Duran Duran, Lorde captivate fans during WonderBus Music Festival's first two days

The cool night air seemed to inspire the music to reach for the heavens Saturday night, as Lorde capped the second of three days in this year’s WonderBus Music and Arts Festival on the lawn of CAS. After a wonderfully pleasant afternoon for late August, the magical evening made the New Zealand pop star’s songs all the more dramatic.

The trio of songs that finished her set (“Perfect Places,” “Green Light” and “Solar Power”) after 70 minutes and no encore, all received bombastic renditions. But the trancelike drama of her show was to be found earlier, in the arrangements, the variety, the nuanced passion in her singing, and the set design.

The minimal, post-modern stage featured a narrow staircase to nowhere positioned over a giant circular form like a teeter-totter. As the show began, the singer stood at the bottom with three of her five musicians lined up behind. The effect suggested the arrival of ancient Egyptian royalty.

The crystal-clear sound initially was augmented by the backing track that provided all the music for the first few songs. Even when the musicians came onboard, they joined a few at a time producing a minimalist backing that, with Lorde’s sense of drama, suggested Kate Bush.

With sparse accompaniment, the musicians added to the sunny spirit of “California.” “Ribs,” which Lorde wrote when she was 15 — “this is to our 15 year-old selves,” she said — followed with a different sort of minimalism that served to vent her teen frustrations starkly. (Though Lorde is now 25, the subject matter in a great deal of her songs still addresses the self-involvement of teenhood.)

The arrangements continued to be varied through her biggest hits and newer material as well, as the simple set yielded a wealth of configurations. The singer rambled sometimes between songs but the young audience connected with her every word and move.

The Knocks, Cautious Clay, Coin among Saturday's lineup of performers

The festival covered a lot of territory Saturday. Though the interest in acts varied, all had core fans, gathered up front dancing and singing every word to most of the songs.

The talent ranged wide. NYC DJ duo The Knocks came on mid-afternoon, challenged with creating a fevered dance party under full sun. With a mix of original material — the group has worked with hip-hop artists including Method Man — and remixes of familiar hits, they got the audience up and moving.

Max, who hails from Hells Kitchen in New York, followed with a set of neo-soul and funk that was irresistible. With moves nearly as impressive as Bruno Mars’s the singer delivered a set of pop that gave the festival yet another dimension. A song from his last album featured one of the members of the mega K-pop band BTS. Max attempted the Korean rap from that tune and seemed to do pretty well with his American audience.

Cautious Clay’s set of sweet, psychedelic soul passed the time, sometimes hitting the mark and other times meandering. At its best, the band reminded of Shuggie Otis’ soul-funk classic “Inspiration Information.”

Last on before Lorde, Nashville’s COIN set the stage from an entirely different perspective. It was a different take on youth and romance as well. The group’s songs were catchy on first listen and, judging by the nonstop singing of their considerable fans, unforgettable. A classic rock quartet, the group’s powerful pop was the closest thing during late-afternoon WonderBus to rock 'n' roll.

The key was lead singer Chase Lawrence, dressed in a tie, oversized shirt and baggy trousers, whose considerable charisma was topped by his manic performance. With seemingly unlimited energy, he ran, shook, spun and bounced through the set, except during the few ballads. At times he moved like he was struck by lightning with a cool clumsiness and a look that was safe-to-take-home-to-mom. While several songs had bass lines that recalled The Cure, Coin was all contemporary, catchy pop.

This is the third year for the festival on the CAS lawn, and the partnership continues to benefit Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Children’s Hospital. But the conscious efforts don’t end there, with its accent on local businesses, environmental responsibility, community mental health and a positive message.

It is no accident that the primary of three stages is called the “Music Elevates Stage.”

For 2022, the space has been widened and its elements re-configured. The smallest, Radd Stage, no longer experiences the level of sonic interference from the main stage that it did in the past. More small vendor stalls were added this year peppered with community organizations. The overall traffic flow has been improved.

This year’s festival runs three days, which began Friday. Adding a third day could easily have been risky for the promoters were it not for finding the right headliner, one that not only could draw well enough to carry the weekday scheduling by itself but also one that would put its own stamp on the fest.

Duran Duran plays from '80s albums and new release

Duran Duran proved to be a brilliant, prescient choice. The British band is riding a wave of nostalgia for the 1980s —during which the band dominated the charts — and enjoying a renewed visibility with its first new studio album in five years with last year’s “Future Past” followed by a 14-date American tour.

WonderBus’ gamble paid off handsomely, attracting an older audience mixed in with the younger crowd. By the time the band took the stage, the crowd had swelled to populate nearly the entire festival grounds. (Attendance was estimated at 12,500 which beat Saturday’s approximate 10,000.) The band went big from the start, opening with early mega-hits “Wild Boys” and “Hungry Like The Wolf,” which captured the audience and jumpstarted the party. Lead singer Simon Le Bon sounded a bit ragged at first, and it took some getting used to the fact that the voice emanating from the stage was 40 years older than the one that laid down the tracks for 1982’s “Wolf.”

Hearing the group again from a chronological distance offered a few fresh observations. The band’s rhythm section impressed mightily Friday night. Bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor (no relation) are a powerful team that is essential to the group’s success. The bassist, in particular, was dazzling during the funk of a few, evergreen dance numbers.

Even though the group touted its success during the 1980s and celebrated the era (“let’s hear it for the ‘80s,” Le Bon entreated the crowd, half of whom weren’t born then), it didn’t entirely rely on its old hits. Several songs from its new release were greeted with abundant familiarity.

Cannons, which played before Duran Duran, had a typical, radio-friendly electrified, contemporary pop sound. When Duran took the stage immediately after, the band’s considerable influence on today’s pop became evident.

At a glance

WonderBus Music and Arts Festival continues Sunday. For more information, visit www.wonderbusfest.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Lorde, Duran Duran wow crowds at Columbus WonderBus festival