70 artists that will hit the stage.

This festival will mark The Strokes’ first performance in the states since July 2016. And alongside the rock band, Florence + the Machine will be able to further promote her fourth-studio album High as Hope, which she released earlier in the summer of 2018.

Long Beach rapper Vince Staples released his third-studio album FM! under the Blacksmith and Def Jam Records labels early November. In a press release, Staples mentioned that this project “is a project created by Vince Staples that contains 22 minutes of only music… no concepts, no elaborate schemes, just music because nowadays, who needs more bullshit?” There’s no doubt Staples will be bringing this energy and album to the stage this upcoming summer, with the hopes of older projects being performed such as previous critically-acclaimed album Big Fish Theory.

Other artists have had to deal with other issues concerning their music and music videos, such as Top Dawg Entertainment artists Kendrick Lamar and SZA. SZA, who is set to perform on Sunday, was apart of a lawsuit with British-Liberian visual artist Lina Iris Victor concerning the use of her “Constellation” visual art series being appropriated in the music video for Lamar and SZA’s song “All The Stars.” As for the lawsuit, the case was settled a few days before Christmas with the original case and claims by Victor being dismissed.

Indie rockstar Mitski had made a return to the indie scene with the release of her fifth-studio album Be The Cowboy under the Dead Oceans label. She mentioned that this album works a lot with narrative and fiction, being “a lot of this record was me not having any feelings, being completely spent but then trying to rally myself and wake up and get back to Mitski.” One of the breakout singles from this album was the disco-pop “Nobody” that focuses on themes of alienation and estrangement.

As of today, tickets have gone on sale on their website at https://www.governorsballmusicfestival.com/tickets/ with 3-Day GA and VIP tickets going on sale. Make sure to buy tickets soon as this festival is one New York’s biggest summer bash.

Photo taken by Sharon Alagna