WonderStruck closes out 2022 music festival with eclectic lineup: Vampire Weekend, Big Freedia, more (photos)

KIRTLAND, Ohio – WonderStruck songs festival wrapped up on Sunday evening, ending off its second 12 months at Lakeland Local community College with a wide variety of performances and boundless power.

The Elevation Team-structured fest, formerly identified as LaureLive, to start with took spot as WonderStruck very last year. At that time, the function marked a significant return to big occasion gatherings in Northeast Ohio all through the pandemic.

Now, 1 calendar year later on, the pandemic performed considerably less of a job in WonderStruck’s protocols. But it even now factored into the impact of are living new music, most notably throughout Michael Franti & Spearhead’s set.

Franti, who performed forward of headlining band Vampire Weekend, shared a bit about his pandemic activities. The singer dropped his father to the virus, together with other mates and household members.

Returning to the stage was a marker of hope for Franti.

“I realized are living audio would be one particular of the previous points to return,” Franti explained in an introduction movie, “and that when it did, it would be the indication of a new tomorrow.”

That “new tomorrow” could be exemplified by the earlier two decades of WonderStruck, which have introduced thousands of tunes admirers to Lakeland. And Sunday, July 10 was a real peak for the festival, such as not only Franti’s set of upbeat music, but also one of the very best headliners that the Elevation Group has at any time nabbed.

Vampire Weekend, each a significant darling and certifiable group-pleaser, has consistently unveiled fantastic materials – and all of it was on show at the Audio Elevates phase just as the sunlight set. The band’s technological precision was highlighted in songs like “Sunflower,” “Cousins,” “A-Punk” and “This Life.” A semi-deep slash arrived when the band put on a thumping rendition of SBTRKT and Vampire Weekend singer Ezra Koenig’s collaboration “New Dorp. New York.” whilst the stage was bathed in red gentle.

Although Vampire Weekend was unquestionably a main spotlight of WonderStruck’s next working day, the acts top up to it ended up heaps of pleasurable, too.

Big Freedia, the queen of bounce music, amped up the audience with a vary of complete bops and nonstop twerking from her backup dancers – together with some booty-shaking audience participation. Saint Motel was just the suitable kind for the crowd that collected in the whole sunshine, grooving to songs like “Sisters,” “A Very good Song Hardly ever Dies” and the band’s largest hit “My Form.” Singer AJ Jackson’s velvety vocals formed the indie tracks, accentuated by bursts of saxophone and trumpet.

Early in the day, cleveland.com daily life & tradition reporter Troy L. Smith appeared at the Radd Phase to tape an episode of his “CLE Rocks” podcast with pageant organizers and tunes marketplace professionals. (CLE Rocks is sponsored by WonderStruck.)

Other Sunday acts bundled .wavrunner, The Empty Pockets, Michigander and The Orphan. The Poet, who all hit the stage for a steadily expanding crowd.

That crowd under no circumstances appeared to max out. Nevertheless WonderStruck’s 2nd working day was effectively-attended (with an audience that moved like a blob between the two main phases), it did not seem to be to achieve the venue’s capability.

Perhaps that is the character of a pageant date that straight away precedes the do the job 7 days. Or it’s possible it had to do with the warmth when the sun was at its strongest, several fest attendees took edge of mist admirers, or lazed below the “Shade Oasis” tent area or less than the several trees in entrance of the smaller Radd Stage.

For the event’s sixth calendar year, and its 2nd below its current title, WonderStruck concluded Sunday night with a bang. Thousands of tuckered-out, a little bit sunburnt festival goers headed out of the gates and toward their autos, with music however ringing in their ears.

It crafted on a powerful first working day for WonderStruck, which included an intimate overall performance by The Lumineers and energetic exhibits by Tai Verdes, 24kGoldn and extra.

The full weekend, featuring 28 acts onstage and so significantly other enjoyable on the pageant grounds, further more cemented WonderStruck’s standing as Cleveland’s best, most enduring music festival encounter.

Read A lot more: Audio, sun and loads of enjoyable: WonderStruck competition kicked off Saturday (photos)

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