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Music

Who Killed It at Governors Ball 2015? An Investigation

We used forensic analysis to calculate the festival's highlights.

Photo courtesy of Governors Ball

New York's annual Governors Ball Music Festival wrapped up this weekend at Randall's Island, and idyllic sliver of land nudged between Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. The three-day blowout touted a lineup ranging from rap (Drake, Future, Rae Sremmurd) to rock (My Morning Jacket, the Black Keys, St. Vincent) to electronic music (Björk, Clean Bandit, Deadmau5) and more. How'd it go? Let's have a look. "Killing it" has become the primary objective for a musician in the live setting, and your career is in serious jeopardy if you can play a show and no one in attendance comes away feeling as though something was killed. The success of Governors Ball, therefore, can be measured by the extent to which the many artists featured there succeeded to kill it, the overall length of time in which it managed to be killed throughout the weekend. Since tweets are the primary unit of social commerce in 2015 America, we've decided to analyze who exactly killed it at Gov Ball and how badly it was killed using tweets documenting all of the many times this weekend in which it was killed. If you're one of those Law & Order: SVU types who can tell within ten minutes who the killer is, try and avoid spoiling it for everyone else.

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Drake, St. Vincent, Björk, and Florence + the Machine are the festival's breakaway successes. Each played a set that audience consensus dictates to have killed it. The Black Keys appear to have discovered a way to kill it as well. Noteworthy artists who are not confirmed to have killed it are My Morning Jacket, Echosmith (who didn't kill it at Gov Ball but is widely believed to have killed it at Summer Jam this weekend), Vance Joy (who's killing it every night on the 1989 World Tour but somehow didn't here), Hot Chip, Sturgill Simpson (I demand a recount!), and Conor Oberst. Respect is due to everyone who showed up and gave it their all but failed to kill it this weekend. Tomorrow's another opportunity to wake up and kill it somewhere else. (If a band plays in the woods and no one's there to hear it, did they kill it? Makes you think.) Below you'll find a complete list of everyone who succeeded in killing it at Governors Ball 2015 along with proof of how and when it was killed.

Continued below

Day One

Rae Sremmurd

@RaeSremmurd killed it at #GovBall2015 favorite set so far @Jxmmi @iHipsterLee

— Nicole (@c0lenic) June 6, 2015

Rae smmurda (idk the spelling ) they killed it and now future #GovBallNYC

— Nikaury Roman (@NikkiApproves) June 5, 2015

MØ killing it

— Amaris (@amarisinparis) June 5, 2015

Future

@jadebiggavel yooo. U damn right haha. Future fucking killed it.

— Lastnerd (@lastnerdmusic) June 5, 2015

Rudimental

Future killed it and so did Rudimental

— Arthur Guinness (@arthurissupreme) June 5, 2015

Odesza

ODESZA KILLING it!! @Missguided #govball #missguided pic.twitter.com/oJHuGnRHrG

— Christina Caradona (@troprouge) June 6, 2015

Charli XCX

she killed it @charli_xcx pic.twitter.com/ghVuFQHRhb

— sofia (@sofiagmiron) June 6, 2015

Death from Above 1979

Death from above 1979 killed it so hard. Great mosh pit. And Karl was there too. #govballnyc #karl #carl #govballkapic.twitter.com/MDp658W0DJ

— GΞO VΛNΛSCO (@DjGeoVanasco) June 6, 2015

Ratatat

A guy on the guitar just rocks my world! #ratatat killed it on stage @govballnyc #youredoinggreathttps://t.co/Ffbqtx3TKx

— Roxana Medina (@rox077) June 6, 2015

St. Vincent

p.s. St. Vincent killed it yesterday pic.twitter.com/UfaVXY5eQT

— rump shakur (@SeeairuhPuhleta) June 6, 2015

@st_vincent killed it at the #GovernorsBall

— Emily O'Grady (@emilylogrady) June 6, 2015

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The Decemberists

@TheDecemberists are killing it at #GovBallNYC #GovBallSXM

— Lisa Picarella (@koolcars) June 6, 2015

Chromeo

Chromeo #GovBallNYC killed it. pic.twitter.com/75Ej4sOWBZ

— Brittany Craig (@MmmYeaaBritt) June 6, 2015

Florence + the Machine

Florence and the Machine killed it today #govball

— Marlee Goldman (@b0bmarlee) June 6, 2015

Florence & The Machine killed it!. Deff made me a fan!

— DatsJustin (@WantsDaWorld) June 6, 2015

Florence killed it!!! Poor Drake how is he gonna follow that up with no actual band playing instruments? At least hire a drummer dude lol

— Alfonso A. (@Fonz_The_Boss) June 6, 2015

Drake

Drake killed it last night

— Amanda Pell (@apell123) June 6, 2015

Drake killed it last night

— Manders (@amandamariie27) June 6, 2015

Coachella's crowd was proly just trash. Ive seen Drake a good 5x and I can't imagine him jagging a show. Killed it @govballnyc last night

— Story King (@FAFBrent) June 6, 2015

Day Two

HOLYCHILD

#GovBallNYC so close for @HOLYCHILD who seriously killed it!!!! pic.twitter.com/nDBymdtzTH

— Lana Del Slay (@kaylaaa5) June 6, 2015

Kate Tempest

Kate Tempest is killing it! #govballnyc

— Denis Hurley (@DenisHurley) June 6, 2015

White Lung

white lung killing it #GovBallNYC pic.twitter.com/UdfsJTUm22

— Joey Piet (@joeypiet) June 6, 2015

Rustie

@RUSTIE killed it at govball!!! #GovBallNYC

— powa (@screamingbeats) June 6, 2015

Moon Taxi

#MoonTaxi killed it yesterday at #GovBallNYC #jmphoto #jmvisuals #musicfestival #photographer #livehttps://t.co/X89JooRvDu

— Joseph Mikos (@JoeyMikos) June 7, 2015

J. Roddy Walston & the Business

.@JRoddyBusiness killing it at @GovBallNYC pic.twitter.com/vnNLkce07N

— Dan Kaplan (@dkaps89) June 6, 2015

Kiesza

@Kiesza Killing it at @GovBallNYC #GovBallNYC pic.twitter.com/cSrPK3y5RM

— Disgraceful (@disgraceful) June 7, 2015

Clean Bandit

@cleanbandit were first on today's list and they absolutely killed it!!

— Corisa ♡ (@CoriKast) June 6, 2015

Marina & the Diamonds

.@MarinasDiamonds Killing it at @GovBallNYC #marina #diamonds #GovBallnyc #froot pic.twitter.com/Vriqxuu1OC

— Charlie (@CharkAttacks) June 7, 2015

Atmosphere

@atmosphere killing it @GovBallNYC #GovBallNYC pic.twitter.com/86aMTr2eyL

— Sully Malik (@sulaimaanmalik) June 7, 2015

Little Dragon

Little Dragon!? KILLED IT. pic.twitter.com/IvRJ7gsvWy

— Ivan Locke (@whatgreengoblin) June 6, 2015

SBTRKT

sbtrkt // killed it http://t.co/KbyQQhmCd9 pic.twitter.com/SUXmc1aGUZ

— makena cunningham (@makenalizabeth) June 7, 2015

Future Islands

Future Islands yesterday, killing it as always #govballnyc #futureislands @ Randall's Island Park https://t.co/IpVEh5SS3q

— FKA Siggs (@mamukooms) June 7, 2015

Flume

day 2 was amazing… flume KILLED it

— ❂ (@farrrian) June 7, 2015

FLUME KILLED IT AT GOV BALL TOO MUSH LIT

— Neal Ü (@neal_smolinski) June 7, 2015

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Ryan Adams

@TheRyanAdams killed it at governers ball last night ! Seriously an amazing performance , so , so glad to be a part of it!

— erika-louise moat (@xplumbcrazyx) June 7, 2015

Björk

@bjork is KILLING IT at #GovBall2015 right now

— Katie MacIntyre (@keenlykate) June 6, 2015

Wtf Björk is fucking killing it

— yushes (@limyushan) June 7, 2015

Deadmau5

@deadmau5 so glad i finally got to see u perform!U killed it despite the technical difficulties#GovBallNYC #deadmau5 pic.twitter.com/9Pji3SBLoa

— Amanda Frost (@AmandaMFrost) June 7, 2015

Day Three

Hermitude

Hermitude. KILLED THE BALL. IT SUCCEEDED.

— Andrew Holowczak (@S1R_Acha) June 7, 2015

Chronixx and the Zincfence Redemption

#govballnyc #legs #peace I'm here for #tammibutler & #chronixx and they killed it… https://t.co/msJff5qQLb

— Slim Goodz (@ZBoogie) June 7, 2015

Mayer Hawthorne

Mayer Hawthorne, killing it in the Gotham Tent #govballnyc https://t.co/94szZ9Kkt3

— Time Out NY Music (@TimeOutNYMusic) June 7, 2015

Logic

Logic killed it #BacardiTour #GovBallNYC pic.twitter.com/jTOF6hEFSn

— Christine Fitz (@ftzxx) June 7, 2015

Royal Blood

@royalblooduk killing it at #GovBallNYC good ole fashion rock n roll #GovBall2015 #GovBallSXM

— Mike Bernadyn (@bernadyn) June 7, 2015

A-Trak

atrak killed it! #GovBallNYC @ The Governors Ball Music Festival https://t.co/1aF4GIIZqB

— Tenzin Shamphel (@Shamphel) June 8, 2015

Flying Lotus

Fly Lo/Captain Murphy killing it #govballnyc @ Randall's Island Park https://t.co/N9ZlDpFFP2

— Bryant Rockoff (@rocaroundaworld) June 8, 2015

OMFG @flyinglotus is killing it at the Gotham Stage!

— CHICA MALA; TAN GIRL (@HENNYHUNNIES) June 8, 2015

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Big Gigantic

Big gigantic just killed it.

— Stori Mcreynolds (@storinight) June 8, 2015

"Weird Al" Yankovic

#weirdal absolutely killed it #govball #nyc #amazing @ Randall's Island Park https://t.co/PgF0u6Aw7k

— Asha (@AshaSounds) June 7, 2015

The War on Drugs

@thewarondrugs killed it. Most talented musicians at #govball let's be friends

— Taylor (@TaylorAMcCarthy) June 7, 2015

Tame Impala

.@tameimpala is killing it at #govball2015 pic.twitter.com/nLjxCoDHzz

— Samantha Escobar (@myhairisblue) June 7, 2015

The Black Keys

Unreal. theblackkeys are killing it. #govballnyc https://t.co/hfzI5U6khC

— Ryan Miller (@LT_RyanMiller) June 8, 2015

The Black Keys are KILLING IT !!

— Kwes. (@imkwesi) June 8, 2015

The Black Keys killed it closing out #GovBallNYC, they always kill it, they are one of the best live bands.

— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) June 8, 2015

Lana del Rey

Lana Del Rey killing it on Honda stage right now #govball2015 #govballnyc @ The Governors Ball Music… https://t.co/2XcyH4rqZf

— Alec DuBois (@adoobers93) June 8, 2015

Craig Jenkins did not kill it, but neither did you. Follow Craig on Twitter.