Early performances from Governors Ball Day 1 set mood for summer festival, excite crowds

Read about Michael Blume and Blossoms, two performances who took the early stages of Friday's installment of Gov Ball

NEW YORK — Governors Ball 2017 has taken over the entirety of Randall’s Island with visual art, music and a variety of cuisine and with that comes the opportunity to fall in love with something new.

On day one of this year’s weekend-long festival sensory overload is almost guaranteed with your wristband.

Newer artists — either in years performing or years performing in the States — are scheduled for the early afternoon time slots. During Friday’s lineup Michael Blume and Blossoms took over the Barcadi and Honda Stages, respectively, and immediately captured the ears and hearts of their crowds.

Michael Blume is an unapologetically queer singer who introduced his songs with jokes about our current political climate. Blume, his band and his back up singers were dressed in all white, as if separating themselves from the politics they kept referring to.

He sarcastically dedicated his 2016 hit song “High Frequency” to President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, and coyly mentioned the administrations decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord.

However no one could leave his set upset after being reminded of the realities of the current executive branch — even the most bleeding heart liberals — because his lyrics were woven together with the movement of persistence. Especially with the performance of a new song, which Blume said will be released later this summer.

On the other side of the island,  Blossoms was setting a different vibe for festival go-ers. The five-piece boy band from across the pond had an indie fresh vibe that matched their bluesy sound and easy going feel with the energy of the early hours of this summer festival.

Blossoms is fronted by acoustic guitar playing Tom Ogden, who introduced one of their latter songs on the set list as a break up song. He called out to the audience to find people to relate and dedicated this track to someone who was close enough to share the name of her ex-boyfriend with Ogden.

The track, called “My Favorite Room,” is a softer track compared to the rest of their songs, but shows off the husky strength of Ogden’s voice.

With two more days to go on Randall’s Island and more Gov Ball after dark events all to come, many more new music finds are on the horizon.