Friday was arguably the most popular day overall because there was a great range of popular and upcoming artists spread out over the course of the day. Joey Badass delivered an incredible set with high energy to his die-hard fans. Remi Wolf was an absolute joy and her friendly, but funky stage presence made the crowd feel at home. Opening with “Disco Man” and closing with “Photo ID,” she had the entire audience dancing from start to finish. On the other stage, Ice Spice killed her short, but fabulous set with one of the largest crowds of the festival. New York absolutely showed up to watch the Queens’ native perform on her home turf.

Kim Petras and LIZZO were a perfect end to Friday and were amazing artists to kick off pride month with. Kim opened her set with her new single “Alone” and then proceeded to play the entirety of Slut Pop EP. She was nothing less than incredible and continued fiercely even as her set was interrupted by a downpour of rain. “You guys sure look wet out there” she shouted at one point after “They Wanna Fuck” teasing the crowd with her insinuation. LIZZO took the main stage playing all her hits and giving a killer performance as well as showering the audience with positive affirmations. “Soulmate” and “Good as Hell” had the entire crowd feeling self-love.

Saturday’s highlights included an incredible set from Rina Sawayama. She had earpiece troubles during her opener “Hold the Girl” but quickly recovered to deliver an amazing performance with beautiful visuals set as a backdrop. FINNEAS also delivered an amazing set, fairly simple. He and his band had the entire crowd singing along to “I Don’t Miss You At All”. One other highlight of Saturday was aespa’s Governors Ball debut performance. Although missing one of their members, Giselle, the group still delivered an impressive high-energy performance.

With Kendrick Lamar being the closing act  Sunday was the most packed day at the festival by far. There were people lining up for Kendrick the moment the festival opened. The other artists, however, still drew large crowds for their sets. Pusha T played a really fun set on the Bacardi stage dropping hits like “Diet Coke” and “Runaway”. Pink Pantheress charmed the crowd with her cute demeanor and bubbly personality. She was smiling and clearly having a lot of fun during her set, the audience couldn’t help but have fun with her. Closing with “Boy’s a Liar,” she promised the audience she’d be out there dancing with them to Kendrick later that night.

Lil Nas X had quite the performance as well, although I don’t think he’d argue it was his personal favorite. Halfway through the opening number “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” his earpiece blew out and he stopped the song exiting the stage to solve the issue. Lil Nas X returned soon enough letting the audience know this just was not his day. In all honestly, however, he still delivered an incredible set for the artist being down bad, but you could sense he wasn’t having the greatest time up on stage.

Kendrick took the main stage at 8:45 pm and gave one of the weekend’s best performances. No one would argue that he had the biggest crowd of the festival by far. That being said he had a lot of hype to live up to and his fans were itching for him to take the stage all day. Kedrick did not disappoint and delivered an unbelievably fantastic set. Opening with “N95,” the crowd absolutely roared when the beat dropped. He played a variety of songs from his collection including tracks like “King Kunta,” “Backseat Freestyle,” “DNA,” and “Humble.” One of the biggest highlights of the set was “family ties” where he surprised the audience and brought up Baby Keem. The chemistry between the two of them was remarkable to watch and listen to. It was an unforgettable night and a spectacular end to the Governors Ball.

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We first tumble serendipitously into Rostam’s set on the Panhandle, a smaller venue for comfy indie artists. The former Vampire Weekend shredder hosted a lovely welcome for attendees, a quick and violent contrast from the upcoming nightmare awaiting us at Land’s End.

Lil Uzi Vert fans are a scourge. For an artist that has a considerable affiliation with mental health awareness, I’ve never seen a fan base so miss the point completely. There was no humanity in that crowd, between people pulled over the fence for crying and our photographer Nate nearly getting his gear obliterated, it echoed sentiments of Travis Scott’s infamous headline.

Jack Harlow was a toothless replica of Uzi although I’m still cross that I tolerated health hazards for such a bland act. Admittedly he was unlucky – placed between Mac DeMarco and Green Day, both of whom explored two ends of the sonic spectrum. Mac DeMarco’s profound chill boat-rhythm bumps compared with BJ Armstrong just going complete apeshit on the American Idiot tracks was an epic contrast. There simply was just no room for Harlow, nor was there room for him to bring up some significant social updates in his hometown of Louisville. But I digress.

Pussy Riot did satisfy my expectations because a literal Russian designated foreign agent took her shirt off to reveal a “FREE BRITNEY GRINER” message. Nadezhda has functionally inherited the band at this point, with the other past 10 members forgoing a less mainstream role for a more actively political one. Not sure if the crowd was ready for her succubic death-pop screams, however. Personally, my favorite part was when she cracked a blood-red whip over and over again while the word “VASECTOMY” lacerated on the big screen.

One thing, in particular, OSL likes to flaunt is a section on the festival grounds where the purchasing/consumption of cannabis is safe and legal. Grass Lands comprises the southernmost section of the park, practically a carnival that folks use to get away from the Land’s End aural blast zone. Ambulances and police were on standby, though much like previous iterations of the fest there was no urgent need for their intervention. It made for a lovely pit stop between stages.

All hyperpop acts were backlogged into Sunday, so the Lord’s afternoon was enhanced by palpable chaos. Glaive into 100 Gecs into Kim Petras is complete nonsense. 17-year-old Glaive’s unreleased track “Florida” is a four-on-the-floor banger, a necessary moment for a shy crowd to get to know one another via slam jamming. Petras performed Slut Pop in its entirety, a staple for her latest shows and one the crowd was quite notably looking forward to. Gecs flew too close to the sun; their set was cut short although that seems appropriate for them to be honest.

With how quick each turnover was, every headliner was set for success before their gig even started. Polo & Pan’s visuals were some of the best. Ani Kuni received a syllabic word-by-word visualization of the sampled Native American chant. Disclosure’s latest track “Waterfall” is some of their best work since the Settle days, evoking a Mura Masa-esque production that sent the crowd in every direction. 

SZA was the only artist done dirty. She started off her CTRL-era ballad “Drew Barrymore” smoothly enough but her monitors cut out, knocking off a beautiful song in her repertoire. The sound team turned it around before the next track. As such the audience experienced a cathartic performance, one that concluded with SZA compensating for her vocal prowess in front of a gorgeous lighthouse-themed stage décor. 

It was smooth sailing the entire weekend. Major 3-day music festivals will take it out of you, they’re an endurance test if nothing else. OSL at least attempts to streamline the experience into something less arduous. Straight up, I’ve never had better music festival snacks from any other concert experience. The scrumptious food almost made the inflated prices worth it.

It takes one thousand things at once to operate in tandem to make an event of this magnitude flow as well as it did. The lands beyond have proven themselves to be worth trekking to, a tall order considering the sheer number of fests on the west. In no uncertain terms:

Outside is the right side, man.

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