Story and photos by Ray Robinson
Of late, Cleveland has been on full tilt musically. The town was lit just a few days ago as hip-hop royalty descended upon the Land and congregated at the Rock Hall in celebration of 50 years of their music. Our music. Hip-Hop. The sound of musical youth.
Well, the flow didn’t stop as Wonderstruck, a Woodstock-ish 2-day music and love in, crash landed on the campus of Lakeland Community College July 8th and 9th.
With 3 stages going simultaneously, there was plenty sound to go around and artists were definitely not stingy on the portions they lavishly served up. In all, the affair boasts a whopping 23 artists onstage… all with the intention of busting your brain with some of the best music on the front today. The menu consisted of a dash of alt-rock, country, pop and dance rock and rap.
On Saturday evening near the days end, rap impresario Flo-Rida, whose real name is Tramar Dillard, burst onto the smog-filled stage with a gang of high-energy lyrical assassins and they did the damn thang. The crowd responded just as expected, with hands pumping and bodies jumping. Oh yeah, can’t leave out all of the rumps that were bumping too.
Flo-Rida baked up a super slick set that kept the temperature on 10,000 degrees plus. There were several mini showers throughout the day, which prompted many to don rain slickers and ponchos, however, not one spirit was dampened. Flo-Rida, his hood-rich posse and those jazzy shake dancers allowed a rainbow of togetherness to brighten the sky that was already darkened by the late hour.
The set list was rife with a truckload of radio chartbusters that kept thousands of attendees fully engaged and begging for more. He gave them exactly what they were longing for. And they ate it up. They ripped the place up with an electric set list that started with “Good Feeling” and never let up. The flow got deeper as “Right Round”, “Ayer”,” IMG All-Stars”, “Where Them Girls At”, “Low”, “Club”, “Whistle” and a myriad of other blazing tracks made the performance well worth waiting for. 
As he left the stage vowing that, “Cleveland is one helluva spot and I’m coming back to kick it with y’all”, the party people believed him and with that, they continued to party on long into the night.
The other artists that shared their vibes and sound with this amazing audience were Paris Jackson, Walker Hayes, Chris Lane, The Struts, Ingrid Andress, Echosmith, Leah Kate, Runaway June, Siena Liggins, Baybe, Mac Saturn and Tall Tall Trees.
The wrap up gets even better as well-respected rapper, Nelly, takes the stage tonight. Not to be left out, R&B hipster Khalid brings his unique stylings to the stage to close out the wonderful Wonderstruck festival.
Cleveland’s own rap superstar, M.C. Brainz helped keep the party live with his hosting duty. 