written by Beau Croxton and Mike Golembo.

All photography by Mike Golembo—

(except for Freddie Gibbs photos by Beau Croxton)

A$AP ROCKY by Mike Golembo

Saturday may have closed with the frustrating rain-out cancellation of three of the most anticipated sets of the weekend (Kali Uchis, Amyl & The Sniffers & Blood Orange), but Sunday brought plenty of sunshine and consolation with a rescheduled Blood Orange set. Blood Orange graciously agreed to play on the Snapchat Stage on Sunday afternoon, before Geese and Clipse.

Sunday’s festivities were absolutely stacked with great artists. It was easily our most anticipated day of the three, and it delivered non-stop.

SLAYYYTER

Following a brief afternoon rain delay, one of my favorite acts of the weekend took the main stage— Slayyyter re-energized the Gov Ball crowd with a delightfully campy, high-octane set. Clad in a show-girl headpiece and mud-coated color boots, the dance-pop icon transformed the field into a massive dance floor. Leaning heavily into tracks from her hit album WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, she commanded the catwalk with unyielding charisma. At one point she donned an “I Love NY” hat, to the delight of everyone, myself included. The energy reached a fever pitch early when she dropped the viral sensation "CRANK," triggering ecstatic dancing and jumping from VIP to the back of the GA. Fusing hyperpop with raw vocal power, Slayyyter…dare I say Slayyyed… her performance on Day 3.

Mike Golembo

Slayyyter by Mike Golembo

FCUCKERS

New York’s own Fcukers arrived with an absolute blast of nineties-coded rave energy to The Grove stage on Sunday afternoon. Championing the "indie sleaze" revival that rippled through the Governors Ball 2026 lineup, the electronic trio had the crowd instantly moving to a heavy, bass-driven groove. Gaining popularity by opening for Tame Impala last year, these locals showed why they’re well on their way to becoming a household name within the electronic/dance community.

Mike Golembo

Slayyyter by Mike Golembo

BLOOD ORANGE

Dev Hynes ( aka Blood Orange) took to the stage by himself to open, and he was joined shortly by a lively and soulful backing band.

The party truly got started after the intro of “Saint”, as siren samples led into an infectious beat drop. You could tell that the crowd was really grateful for the set to be happening after all– many eager fans hung on every lyric and smiled ear to ear.

Dev would often go off on tangents of playing brilliantly funky guitar while his backing vocalists would cover the hooks of the songs– their presence really helped Dev lean into his composer and instrumental mind set. Dev Hynes is a really brilliant writer and instrumentalist, and his backing band definitely brought the heat to his excellent discography in a live context.

My favorite song “Charcoal Baby” from Negro Swan arrived as the penultimate song, and it absolutely stole the show. Dev’s crowd was packed– there were plenty of folks who were most excited to see Dev. His Sunday set was a beautiful and heartfelt addition to an already stacked day.

Beau Croxton

Blood Orange by Mike Golembo

GEESE

New York City’s own, Geese, was one of my favorite bands playing the festival, and their set was my 3rd Geese show since Getting Killed dropped. Despite my extensive recent exposure, I can say that this was the best they've sounded of the three shows– Max Bassin was especially on fire. (PS, be sure to check out our review and gallery of their legendary Banker’s Anchor show here and our gallery of their Brooklyn Paramount show here.)

The biggest highlight for me was early in the set when the band tore into 3D Country’s “Crusades”. It was my first time hearing it live, and it was rare to hear in Geese setlists last fall. It has a classic Strokes-y/Velvet Underground-type strut that hits incredibly hard, and it was magic to hear it in Corona Park in New York City.

Geese by Mike Golembo

The frenetic and haywire performance of “2122” was just as wild and brilliant as always; it’s a Geese setlist staple that allows their guitarist Emily Greene and drummer Max Bassin to flaunt a little extra technicality with a playful side of chaos. The “Cowboy Nudes” jam and drum break was appropriately highlighted by its “New York City!!!” chant, and it was even more enthusiastic with The Knicks fever that was rampant in the crowd.

During the breakdown of “Bow Down”, Cameron Winter awkwardly and amusingly strutted the long mainstage catwalk, much to the appeal of the fans in the front. He found a Labubu doll someone had tossed up there for him, and he grabbed it, kissed it and threw it back into the audience, while fans went frenetic trying to catch it.

Geese by Mike Golembo

The final stretch of the set resulted in some massive sing-alongs; the melancholy “Au Pays Du Cocaine” had the crowd beautifully singing along to its aching chorus. “Taxes” doubled down on the belting mentality, and it's always a huge moment with their fans chanting along.

Closer “Trinidad” is where things always peak. Mosh pits formed and erupted left and right in many different sectors of the crowd, as the jams got more and more amusingly unruly. Geese crushed it at their Gov Ball show to the surprise of no one– they've been on such a tear, and this set was a very impassioned hometown performance.

Beau Croxton

CLIPSE

Clipse was my most anticipated set, and probably my personal favorite, as it delivered tenfold. I had been wanting to see the legendary group for a minute, especially after they delivered the modern classic Let God Sort Em Out in 2025.

After their DJ hyped things up for a little while, the duo came out one by one to deliver their icy verses on “Chains and Whips”, which was launched directly into “POV”. Out of the Let God Sort Em Out tracks, “M.T.B.T.T.F.” easily packed the biggest punch with its cold acapella bars, aggressive delivery and groovy beat. By that point, the crowd was fully primed with coke-rap that hyped up them for the classics that followed.

Hell Hath No Fury’s“Mr. Me Too” and their hit from Lord Willin,“Grindin”, clearly got the attention of everyone, especially the more Day 1-type fans. These classics felt like an arrival point in the set and were incredibly well received, serving as massive highlights.

Clipse by Mike Golembo

Clipse is a legendary group with plenty of major and modern classics, and they were all served up back to back. One thing that was immediately noticeable is that Pusha T was an absolute monster on the mic— he’s incredible, especially when it comes to delivery, intensity and presence. Malice was equally surgical, often stealing the show in the second half of many tunes like “POV”.

Let God Sort Em Out is a rare rap comeback record that's cemented as a modern classic, and their set at Gov Ball only proved it holds its weight when stacked against Clipse’s back-catalog classics.

Beau Croxton

DOMINIC FIKE

Dominic Fike brought his chaotic but whimsical charm to the main stage ahead of the weekend’s closing headliner. He brought sporadic banter with the crowd, a hilarious strip-down, and random stream of consciousness thoughts in between hits like ‘Baby Doll’ and ‘3 Nights’. Fike’s indie rock/alt-pop hooks and croons proved to make his festival set a pure delight for those who were in attendance– he kept the crowd absolutely locked in.

Mike Golembo

Dominic Fike by Mike Golembo

FREDDIE GIBBS & THE ALCHEMIST

As previously mentioned– Sunday was incredibly stacked with great sets. I was totally thrilled to catch Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist again, after I saw their incredible Brooklyn Paramount show last fall.

The Alchemist came out to warm up the crowd on The Grove stage, and he launched into the iconic intro of their 2020 cult classic Alfredo. Freddie Gibbs popped out and charged the stage to roaring fanfare as he fired off the opening verses of “1985”, which has gotta be one of my opening tracks to a rap record in recent memory. Freddie was donned in a Kimono that had Alfredo references. It also featured the rabbit logo as seen on his most recent RBT EP cover that landed just ahead of his You Only Die 1nce Deluxe LP, that Freddie dropped on the Friday of the festival .

Largely focusing on their Alfredo series, the duo tore into bangers like “Gold Feet” and an especially energetic rendition of “Lemon Pepper Steppers”, with a visual backdrop of raging flames, which was fitting considering Freddie’s wild flow. To me, Freddie’s delivery is unparalleled in the sense that he will switch his flow on a dime to a new, wild rhythm. He’s totally unique in that way, and it's always incredibly exciting to watch him rip through these energetic bars all over these lush Alchemist beats.

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist by Beau Croxton

Freddie got the crowd riled up with a “Knicks in 4” chant (5 is the charm!). He encouraged them to “make some fucking noiiiise” and he occasionally stepped off to smoke between tracks. When talking about the Alfredo series on stage , Freddie said “We made 2 classics in a row, and I think we got enough in the tank to do another one”, which received a unanimous roar. I know I’ll be counting the minutes till release when Alfredo 3 eventually gets announced– especially considering Alfredo 2 made my top 5 of 2025.

The crowd swayed their hands back and forth to Frreddie’s command when they started the twinkly, laxed-out beat of “Scottie Beam”, which a song that Freddie said is probably his favorite from their first Alfredo record. He doubled down on favoritism and said that “Lavish Habits” was probably his favorite cut from Alfredo 2, and the duo went so hard on the track that they restarted it just so Freddie could get the crowd even more hype on the opening lines.

The group closed with their Anderson Paak collab “Ensalada”, which is an incredible track that might be the crown jewel of Alfredo 2. The set was bad ass and every minute of the setlist was well utilized. Watching Freddie tear it up with Alchemist will never get old, and the crowd ate it up. If I had been seeing Freddie for the first time, I probably would have crowned this as my favorite set of Sunday.

In a wholesome moment, Freddie grabbed his daughter from the side stage and put her on his shoulders to greet the large crowd, and the duo got to take in the love of the audience one last time as they left the stage.

Freddie Gibbs by Beau Croxton

JENNIE

One of my more anticipated of the festival weekend was a solo performance from Blackpink member, JENNIE. Equipped with a full dance team and beautifully coordinated choreography, JENNIE put on a mega-pop show to close out the Snapchat stage. It was packed to the brim with phones in the air and no end in sight.

The audience shrieked with excitement on every move and high note. The highlight of the set was JENNIE’s rendition of ‘Dracula’, the Tame Impala earworm that she was featured on for a remix earlier this year. The outfits and stage production raised the set to a level that isn’t often seen at music festivals, but you’d expect nothing less from a world recognized and adored artist.

Jennie by Mike Golembo

A$AP ROCKY

A$AP ROCKY’s set was probably the most highly anticipated of the weekend by many, and maybe even more so because it arrived fashionably late at over 20 minutes past start time.

When A$AP finally hit the stage, the screams reached their peak of the weekend. I had seen so many A$AP shirts on the subway and around the festival that day, including a (very impressive) custom paint-job shirt of the Don't Be Dumb album cover. It was clear folks were gathering far and wide for the excitement of this set, and fans stretched farther than the eye could see.

The set popped off with an unreal excitement– during the biting “STOLE YA FLOW” A$AP told the crowd he “came here to be disrespectful”. The grass and soil below our feet shook from the monstrous bass during the track, and it felt like it would collapse at any moment.

The show featured insane set design, complete with a helicopter at the top of the stage, a dancing SWAT team and dozens of dancers in white that ran the catwalk and spun their shirt around their head Petey Pablo-style, all while A$AP’s Don't Be Dumb single “HELICOPTER” commanded festival participation. Pyrotechnics blasted sky high and the main stage was a blitz of chaos, hype and bravado.

A$AP treated fans to plenty of older tracks though– the psych tinged “Sundress”, and the effortlessly catchy beat of “Praise The Lord (Da Shine)” resonated thoroughly with the endless crowd.

I imagine it was terribly hard for folks to wind down from the adrenaline from A$AP’s set as they went home to face the work week, especially after a long weekend of the festival. But one thing was clear upon leaving: the stacked lineup at Gov Ball 2026 made every ounce of the physical effort of a 3 day festival worth it, and it was an unforgettable spectacle that served as the ultimate summer kick-off.

Beau Croxton

Check out our full gallery below !

FULL GALLERY

(Click to expand to fullscreen+ slideshow)

All photos by Mike Golembo— @instalembo

(except Freddie Gibbs by Beau Croxton)

In order of appearance:

Rachel Chinouriri - Lexa Gates - Slayyyter - Between Friends - Holly Humberstone - Fcuckers - Blood Orange - Geese - Clipse -Dominic Fike - Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Jennie - A$AP ROCKY

(Click images for fullscreen / slideshow

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IN CONCERT: GOVERNOR’S BALL 2026 (Day 3 - June 7th)