Miles Davis at Humphreys in 1985. The Rolling Stones at Qualcomm Stadium in 1998. Courtney Love at the SDSU Open Air Theatre in 1999. Billy Joel and Sting at Petco Park last year.
Billy Joel and Sting light up Petco Park on a cool, sometimes wet Saturday night
Thanks to San Diego’s famously temperate climate, the pantheon of rain-soaked live-music events here is a short one. On Saturday, Janelle Monae, Anderson .Paak & The Free Radicals, Portugal The Man and several other acts became of this exclusive club as a light but steady evening rain made the second day of this year’s Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival an affair to .
Make that a wet and cold affair to at the midpoint of Wonderfront’s three-day weekend run. The festival concludes today, Sunday.
“Thanks for braving the rain with us,” said San Diego singer-songwriter Timmy Skelly, as his band powered through a lively set on the Hazy Stage shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday. Two of his listeners draped large towels over their heads to stave off the elements.
Later, during Monae’s often electrifying performance on the far larger Events.com Stage, some attendees held umbrellas aloft. Others pulled their hoods over their head or, in a few cases, converted large garbage bags into makeshift raincoats. The ink repeatedly ran on the pages of this reporter’s notebook.
Fortunately, a good time was still had by many attendees, myself included, although some left early.
“I know it’s raining, but we don’t care!” Saturday headliner Paak told his overflow audience, shortly after he took the stage. “I just want to see you singing. I want to see you dancing.”
The loudly enthusiastic crowd didn’t need any encouragement to do exactly that. .Paak and his ace band rewarded them with a performance that soared repeatedly in its first half, then lost momentum and saw droves of festivalgoers leave early (although the damp weather may also have been a factor).
The repertoire included such fan-favorites as “Carry Me,” “Put Me Through,” “Am I Wrong,” “Room In Here,” “Glowed” and “Leave The Door Open,” the luminous ballad .Paak recorded with Bruno Mars and their tly led band, Silk Sonic. A triple-threat and a charismatic front man, .Paak was equally impressive Saturday as a singer, rapper and drummer, sometimes simultaneously.
His band, which included former San Diego guitarist Jose Rios, played with spunk and well-calibrated precision whether delivering uptempo funk and hip-hop numbers, tender R&B love songs or slinky reggae grooves. The only misstep came when .Paak had to cut his performance short, saying: “They tell me we gotta wrap it up and get outta here before the (10:15 p.m.) curfew.”
He squeezed in one more number, “Dang!”, his slinky 2016 collaboration with the late Mac Miller. The song’s repeated line, “gone too soon,” took on an unintentional new dimension in .Paak’s truncated set.
Monae, who preceded .Paak on the Events.com stage, also seemed to play shorter than scheduled but made every minute count. Belated start times Saturday afternoon on both of Wonderfront’s two largest stages created a domino effect that saw each subsequent performance start later than scheduled, although the unwieldy sets by Foster The People and Portugal The Man each seemed to drag on interminably.
Not so for Monae, expertly backed by a brassy band whose guitarist was its lone male member. A magnetic performer, Monae sang and danced with aplomb as she soared through “Electric Lady,” “Champagne Sh-t,” “Lipstick Lover” and her 2020 breakthrough hit, “Tightrope.” Monae also delivered a potent version of her sizzling 2018 song of female empowerment “Django Jane.”
Undaunted by the rain, she also sang her Prince- and James Brown-inspired romp, “Make Me Feel,” while attired in a tuxedo that recalled the natty ensemble she wore while paying musical tribute to Michael Jackson at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Analysis: Will Grammy Awards strike right or wrong note in fire-wracked Los Angeles?
Monae zipped through several costume changes without losing momentum. And while she gave a dynamic, highly entertaining performance, she clearly had more weight matters on her mind.
“I applaud each of you for standing up against fascism, racism and sexism,” Monae told the cheering crowd. “Let’s keep fighting. We can party, but we can kick these people in the (testicles).”
