Despite logistical issues, Wonderfront Festival still provides fun discoveries

Coming back for the first time since its inaugural run in 2019, the Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival kicked off its three-day run in the Port of San Diego on Friday, Nov. 18.

The multi-genre and multi-stage fest was headlined by the Zac Brown Band on Friday and also saw performances from artists such as Cam, Lainey Wilson, Trevor Hall, Young the Giant, Quinn XCII and EarthGang. Saturday’s schedule will feature Kings of Leon, G-Eazy, Lauren Daigle, Swae Lee, Fitz & The Tantrums and Mod Sun and Sunday’s roster is capped by Gwen Stefani and Schoolboy Q with support from Cage the Elephant, Thundercat, Big Boi and Noah Cyrus.

Since Friday’s hours begin a little later, with gates opening at 2:30 p.m. (doors open at noon on Saturday and Sunday) there wasn’t too much daylight left by the time fans found parking in lots and garages around downtown San Diego (competing with annual Marine Corps Balls taking over nearby hotels). By the time they finally made their way into the festival, a number of guests — including ourselves — were confused about which gates we could actually enter with our specific festival wristbands and were sent on a wild goose chase by ill-informed security and staff to find the correct point of entry.

Once inside, there was absolutely no shortage of places to find a drink. A fully stocked bar or a sponsored activation selling or offering samples of a myriad of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages seemed to be in every nook and cranny of the festival.

However, there was a severe lack of directional signage that had patrons wandering around and asking others where certain stages were located and how to get to them and where basic things like the restrooms were located. Wonderfront does have an app that includes a few maps with colorful markings pointing out restrooms and entrances, but once on site with thousands of people and near the water, the app was slow to load.

“You’d think with all these bars, there’d be more restrooms around here,” one fan said as he asked our team, who also didn’t know at the moment, where any of the restrooms were located. There were actually plenty of portable toilets in clusters throughout the venue, but again, there wasn’t on-site signage to help guide guests to those areas, which became even more challenging to find once it got dark.

After realizing they’d spread themselves a little too far out in 2019, festival producers shrunk the footprint of this year’s event, which provides in-and-out privileges for guests to be able to also explore the various shops and eateries located throughout the Port of San Diego, as they take in the live entertainment inside fenced off areas located at Seaport Village, the Embarcadero Marina and Ruocco Park.

Though there’s a full schedule of programming in each of these areas, it’s nearly impossible to bounce back and forth to try to catch all the things you may want to see. A bulk of the guests stayed in Embarcadero where the two main stages, most of the activations and the swap meet-like shopping rows were set up.

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The crowds in Seaport Village and Ruocco Park were sparse on Friday, despite Ruocco Park being open to not just ticket holders, but the general public as well. In an effort to see all of the sights, we made our way into Seaport Village to check out the ImmerXion stage where EDM group Arkit)(T was performing, engulfed by immersive visuals and elaborate lighting.

We then hiked over to Ruocco Park. For its many logistical flaws, Wonderfront does offer a lot of exploration and flexibility, you just have to enter with zero expectations and go with the flow. As we stumbled into the Silent Disco, slipped on headphones and flicked through three channels, each playing different music coming from a trio of DJs on a small stage, some of those bad vibes began to fade. A small group of fans danced and laughed and ran around the area, even popping into a lit-up inflatable Igloo to dance without a care.

We also discovered Birmingham, Ala. band The Brook & The Bluff, an indie rock group with a whole lot of soul that was an absolute breath of fresh air. Despite being stuffed into the darkest corner of the festival and only playing in front of a few dozen guests that happened to be in the area, they brought the heat and impressed those who decided to stick around.

After snagging some yummy bites including Falafel, fries and pizza — like the drink situation, there were food options all around, and good ones —  we made our way back to Embarcadero where the majority of the fans had posted up to catch Young the Giant and Zac Brown Band on the side-by-side main stages.

Irvine’s Young the Giant delivered a fun and powerful set, vocalist Sameer Gadhia even making it a family affair by inviting up his sister, Sofia, to sing on “Tonight” off of its latest album, “American Bollywood.”  As the band ended its turn with “Superposition” and the breakthrough single, “My Body,” Gadhia thanked the crowd multiple times and quickly added “This is our last show for a long time,” before exiting. It was a bit ominous, but the band has been out on a lengthy jaunt in support of the new record, so perhaps they’re just taking a little break.

With the masses sticking around for the Zac Brown Band, we were drawn over to the Coors Light stage inside Seaport Village to see hip-hop duo EarthGang, who were playing in that same time slot. Despite the competition, they still drew a sizable audience and gave an energetic performance with songs like “Billi,” “Top Down” and “Proud of U” that included a lot of audience participation and brought a lot of smiles and a sense of camaraderie as folks bounced up and down, sang along and left day one of Wonderfront on a high note.

Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival

When: Friday, Nov. 18

Where: Port of San Diego, Seaport Village, Embarcadero Marina and Ruocco Park, San Diego

Also: Noon Saturday, Nov. 19 and Sunday, Nov. 20. Tickets are $139 for single-day general admission at wonderfrontfestival.com.