Since 2013 festival livestreams have become a huge business for festivals around the world. They show the festivities in their most polished HD wonder, driving up FOMO more than almost any other marketing. This year Governor’s Ball in New York decided to let VICE produce the festival’s livestream. Either VICE is horrible at livestreams or Governor’s Ball was an absolute disaster. Since Day 3 ended up being cancelled due to weather, we’re willing to bet its some combination of the two.
It appears that Vice is reveling in the cringeworthy nature of the livestream coverage with the caption “It was our first-ever live broadcast, and frankly, it might be our last.” The coverage is filled with awkward presenters desperately trying to kill time while bands spend seemingly an eternity to switch from one to another. Some highlights include a live condom usage demonstration with a microphone, one presenter being cut off mid-story because she had nothing to say, and a VICE equipment manager describing the festival as “mostly a lot of standing around”. It really makes you appreciate the polish and the efficiency of our dance music festivals like Ultra, Tomorrowland, and EDC that go off without a hitch. Is this mainly a symptom of multi-genre festivals or was it the weather? Or maybe VICE should have only gone live when the performances began, since most of the time was spent waiting. Check out all the cringeworthy action at the videos above and below.
