The only time I saw The Naked and Famous live was when they opened for Friendly Fires during a free SummerStage concert in Central Park back in 2011. Since then the bands popularity has grown quite significantly. Not surprising considering the equal amounts of success that their contemporaries have received as well (Passion Pit, CHVRCHES, etc..). Even so, the amount of anticipation from the crowd leading up to their Governors Ball caught me slightly off guard.
I only had the time to take in a few songs as I had to go get in line for The Strokes photo pit, but they ended up playing their hit “Punching in a Dream” second, which was a nice surprise. Alisa Xayalith now sports short white hair, a good look for her, but one that threw me off initially. I had to leave pretty much right after, but it seemed like the New Zealand rockers seem to have grown more confident in the last three years; as they should have.
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