Wonderfront 2025: The Tastemakers, the Jam Bands and the Influencers
When Wonderfront Festival announced their 2025 musician line-up back in January, there was a noticeable change in vibe compared to last year’s roster. In this fourth edition of the San Diego-based musical celebration, organizers picked fewer local bands and high-profile names, opting instead for a wider selection of mid-tier artists (in terms of celebrity, not quality).
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Whether this decision was for financial reasons or taste-making, it seems to have successfully fallen on the latter. Wandering the grounds of Waterfront Park, you’d be pressed not to find a stage drawing you in with some rich or exciting sound, maintaining a consistently high bar of music quality across the festival.
The line-up pool wasn’t the only major change to this year’s iteration of Wonderfront. Organizers also expanded the size of the gated, Bloom Electric Lounge stage. Organizers seem to have noticed it was a popular attraction last year because the audience area appeared to double in size. Like last year, the Electric Lounge was consistently fun and is the good ol’ reliable of Wonderfront’s line-up.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Two unfortunate changes are the apparent increase in vendors and the elimination of art installations across the waterfront. To the west side of the main stages, the bayside path used to be dotted with captivating art pieces: floating metal balls, playable instruments glued to trees, and LED light fixtures that came to life in the night. This year they have been replaced with exclusive VIP areas for those attached to sponsors, and more vendor booths offering free samples if patrons download their app or sign up for their club.
While vendors are a natural part of any festival, their presence seemed a little more overwhelming than usual, throwing off the balance between music celebration and marketing meet-up. This energy did not consume the festival though, precisely because the musical selection was so varied and consistently competent.
Friday
Friday drew a noticeably young crowd, primarily Gen-Zers taking photos and creating Instagram-adjacent content. This was most apparent when Daniel Caesar came on for his sleepy, headlining set. His presence spawned a sea of phone screens to emerge from the crowd, all rising in clout-fueled unison.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Early birds were welcomed by a band called Porcelain; wearing NASCAR Wonderbread uniforms, this funky fun, five-piece unit rocked the Harbor stage across from Nourished By Time, a house and synth-pop artist. Erick the Architect, despite having an early afternoon performance time, got a mosh pit going; Saint Luna played their first of two sets, experimenting with a brand new catalog of songs; Jordan Ward had an eclectic and fun act reminiscent of last year’s T-Pain; Yonny rapped at the Harbor stage, peaking halfway through with a flow as refined as whiskey after dinner; Mexican Slum Rats brought a much-needed punk and math rock angst; Freddie Gibbs brought the house down.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Tyler Rolling, an attendee from Orange County, came to see Welsh electronic-duo Overmono. “I love the way they play with vocals,” he said. “They cut up vocals to create really interesting melodies. It’s crazy how you can sing along to them, but they’re just gibberish.” This was Rolling’s first time coming to Wonderfront, and he came specifically for Friday’s line-up. “Today was just enough to get me to come,” he said. “I love that the artist I came to see wasn’t packed. It’s chill and everyone’s really nice.”
Saturday
Saint Luna opened up Saturday on the Hazy stage for a chaotic but endearing show, and was followed by The Diz, whose No Doubt-adjacent brand of pop-rock helped liven up the audience on a wet, cloudy morning. An unknown issue caused a delay at the main stages, causing Baby Rose to begin her set 35 minutes late, and throwing off the main stage schedule for the rest of the day. Baby Rose took the delay in stride, buttering the audience up with her robust voice, evoking the croons of a 50s southern lounge singer over modern R&B. Also hit by the delay was Magdalena Bay, who performed a show-stealing set in the afternoon.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Unlike many of the performers this weekend, Magdalena Bay had very little interaction with the crowd—because they commanded it. Their performance was artistic and immersive, demanding audiences to engage with it rather than passively hang out. In her bright blue jumpsuit, singer Mica Tenenbaum seemed to come straight out the pages of a high fantasy paperback to assign someone a quest; her cursive voice and otherworldly performance cast a spell on the entire festival. That was followed by exciting evening performances from Janelle Monáe and headliner Anderson Paak, who held on to their crowds despite the rain and cold.
Sunday
Sunday was for the jam bands. Because most of the acts revolved around improvisational funk, country, and blues, it attracted the oldest patrons of the weekend, replacing the influencer-crowd with parents, families, and retirees. Timmy Skelly kicked off the day with a nostalgic country trio; Paco Versailles crafted a refined, spanish-guitar driven pop with a latin flair; Jalen Ngonda played as if he had just jumped out of a Motown recording session; Donavon Frankenreiter brought it back to country and blues with the best harmonica playing of the weekend.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Jenny Spencer, a San Diego local and aspiring children’s book writer, came on Sunday, not to see anyone in particular, but for the live entertainment. Upon discovering someone was writing about the festival, she was eager to give a quote: “We have found excellent and eclectic people [at Wonderfront] and we WILL be coming back next year.” She and her friend then ran off to the Kona Brewing tent.
Unfortunately, the last day was also the weakest. The excellent aforementioned acts were scattered amid a wide swath of generic, white-dude jam bands, all leading up to the blueprint himself, Jason Mraz. Groups like Bombargo, Vacations, Allen Stone, Saint Cecilia, and Neil Francis all had the same brand of sober, preachy, kitschy, pseudo-uplifting, guitar-driven funk littered with the same “guide the crowd through breathing exercises” techniques found in worship music. While all of these groups had variations on that theme, Mraz’s set encompassed all of them; it was a tour-de-force in gimmick-driven performance.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
The biggest disappointment of the day was the historic, reunion performance of 4 Non Blondes. Famous for their empowering mega-hit, “What’s Going On?”, the band reunited at Wonderfront for their first official performance in 10 years, and their third performance since breaking up in 1994. What should have been a sentimental, stand-out moment for the festival was anything but sentimental, and stood out for all the wrong reasons. The performance was littered with technical issues: microphone feedback, empty space in between songs, and sometimes guitars just not working.
Lead singer Linda Perry was visibly frustrated during the set, repeatedly yelling at technicians off-stage about her guitar being too loud, or not loud enough, and apologizing between songs. The band’s new material was sonically lackluster, and began to lose the crowd until they broke into their hit “What’s Going On?” which they performed downright perfectly.
But that was their sixth song, and the set was still only half over. Across the next half hour, the crowd got thinner and thinner, while the empty stage next door, setting up for Jason Mraz, filled to capacity. “You guys over there for Jason?!” Perry shouted at the other crowd. “Get over here, he’s a p**sy, come over here!” She then apologized, “I’m just kidding sorry Jason,” before finishing the last two songs of the set.
Their final song, a chaotic mess of exploding guitars and uncontrolled feedback, was punctuated by a Perry who seemed to have lost her voice. She threw her guitar down and walked off stage immediately as the song ended, and a roadie fumbled to get her guitar to stop screeching. The rest of the band reluctantly followed her, and before the audience had a moment to react, Mraz’s band kicked off their set at the opposite stage.
The festival ended in a low-key haze as Khruangbin and The Fray headlined from opposite sides of the festival grounds. Joe King has taken over vocal duties for The Fray since the departure of Isaac Slade, and he didn’t miss a beat, mimicking Slade’s iconic voice in an appropriate and satisfying performance.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
Wonderfront Festival continues to be one of the biggest musical events in San Diego because of its unbeatable location and wide variety of musical genres. Drawing nearly 35,000 attendees, there’s always something for somebody. If we’re lucky, next year there will be a better balance between boosting brands and celebrating music.
Photos by Ryan Valenzuela @stillsbyryan and Ellie Deer
