Wonderfront music festival has returned to kick off its next wave

Reinvention is the mother of necessity for San Diego’s Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival, which kicked off its third edition since 2019 Friday afternoon at Embarcadero Marina Park North under cloudy, May gray skies and a pleasant breeze.

The three-day festival debuted five years ago, then went dark the next two years because of the pandemic. Wonderfront returned in 2022 but was on hiatus last year to facilitate a shift from its original November time slot to Mother’s Day weekend.

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No matter the time of year, the event’s return was welcomed by Brent Goode, a data analyst who attended both previous iterations of Wonderfront, and Tony Le Calvez, a graduate student at Point Loma Nazarene University, who on Friday afternoon were among the first attendees at the festival, where music began at 12:15 p.m.

“They have good music and I live downtown, so I could walk over,” said Goode, 48.

“It’s going great and there’s a wonderful energy,” said Le Calvez, 27. “It’s a much younger audience than in 2022, and everything is streamlined and well organized so far.”

That streamlining is by design.

Where the 2022 Wonderfront featured an array of musical styles and headliners each day — including Gwen Stefani, Zac Brown Band and Kings of Leon — this year’s edition is geared to draw more specific and distinct audiences each day.

Friday, which was expected to draw a capacity audience of 15,000, was geared to fans of hip-hop and electronic dance music with headlining sets by Kaytranada, JID and T-Pain.

Saturday has more of a rock and pop emphasis with scheduled performances by Weezer, Dominic Fike, Carly Rae Jepsen and more. Sunday’s lineup is the most varied with Beck, The Roots, Marcus King, Steel Pulse, Natasha Bedingfield and Fruit Bats in the roster.

Alexis Gardener, left, and Nessa Ghodsifar, center, cheer as they and hundreds of other people listen to T-Pain perform during opening day of the Wonderfront Music and Arts Festival, a three day event, at the Embarcadero Marina Park North in San Diego on Friday, May 10, 2024.

(Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

All told, more than 80 bands and solo artists have been booked for this year’s edition of Wonderfront, which was created with the twin goals of celebrating music and boosting local hotel and restaurant revenues. Accordingly, the San Diego Tourism Marketing District has contributed $250,000 in underwriting to the festival while the Port of San Diego waived its park permit fees.

Wonderfront’s return was perfectly timed for Kate Hernandez and Myles Darling, who drove down from Los Angeles to attend the festival’s opening day.

“Kate bought the tickets for my birthday,” said Darling, 31, an elevator constructor. “I like the ocean view and the weather is nice.”

“We’re here to see Kaytranada and T-Pain,” said Hernandez, 27, a nursing student.

“T-Pain,” Darling added with a smile about the singer and rapper, whose breakthrough hit, “I’m Sprung,” came out in 2005, “is a nostalgia artist for us.”

Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival

When: Noon to 10 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday

Where: Embarcadero Marina Park North, downtown

Tickets: $135 (single-day general admission), $329 (three-day general admission), $399 (single-day VIP pass)

Online: wonderfrontfestival.com

george.varga@sduniontribune.com