Gov Ballers are already searching for their Gov bangs!
With music festivals back in full swing, singles are getting their festival flirting on before the first act even steps onstage.
Filteroff, a video speed-dating app, hosted a Governors Ball speed-dating event a week before the New York City music festival kicks off at Randall’s Island Park on June 10.
Brendan C., 21, recently moved to NYC and bought tickets to attend Gov Ball for the first time.
He joined Filteroff a few weeks ago after seeing an ad for the app on TikTok and strapped in for the Gov Ball speed-dating event this past Friday.
The entirely virtual event started at 8 p.m. Singles logged on to the app, where they were given the profiles of up to 10 potential matches, who they would meet for three-minute video speed dates. During the quick chats, they were prompted with ice breakers, including “Who is your favorite artist?” and “Have you ever been to Gov Ball?” At the end of the call, they were asked whether or not they were interested in the person.
The Filteroff speed-dating event welcomed 70 singles and ended with 40 matches.
“It’s efficient, which is kinda cool,” Brendan told The Post of the event, which he praised as “intentional” in its organization. He didn’t find his Gov Ball babe, but he did make some festival friends who he plans to meet up with.
“There’s all these cool events in New York City, and I think it’s really cool that you can attend speed-dating events ahead of time,” he said.
Filteroff became successful during the pandemic with their Gen Z-friendly take on speed dating, but are pivoting to accommodate daters who are now allowed back out into the world and don’t want to waste another minute on their screens.
“We wanna provide singles who are passionate about EDM music and Gov Ball a place to meet virtually prior to meeting up in person,” Filteroff Founder Zach Schleien, 31, told The Post.
He noted that it can be uncomfortable and awkward to approach a stranger and attempt to gauge whether they’re single and ready to mingle.
On the app, “it’s all people who are like-minded, into Gov Ball and single, so it cuts the awkwardness of approaching a stranger,” he said. “People want intentional connection. They care more now about quality over quantity.”
But some singles, especially festivalgoers, are still just looking for a festival fling.
A new study from Nasty Gal conducted by OnePoll surveyed 1,000 US festival-going adults and found that 68% have been caught having sex or performing a sexual act at a festival. The majority of those positive responses came from people living in the apparently quite randy Northeast.
Tinder caught on to the hookup culture surrounding music festivals in 2019 when they launched “Festival Mode,” a fun and flirty feature that allows users to find fellow festivalgoers before the event begins, whether that be for friendship or something more.
The feature seems to be successful: Coachella had a herpes outbreak the first year “Festival Mode” launched, which some attributed to Tinder, though STDs have been on the rise across the country in recent years in general. The app has recently added several new festivals around the world to their list of featured events, including Gov Ball, Lollapalooza Paris, Festival X in Australia and Sónar in Spain.
Sounds like the off-stage antics aren’t cooling off anytime soon.
