Having 2 major festivals in the Northeast on the same weekend, one must make the difficult decision to head off to Hunter Mountain and Mountain Jam or Governor's Ball on Randall's Island in New York City. The good folks over at TheWaster.com have a look at the top 10 rock acts along with a cool gallery of photos. It turns out I went to Marist with Audra, the author of the article so be sure to check out some of her other articles as well.

  • By: Christopher Polk
    By: Christopher Polk
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    The Strokes

    Aside from their warm-up gig at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre on May 31st, The Strokes hadn’t played a New York show since 2011. So fans were hungry. I mean, really hungry. Hungry enough to start squeezing in front of the Gov Ball Stage long before the hometown heroes were even scheduled to play. By the time The Strokes kicked off their set with ‘Barely Legal’, it felt like the entire festival had gathered to take witness. And when they pulled out the arena-ready ‘Reptilia’, all that pent up intensity came pouring out in an eruption of spraying water bottles, uncontrollable female squeals, and crowd-surfing die-hards. The faithful sang their asses off to songs from across the band’s storied catalog, including ‘Hard to Explain’, ‘Automatic Stop’,’Heart in a Cage’, ‘Machu Picchu’, and ‘Welcome to Japan’. They may have drawn the biggest crowd all weekend, and the only thing missing was Julian’s signature Ray Bans…

  • By: Paul Zimmerman
    By: Paul Zimmerman
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    Jack White

    Saturday’s headlining set was to be Jack White’s only New York show on his summer tour, and it had the makings of every White Stripes fan’s wet dream. ‘Hotel Yorba’, ‘Icky Thump’, ‘The Hardest Button To Button’, and ‘Seven Nation Army’ were just a few of the classics that made the cut, each maintaining the edge of its original while putting a little Nashville spin on it, care of White’s steadfast backing band. With a solo record due out just a few days later, the guitar god seized the opportunity to shred our beating hearts to pieces with fresh material like the super-charged title track ‘Lazaretto’ and the scorching instrumental ‘High Ball Stepper’. Yes, White did what he does best – restore our faith in the future of rock n roll. And he somehow pulled it off while wearing a floral dress shirt and suspenders.

  • By: Christopher Polk
    By: Christopher Polk
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    Bleachers

    “Thank you so much for coming to see a band that’s only released two songs”, Jack Antonoff said to his afternoon audience at the main stage on Sunday. The guitarist from fun. and Steel Train has only played a few gigs as Bleachers, but his charismatic stage presence proved he’s an animal no matter what band he happens to be in at the moment. Antonoff egged on his audience throughout his set, managing to keep the main stage engaged despite playing songs that won’t hit the streets for another month. So naturally when Bleachers ended their set with the hit single ‘I Wanna Get Better’, fans reciprocated his unbridled energy tenfold.

  • By: Christopher Polk
    By: Christopher Polk
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    Foster The People

    These LA rockers may only have two albums under their belt, but what they lacked in a discography they made up for in sheer enthusiasm during their Sunday evening performance. Foster the People just released Supermodel, the follow-up to their platinum debut album, and the band was eager to test out the tunes before a festival crowd. New material like ‘Ask Yourself’, ‘Coming of Age’, and ‘Best Friend’ helped fuel the all-out dance party taking place on the pavement in front of the main stage. Yes, the trio has so much more to offer than their radio smash ‘Pumped Up Kicks’, and they made sure everyone within earshot knew it.

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