At Wanderland 2025, the Theme Was Nostalgia

Just before Chet Faker’s set at the 10th edition of Wanderland Music and Arts Festival this year, the giant screen on the main stage played a video clip showing highlights of the festival edition two years ago, in 2023. It was the first one that organizers Karpos Multimedia mounted after three years because of the pandemic. 

Set to the greatest hits of that year’s headliners—Carly Rae Jepsen, Dashboard Confessional, Phoenix, and others—the video showed the usual clips from a typical Wanderland weekend—audiences singing along or walking around checking out the merch and sponsors booths around the open field, artists performing onstage, basically everybody having a good time. The subtext was clear; at Wanderland, “It’s always a good time,” to borrow shamelessly from one of Jepsen’s song.

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For someone who’s been to all 10 editions of Wanderland, I thought the clip was more than just about showing the highlights of a previous, well-loved edition of the festival; it was a reminder of how fun these festivals can be, and how much it can serve as a soothing balm to distract from the realities of everyday life, even for just a weekend. Watching live performances of favorite artists is a special thrill for many music fans, and getting to enjoy multiple acts one after another in a festival atmosphere takes that experience to a whole ‘nother level. 

Chet Faker

Daniel Caesar

Wanderland, which has quietly become one of the longest-running contemporary music festivals not just in the country but across the region, has all but perfected the formula, becoming an essential pilgrimage destination for many local, and even foreign, music fans, the same way Clockenflapp is for Hong Kong, Fuji Rock in Japan, Laneway for Australia (and for a time, Singapore), and many others around the world.

This year, as my perennial music festival buddy and I made our way inside the festival grounds, I could feel the familiar buzz and energy. Besides the usual booths for sponsors, food and drinks, and merchandise, there were signs all over the grounds reminding everybody that it was the 10th year of Wanderland. The acts were the usual mix of local up-and-comers, regional bigshots, and Western favorites. We caught local heroes Mayonnaise (“Jopay” was a crowd pleaser, as expected), and soul and R&B singer Sinosikat? at the Karpos stage, where we were delighted to see a considerable crowd had gathered to see and hear her perform. 

Hometown heroes Urbandub

It was after the 2023 highlights video that Chet Faker (aka Nick Murphy) finally made his Wanderland (and Philippine) debut. Having caught him before on the Laneway stage in Singapore in 2015, I knew he was a hypnotic presence onstage, and his indie-alternative-R&B sound resonated well with the eager crowd. The Australian artist indulged his fans by mixing newer songs with his old hits, particularly “Gold,” “Talk is Cheap” and, of course, his cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity.” 

Bright, sunshiny indie alternative Dayglow lit up the crowd next before the evening’s big headliner. Daniel Caesar has performed in Manila several times before, most recently in 2023, but clearly fans couldn’t get enough of him. A couple of technical glitches couldn’t dampen the mood of the assembled crowd, who got to hear him croon favorites like "Ocho Rios," "Let Me Go," "Disillusioned," "Toronto 2014," "CYANIDE," "Loose," "Who Hurt You?" "OPEN UP," "Japanese Denim," "Best Part," "Please Do Not Lean," and "Cool" 

Honne

Honne are perennial favorites

Artists who performed the next day included Nameless Kids, Mindfreakkk, Dilaw, Yung Kai (whose song Blue has become a monster hit on Tiktok and Instagram), The Paper Kites, Urbandub, Plain White T’s, and Hermitude. Closing out Day 2 of the festival was perennial Karpos favorite Honne, who have performed in the country multiple times, including a rousing New Year’s Eve event to welcome 2025. Clearly the British duo has fans, because they thronged the festival to once again see and hear them perform their hits like “Free Love,” “Good Together,” “Location Unknown,” “306,” “Warm on a Cold Night,” and “Day 1.” That warm fuzzy, post-concert feeling coursed through attendees, yet again, as the set ended and the amps fell silent to close Wanderland 2025.

What was odd about this year’s festival was that there was no reference about Wanderland 2026. In previous years, as people streamed out of the venue, there’d be a huge sign just over the exit saying something like, “See you at Wanderland (the next year).” The text would also often flash in between sets during the program; an early invitation to come back and experience the same thing all over again next year. 

James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck closed out Wanderland 2025

Coupled with the strong focus on nostalgia—previous edition video highlights, celebrating 10 years of the festival—my friend and I couldn’t shake off the feeling that, as we crossed the field and walked out of the grounds, we could have just attended the final edition of Wanderland.

Could it be true? Understandably, like any business, music festivals need to be able to earn enough in order to be sustainable. While we’re not saying Wanderland isn’t profitable (we don’t have the numbers to say otherwise), industry trends seem to be going against music festivals in general. NPR wrote a lengthy report about it last year, pointing to “surging production costs, high ticket prices and consumer demand dropping harder than an EDM beat” for the decline in music festivals. 

The Uy siblings behind Karpos Multimedia, which produces Wanderland 

“But the festival slump may also be driven by factors that are more thought-provoking: technological changes in music listenership and a generation of kids who may lack the same enthusiasm for festivals as generations past,” NPR said.

We posed the question to the organizers themselves—the Uy siblings—whom we have become friendly with over the years. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a definitive answer, at least for now, on whether or not this could be the last Wanderland.

While we wait to find out for sure, there’s no question that Wanderland this year was another one for the books. The fact that it was the milestone 10th edition only added to the joyful festival experience, especially for old-timers like me. If indeed, this was the final edition, Karpos should be extremely proud of themselves for mounting a world-class, industry-defying festival 10 times over the last 13 years.

And if it’s not the last, well, then I guess we’ll see you guys again next year.