Review | Wonderfront Festival, Where Music Meets Marina

Wonderfront Festival Turns San Diego’s Harbor Into a Live Music Daydream — with Leon Thomas, Daniel Caesar, and a Floating Stage

Gary Clark | Credit: Nataschia Hadley

I carry a camera around with me because it’s how I stay in love with life.

Some days, I shoot for the thrill. Other days, it’s for the escape. But really, I think it’s for the hope — the romanticization. Because what’s the point of life if you’re not romantically involved with it?

In my hand, I hold how I want to remember things. And when I want to make the sky electric blue because that’s how it felt in the moment, I’m going to make it electric blue.

Sailors trying to listen and see the festival | Credit: Nataschia Hadley

If the three-hour drive from Santa Barbara to San Diego had been taxing, then the three days at Wonderfront Festival brought me back to life. Somewhere along I-5, I found the need to get poetic, I guess.

And so it began: From May 16 to May 18, Wonderfront Music Festival became my canvas.

Wonderfront is unlike any festival I’ve been to. Set on the waterfront at Embarcadero Marina Park, it’s nautical — maybe even the beach bum of festivals. I looked around and noticed it right away: the fashion was comfort. People were here for the music. The water glistened calmly. Time seemed to slow as people lounged just outside the festival on sailboats, letting the music drift over the water.

Walking up to the check-in gate, there were families playing cornhole, a roller rink spinning in the corner, and college kids running around beer die tables.

Festival on the waterfront | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Festival on the waterfront | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Festival food | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Art against the downtown backdrop | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Corn hole | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Beer die | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Fans at Jason Mraz | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Fans at Leon Thomaas | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Festival goers dancing | Credit: Nataschia Hadley
Sweatshirt with the lineup | Credit: Nataschia Hadley

The lineup felt handpicked by the gods of my Spotify algorithm. I caught some of Erick the Architect’s set — a producer-rapper-songwriter I first found through Jungle’s “Candle Flame.” I also recognized bLAck pARty’s name from the scraggly writing in my agenda, where I’d scribbled a reminder to shoot his show at SOhO this August.

But the name that really pulled me in was Cavetown, who I discovered as a teenager on YouTube, back when the art-hoe movement was at its peak — lo-fi, emotionally raw, self-produced music that built dreamy, inclusive worlds. That era shaped me. Artists like Princess Nokia, Cavetown, and Conan Gray showed me what it meant to live vividly in your own lens.

Wonderfront’s layout felt intentionally carved out. Somehow, it managed to be intimate and breathable. I could stand close to the stage and still have space to move, to dance, to shoot.

Daniel Caesar and Freddie Gibbs stood out that first night. I’d seen Caesar before at the Santa Barbara Bowl, but this time, concealed behind clouds of smoke, he sang “Best Part,” “Superpowers,” and “Hold Me Down,” and it all felt just as mesmerizing. Gibbs tore through “1985,” “Crime Pays,” and “Big Boss Rabbit.” I’d learn even more about him on Day Three, when he returned to perform a surprise verse on “MUTT” with Leon Thomas.

A gentle marine layer hovered over Day Two. The rain didn’t push anyone away — it set the tone. It felt like an open mic night in a Venice café that forgot to close its doors. SiR stepped onstage, singing “You Can’t Save Me,” and the mist became more of a texture than a nuisance. Hoodies under ponchos swayed to his signature blend of R&B and neo-soul.

Up until then, there was one stage I hadn’t explored: the “City Cruises Yacht Stage.” Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like — a floating stage. I watched FELLY roll up in a golf cart, greeting fans before boarding to perform as the boat drifted into the harbor. The rain had let up a bit, though the wind held strong. He leaned into newer material like “Wildflower,” pulling away from his early work like “Heartstrings.”

Later that night, Anderson .Paak hit the stage with a full band, gradually scaling things down to a solo performance. Always a magnetic presence, he rapped and sang from behind the drum kit, closing his set with a touching tribute to Mac Miller with “Dang!”

The sun returned for Day Three. Despite headliners like Khruangbin, Jason Mraz, and Gary Clark Jr., almost everyone I talked to was most excited for Leon Thomas. Part of it was nostalgia — remembering him from Victorious — but after his set, it was clear this wasn’t just childhood sentiment. His track “Lucid Dreams” has been on constant repeat in my car ever since.

I caught a groovy, synth-laced set from Neil Frances, a 90s throwback blast from 4 Non Blondes, and finally saw LA LOM. Their blend of cumbia, surf rock, soul, and Latin nostalgia felt like a vintage postcard from Los Angeles.

But the most unexpected highlight? Jason Mraz. I grew up hearing him on the radio but had never seen him live. He and his entourage took the stage in bright, monochromatic outfits. It was the most joy-filled energetic set of the weekend. The crowd was thoroughly engaged, dancing uninhibitedly.

Khruangbin closed it out. I think they’ve performed at every festival I’ve attended, and each time it’s dazzling. At this point, I’m starting to believe in bass therapy.

There was a bit of a sinking feeling after the gates closed. Festivals let you escape. Let you slip into a version of life that feels fuller. And then, like a lunatic, I packed up my gear, my memories, and started the drive back to Santa Barbara — thinking I could make it in one night.

I slept in a couple of random parking lots around L.A. and laughed at myself the whole way through. Hopefully, it’ll make a funny story someday, a memory I’ll tell looking back on my twenties.

I pulled into Santa Barbara around 6 a.m., just as the birds were waking up. The light was soft, hopeful. I scrolled through photos of the crowd, of 4 Non Blondes’ fearless stance, of Neil Frances’s surf bleached hair.

And I made the sky electric blue.

Because that’s how it really felt.