Local News |

After pausing, WonderStruck plays at Lakeland Community College

Music fans from all walks of life walked through WonderStruck music festival’s gates at Lakeland Community College with smiles on their faces.

“This is our first time doing WonderStruck at Lakeland,” said Eddie Laureno, artist manager with The Elevation Group, which runs both WonderStruck in Cleveland and WonderBus Music & Arts Festival in Columbus.

WonderStruck was formerly known as LaureLive Laurel School’s Butler campus in Novelty for four consecutive years.

“Last year, we took a pause as did the rest of the world,” Laureno said. “During the pause, we re-shuffled things, renamed it, moved it, but it’s still the same, great, fun, safe, family event everyone knew.”

WonderStruck’s main headliners this year include Portugal. The Man, AJR, Walk the Moon and Third Eye Blind. Additionally, Lennon Stella; Tate McRae; JP Saxe; Shaed; Royal & The Serpent; Hembree; Londin Thompson; Brent Kirby; Jon Caryl; Wavrunner; Jack Harris; Sarah Bailey; Thrombone Shorty; Noah Cyrus; Dayglow; Jade Bird; Ricky Montgomery; The Collection; Rebounder; The Vindys; The Floorwalkers; The Hails; Bonelang; and Detention were in attendance.

“We had Walk the Moon at our Columbus festival. The Columbus audience loved them so much that we said we got to have our fans from Cleveland see this performance,” Laureno said. “People came wearing some sort of face paint that I guess is a Walk the Moon thing that we had nothing to do with.”

The week of WonderStruck is usually a high stress week for all involved in organizing, Laureno said. This year, it has not been.

“As an organizer and promoter, this is a high stress week as we basically build a mini city in an empty lawn starting on Monday,” Laureno said. “What you see Saturday morning is all that we did in those five to six days. We’re all just happy to be back. Everyone is walking in with a smile.”

Although sports has come back, music hasn’t, Laureno said, especially to this level. Roughly 8,000 people are expected to be in attendance Saturday and 10,000 on Sunday.

“We just drew squares and rectangles, and lines on my iPad to show where we’re going to put stages, fencing and bathrooms,” Laureno said. “Low and behold, there it is in real life. I hope people love their stay.”

Among the many music fans in attendance was Katrina McLean from Toronto, who got a two day pass. When she learned that Tate McRae and AJR were going to be performing, McLean made her decision.

“You can just tell people want to get back out to concerts,” McLean said. “Enjoy it. It only happens once. Just enjoy your time and don’t waste it.”

Jerry Hites, of Fairport Harbor, was in attendance with his wife, four sons and their spouses.

“There’s 10 of us. It’s a perfect day and a great venue. Everybody is excited to be able to listen to live music again and to be outside, and to see people,” Hites said. “We go to a couple of different music festivals every year and I think this one is more family oriented. Music combines all generations of people.”

In the last year, everyone listened to music differently, but connected with it in a deeper way, said Greg Harris, who was in attendance and is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame employee.

“It’s great to see live music back at a scale like this and it’s also remarkable for Northeast Ohio,” Harris said. “To experience it live with thousands of others in a safe environment is amazing. We’re really thrilled.”

Being around other people who are enjoying music gives others energy, said Bree O’Day, of Cincinnati, who was in attendance.

“I feel pretty good about being in this setting so far,” O’Day said. “My friend and I are vaccinated and we were like we got to do something fun this summer, and this popped up. We’re both huge Third Eye Blind fans, so that made it even better.”

For Jonni Highley, of Columbus, WonderStruck was her first music festival she has attended.

“Music is a way out for me,” Highley said, who was in attendance with her friend, Libby Elliott, of Columbus. “You forget about everything and you’re just enjoying the moment. Music festivals like this are awesome because no matter what’s going on in your life, you’re completely stress free, listening to the words and having fun with your friends.”

When people hear music live, it’s a different feeling, Elliott said.

“I missed live music. I recommend live music in general,” Elliott said.

WonderStruck will never compete with Coachella, Bonnaroo and other music festival “monsters,” Laureno said, but Elevation Group plans to keep it at Lakeland in the coming years.

“We know what we do and we’re going to continue to pack the house,” Laureno said. “The plans are just to keep it rolling as we’ve done.”