Bringing Filipino music back to the frontline, a group comprised of some of Philippine’s best acts were brought together to form Wonderful All Stars, exclusively for the Wanderland Music Festival. Wonderful All Stars is made up of Radioactive Sago Project, Sara Marco of Taken By Cars, Inky De Dios of Kjwan, DJ Mars Miranda, and Kat Agarrado of Sinosikat. They brought a rich performance, which ended with a rain of confetti.
Next up was a band that was indeed nothing short of “royal” in terms of performance. Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, The Royal Concept gave one of the best performances during the Wanderland Music Festival. David Larson, the band’s front man, gave such a stimulating show. They were so well received by the crowd, though it seemed a great of number of the people there were already fans of theirs to begin with. People were singing along (nay, screaming along) jumping, and dancing uncontrollably. David would occasionally pause to smile, seeming overwhelmed by the unexpected reception.
One of the biggest bands in the Wanderland Music Festival line-up took the stage next in delightful shades of yellow. Veterans in the biz, Architecture in Helsinki stepped on to the stage not only in costume coordination, but in dance coordination, as well. And if there was a “Most Adorable” award going on in the fest, sorry girls, but Kellie Sutherland of AIH wins this by landslide. This band’s extremely enjoyable performance lit up the Wanderland Music Festival more than any other stage light that night.
Wrapping up the fest, and also the most anticipated (for years!) was Brooklyn-based indie pop band, The Drums. The screams went out of control as soon as Jonny Pierce and Jacob Graham stepped out to face their adoring crowd. The band immediately started off with the upbeat number What You Were, followed by Best Friend. During the set, the crowd got to witness Jonny’s distinct dance moves and quirky movements, which are just some of the things that fans absolutely love about The Drums. They finished their set off with Let’s Go Surfing, only to return a few minutes after when the crowd’s screams wouldn’t die down, asking for more.
“Thank you for having us back,” Jonny said as he picked up his microphone once again. For the encore, the band played the beautiful ballad Down By The Water, which the crowd passionately sang along with. The Future was the final song.
“You’re so beautiful.” This was all Jonny could utter as he closed his eyes and let the crowd finish the chorus of Down By The Water for him. And I agreed with him. That moment really was beautiful.
All in all, I’d say there are still some aspects that the Wanderland Music Festival can improve on, mostly in terms of technical on-stage issues (there were a lot) which gravely affected their schedule. However, as a new addition to the growing global music festival trend, what Karpos Multimedia has already established so far is actually quite impressive. I am particularly relieved and thankful that the Wanderland Music Festival managed to break down barriers in this year’s fest, literally only issuing one general ticket section to allow people to fully enjoy the fest, no matter who they are in this society.
As a music enthusiast, I can only hope, like many of you, that the Wanderland Music Festival can soldier on in the years to come, keeping the momentum—if not nurturing it even more—and bringing in more good times, good vibes and especially good music to our shores.
The Wanderland Music Festival was brought to us by Karpos Multimedia and presented by River Island and Globe. All photos in this post were taken by Stephanie Chan of When In Manila.
WANDERLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL
Website: www.wanderland.ph
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wanderlandfest