Courtney Barnett Played a Free Show Because Her Governor’s Ball Set Was Canceled
Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Music News Courtney BarnettThe Governors Ball day three cancellation was a cause of great distress for many festival-goers, especially those who flooded the streets for a Kanye West “pop up” that never happened, but one artist among a few who took immediate action on relocation was Courtney Barnett. The Australian rocker, who topped our best of 2015 charts—for album, song and live performance, no less—played a completely free show at Rough Trade NYC on Sunday.
Following the cancellation of the entire day’s lineup due to inclement weather, Barnett tweeted that she and her team were “trying to organise another show.” Shortly after that tweet went up, she posted to Twitter and Instagram that she and her band would be doing a free show at Rough Trade, a record store/venue in Brooklyn with an official capacity of 250.
Cos of cancelled show at @GovBallNYC we r doin a free show at @RoughTradeNYC Doors at 8:30pm – show 9pm ??????????????????
— courtney barnett (@courtneymelba) June 5, 2016
Reports were that around 1,000 people showed up, including Governor’s Ball wristband bearers and non-bearers alike. In addition to the packed performance space, Rough Trade allowed 50 people to stand in the record store portion of the building.
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Barnett played from her two albums for an hour, including a cover of The Grateful Dead‘s “New Speedway Boogie,” which she also contributed to the high-profile Day of the Dead; tribute album.
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Other Governor’s Ball artists who played makeup sets at quickly found venues in New York included Two Door Cinema Club, Prophets of Rage and Vic Mensa.