BUZZ BEAT MEDIA

Marreco Lot Reclamation Area of Mandaue City, Cebu were filled with thousands of people, some who even flew to Cebu from faraway places, who want to enjoy the unique music, ambience, and food of the first Wavy Baby Festival organized by Careless Music.

It is standard operating procedure for any organizer to foresee change of weather conditions, and Filipino-Australian artist and Careless Music founder James Reid got noticed on social media because he prioritized safety and personally handled the situation.

Some spectators were there as early as 10am to make sure they got the best spots, and ran quicky as they can to secure their positions when they opened the gates at 8 o’clock in the evening, instead of 3 o’clock, to ensure that the concertgoers get the optimum festival experience.

Day 1 entrance was made free for everyone but those who bought 2-day and 1-day passes got additional perks, a dedicated entrance and priority entry. The 2-day ticket holders also got promised free booze as their tickets came with a Php2,000 consumable amount which they were supposed to be able to use at Johnnie Walker bars around the venue. Those who bought 1-day passes were given free entrance to Day 2. 

Day 1 set ended past midnight and coincided with Sinulog’s fluvial parade. Performances which trended on social media are those of Bambam and The Rose. GOT7’s Bambam performed his unreleased track ‘Take it Easy’ with a lot of charisma. His moves while wearing his eye-catching shimmery red pants during ‘Ribbon’ were very fluid.

One of the first things he did upon coming up onstage was to greet everyone a happy new year and do his iconic “shot puno” (drinking a shot glass of booze in one go). The Rose was very energetic during ‘The Red’ number and they also performed ‘Yes’ with James. 

Cheers were also loud during Sunmi’s ‘Gashina’ number. Even though Single’s Inferno’s Cha Hyun-seung is just a backup dancer for her, he also had quite a number of Filipino fans cheering for him. 

The crowd went wild during Ben and Ben’s ‘Araw-Araw’ and December Avenue’s performance. James performed a song he wrote with Careless and who’s original singer was Woosung, ‘hold on tight’ from the album ‘lovescene:’.

Early on in the morning, when the set is still being constructed, Nadine Lustre’s ex-flame can be seen in a purple raincoat overseeing the different aspects of the production himself, and was even seen with a 42 ft. jib crane in the background. There were no technical problems since he’s also careful in conducting rehearsals and audio checks prior. Liza Soberano, who is one of the Careless Music artists who live with James in their Los Angeles headquarters aka Careless Crib, was spotted during the festival.

DJ Jazzamora’s beats got people warmed up for the Day 2 performances of Urbandub, Franco, Dumbfoundead, Pink Sweat$ etc. 

James also closed Day 2 with his performance. He and the Careless team made sure to put gravel on the ground for Day 2 to alleviate the mud problem.

James made good on his promise to Rose and other artists that he will tour them around the islands and they even had a boat day party. During Day 2, he asked the crowd: “Do you think we should bring back Wavy Baby next year?” The crowd shouted “yeeeeees” in agreement and he replied with: “I’m feeling the stress right now.”

Maya (formerly known as Paymaya) is the official co-presentor of the Wavy Baby Fetsival.

*Cover Photo/Thumbnail Photo from Showbiz Beat Media