Over three days, six stages hosted seventy-five music artists across San Diego’s sun-soaked Seaport Village for the 2025 Wonderfront Festival weekend. Friday afternoon presented bLAck pARty who had released the single “Distant Lover Pt. II” just the week prior. Performing his latest alongside crowd favourites “Dancing”, and “4Am in NY” from his 2019 album Endless Summer, his mellow mood suited the atmosphere perfectly, evident by the deep crowd of music fans that overstuffed the lawn by the end of his set. DRAMA and her yellow bubble guns took the stage after bLAck pARty a few hours later. Inciting a summery dance party across the lawn with songs “Tighten Up” off her most recent album Till We Die, Nobody created alongside Gorgon City in 2021. Across the festival grounds as the day began to cool, Isaiah Rashad began his set at 5:30. Gleefully flashing a gold grille encrusted smile, he stormed the stage performing tracks from his 2016 album The Sun’s Tirade as the seaside festival crowd expanded from a steady wave to a tsunami of bodies. Fans climbed shoulders and waded through developing mosh pits to relish in his songs “Wat’s Wrong”, “Stuck In The Mud”, “Free Lunch”, and others. 
Proudly from Chattanooga Tennessee, Isaiah Rashad credits his love of rap music to his childhood listening sessions of Outkast, Too$hort, and Scarface albums. His music explores the emotions behind coming of age, his struggles with addiction, identity in the deep south, and religion’s relationship with freedom. His career skyrocketed toward mainstream success upon collaborations with TDE legends Kendrick Lamar, who featured on the studio version of Wat’s Wrong, and SZA, by appearing on her Grammy winning album Ctrl as a feature in Pretty Little Birds. Now he commands the festival stage in a vintage Curious George t-shirt and a Chattanooga Lookouts team face sticker, physically embodying the whimsical nostalgia and hometown love that brought him to where he is now. As Daniel Caesar took the stage after Isaiah Rashad, the sun had fully set and the crowd had grown even denser. Next, the fans’ voices greeted starlight as Freddie Gibbs prepared to close the night on the Hazy Stage across the festival grounds. Originally from Gary, Indiana, Frederick Tipton took on the stage persona Freddie Gibbs and in the early 2010’s as his talent initially drove him into the hands of Interscope Records, and then CTE World, before eventually creating his own label ESGN records in 2013 to escape the bureaucracy stifling his voice. A little after 9pm, he sauntered onto the stage and launched into “1985″ the lead single off of Alfredo. He cuts the song midway and takes a moment to thank the festival for having him, and the city of San Diego for having “great drugs”. He laughs, requests a shot of tequila and thunders the lyrics of “Harolds”, “Crime Pays”, and “Scottie Beam”. He closed with an encore performance of “Big Boss Rabbit” as the fervour of the crowd peaked with the moon. 
The following Saturday brought the likes of STRFKR, Magdalena Bay, Portugal The Man, Janelle Monea, and others to Seaport Village. Magdalena Bay dominated the afternoon with their flair for psychedelia accompanied by silky vocals singing the lyrics to their Billboard #1 album Imaginal Disk. Consisting of Mica Tenenbaum as the lead vocalist and Matthew Lewin on instrumentals and production, the pair started making music together as members of a music program in their Miami, Florida high school. In 2019 they released two EP’s titled Day/Pop and Night/Pop, as well as mix-tape Mini Mix, Vol 1 independently before catching the attention of Luminelle Records. In 2021, they released their first full length studio album Mercurial World to massive success. Their recent album Imaginal Disk (2024) cemented their position as indie chart favourites as the duo went on to perform their single “Image” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Triple J’s Like A Version. Now, complete with costume changes and hypnotic visuals, they command a massive throng of fans from the Cypress Stage to dance as they perform favourites like “Death and Romance”, “Vampire In A Corner” and “Love Is Everywhere”. SiR took the stage next to Magdalena Bay after battling technical delays, delivering a shorter but powerful set as Orion Sun amassed her own crowd on the opposite end of the festival grounds. Sweetly singing into the spring afternoon, she enchanted her audience with songs “Pressure” and “Dirty Dancer” from her 2022 EP Getaway. As she closed her set, Portugal The Man was enchanting their own crowd with a mashup of their Billboard #1 single “Feel It Still” combined with Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”. 
The Saturday sun began to vacate the sky, making room for stars and rain clouds as Janelle Monae opened her set with “Champagne Shit”. a 10x Grammy Award nominee, the Kansas City alum secured mainstream popularity after collaborating with OutKast in 2006 on the album IdleWild where she is featured on two tracks. She signed with Bad Boy Records shortly after and went on to release The Arch Android, The Electric Lady, and Dirty Computer all to massive critical acclaim. Her theatrical world of whimsical realism has won her two Billboard Women In Music Awards, two ASCAP Awards, an MTV VMA Award, and plenty of others as she consistently uses her music to present sci-fi allegories that speak on the headlock technology and the human experience has found themselves in. This year, unbothered by the rain, she dominated the Wonderfront Festival Event Stage in a fantastic black and white coat as the strength of her vocals and robust choreography contrasted the champagne glass she daintily balanced in her hands throughout the performance. She eventually sheds the coat to reveal a white suit with a rose studded lapel. Complete with a black bowler hat, she charmed the crowd with her embodiment of queer dandyism, performing crowd pleasers “Electric Lady”, “Lipstick Lover”, and “Tightrope”.
Foster The People took the neighbouring stage right after Janelle Monae. As the stage lights faded behind her, theirs began to pulsate. Founded by Mark Foster in 2009, Foster The People quickly exploded to mainstream success as their song “Pumped Up Kicks” off their debut album Torches, sat on the Billboard Hot 100 for 40 weeks in 2011. The festival crowd rings as they perform “Helena Beat”, “Coming of Age” off of their sophomore studio album Supermodel. Songs “Feed Me” and “Glitchzig” from their most recent studio release titled Paradise State of Mind, before closing the set with the track that started it all, “Pumped Up Kicks”. Sunday’s roster included artists The Fray, Leon Thomas, Jason Mraz, Khruangbin, and others to close out the weekend. The hot afternoon was weathered by Australia natives, Vacations. Fronted by Campbell Burns, the band was part of the early wave to use social media exclusively as means to gain popularity. From posting their songs on Tumblr in 2015, Vacations managed to secure a large enough following to independently produce two EPs: Days (2015), and Vibes (2016), as well as a full length album Moving Out (2017) without a record label. Burn’s mellow baritone rides the pacific breeze as the lawn fills with fans either dancing as close to the stage as possible, or laying on blankets at the back. When the band performs “Young”, and “Telephone”, everyone is on their feet. Both songs have been heavily popularized recently by TikTok creators and even now fans pull their phones out to record the moment for their own social media endeavours. 
Known as well for a recent rise to popularity via TikTok is Leon Thomas. He takes the stage shortly after Vacations to perform his most recent album and most popular single of the same title “Mutt” to everyone’s delight. The main stages across from Vacations and Leon Thomas hosted Jason Mraz and his nostalgic pop favourites “Im Yours”, and “I Won’t Give Up”, before giving way to Khruangbin. Highly anticipated, the lawn was overstuffed yet again as the stage crew filtered off the platform to reveal an elaborate set resembling an aged mansion engulfed in a thunderstorm. Consisting of Laura Lee Ochoa, Donald Johnson, and Mark Speer, Khruangbin developed their hypnotic blend of Thai funk, Afghan-influenced neo soul, and surf rock out of Houston Texas. Performing “August 10” off their 2018 album Con Todo El Mundo, and “A Love International” from Grammy nominated A LA SALA, Khruangbin immersed the crowd in a sensory masterpiece as Laura and Mark’s vocals coast off the stage on the heels of silky guitar riffs, complemented by the digitized sound of heavy thunder and rain. They brought the festival main stage to a final close as The Fray delivered beloved nostalgia to their own screaming crowd across the festival grounds with “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and “How To Save A Life”. Wonderfront Festival returns to San Diego every spring bringing more artists to discover and enjoy. If the thought of missing out on this year’s performers is too heavy, Khruangbin is touring in the U.S. until the end of June, Janelle Monae will be touring from now through August, Magdalena Bay is on an international tour until October, Foster The People has show dates scheduled through November, and Isaiah Rashad is set to perform at Lollapalooza this summer.
For those that missed out on the festival this year, you can still check out our exclusive photo gallery just below featuring a variety of artists that took the stage through out the weekend. To see what Wonderfront Festival has in store for 2026, you can follow them on Instagram for all the latest updates @WonderfrontFest.
Article & Photos By Salome Solomon (@thehomelandobscurity)
