WORLD NEWS

"The festival is 100% happening, rain or shine," reads an informational note on the official website for the 2013 Governors Ball Music Festival, which kicked off on Friday (June 7) on Randall's Island in New York. Indeed, some parts of Day 1 of Governors Ball did happen. But when they did, they were usually caked in watery mud, caused by the torrential rain that sullied Friday afternoon and evening and forced headliners Kings of Leon to scrap their set.A little after 7:00 pm, Canadian singer-songwriter Feist took the open-air main stage and graciously thanked the soaked hundreds who had stayed to see her perform. After one song, however, she and her band were ushered off, and an announcement citing weather-related technical difficulties was made. Feist's one song was to be the last played on the main stage on Friday. Desperate attempts to prepare for Kings of Leon -- mostly, crew members brushing rain water off the stage with giant black brooms -- were in vain. An announcement at 9:15 confirmed that Kings of Leon's 9:30 set time was not going to be met. A rep for the festival announced that "high winds and unsafe stage conditions" were the reasons for the cancellation. Kings of Leon were set to announce a new album, "Mechanical Bull," during their headlining set.By 4:00 pm on Friday, the rain was slicking the grass and turning the copper dirt on the Randall's Island grounds into patches of brown pools that could often be avoided with a few sideways steps. By 7:00 pm, with the rain somehow picking up, the entire grassless area between stages and food vendors was liquid sludge, and festival goers were forced to navigate through 10 inches (!) of the gunk to go anywhere. Everyone in attendance had mud on their pants or legs, and stray shoes floated ominously down glaciers of viscous brown. Looking for any kind of relief from the storm they could get, hundreds of people crowded inside the public bathroom area and dried off under the tent protecting the porta potties. Most food vendors had no lines, and one that did had people waiting in line for food… on floating planks.