What we want to remember about the Wavy Baby Music Festival

When I say ‘wavy,’ you say...” “Baby!” This was the call and response of James Reid and other artists during the recently held “Wavy Baby” music festival.

This may have been their battle cry, too. Pushing through with the festival—let alone organizing it— was no easy task.

It had been raining almost the entire day in Mandaue City, Cebu, on Friday, Jan. 13. The raining stopped late in the afternoon, but by then, Marreco Lot had already been transformed into an oversized mud pit. “Mud happens” became a new catchphrase. Rubber boots became the footwear of choice for many.

The organizers and their event partners needed time to set up. Performances on day 1 of the festival began at 7 p.m., four hours behind schedule. It was open to the public.

But like any other music festival, “Wavy Baby” was all about the artists and their music, and most importantly, the fans who braved the weather (and dipped their feet in mud) to be there. It was also an opportunity for them to discover new music from artists they saw perform for the first time.

And what a discovery it must have been. The lineup was a colorful variety of hip-hop, R&B, K-pop, pop, rock and EDM artists, local and international. DJs also spun hit after hit in between the sets of the main acts, which made the transition seamless.

Ben & Ben and pop-rock band December Avenue serenaded the crowd with some of their most popular songs on the first day of the festival, such as “Araw-araw” and “Sa Dulo Ng Walang Hanggan,” two hits that never fail to please a crowd. Cebu-based

Mandaue

Nights also performed, and fans happily sung the Bisaya lyrics of the songs.

Korean Indie-rock band The Rose, despite technical issues had made their output on the speakers less than perfect and compelled the members to call out the problem and request the sound techs to fix it, nonetheless delivered a satisfying performance, proving that there’s more to them than just being pretty faces and breaking the stereotype of K-pop boy bands with their full-band setup. James Reid joined them on stage at some point.

The highlight of “Wavy Baby” day 1 for K-pop fans, of course, was Sunmi’s set, which although may not have allowed her to extensively showcase her vocal prowess as seen in small-scale performances on YouTube, allowed her to flex fancy dance moves, complicated choreography and charisma on stage.

Good vibes only

“Shot puno?” Dumbfoundead said, reading a makeshift placard raised by someone from the audience. The Korean American rapper sounded confused, and asked the crowd what it meant.

When he learned what the phrase meant, however, he politely declined the invitation to drink, and said that he was no longer the Dumbfoundead from before—he was a changed man. He encouraged everyone to have a good time, but also admitted that he has been sober for a long time and had no intention of breaking his vow to stay away from addictive substances.

That’s one good thing about this festival, apart from the stellar performances—the outpouring of positivity was consistent. The artists themselves were vocal about self-love and acceptance, and openly talked about reaching your dreams and working hard to get where you want to be, possibly talking from experience.

Dumbfoundead performed on day 2 of the festival. There was less mud to plow through; someone did a good job of covering the soft mud with gravel and grass trimmings to make it easier to walk on.

Hailing from Cebu, Urbandub and Franco made a name for themselves not only in their home province, but in the entire OPM band scene. With breakthrough hits such as “Soul Searching” and “Song for the Suspect”—both of which they played during the “Wavy Baby” festival, these bands continue to astound audiences with their tight performances, seemingly always with depth and passion, never missing a beat. These bands are solidly build and built to impress. They make jaws drop with every riff, bass line and pounding drum beat, and listeners ponder on the messaging tucked in every song.

Fil-Canadian R&B duo, Manila Grey, is proud of their Pinoy roots— hence the name. During their set, Ghostride Neeko and Blame Soliven kept telling their crowd how happy they were to be back in the Philippines. On the flipside, the audience eagerly cheered for them as they roamed the stage, their excitement amplified when the duo sang “Silver Skies.”

Cebuanos were equally as ecstatic when Cookie$, a local rap act, set foot on stage to perform. Unfortunately, Cebu-based bands Sepia Times, Threeband

Legged

Men and The

Sundown were no longer able to perform. James Reid, who produced the festival with his label, Careless Music, has since released a public apology, saying, “We will make it up to you.”

Every so often it would drizzle, but it didn’t seem to matter, at least for the exhilarated fans. “Oppa!” Countless female members of audience the screamed this word at the top of their lungs during BamBam’s set, in a distinct tone similar to how it is said in K-dramas. The dashing GOT7 member, along with his backup dancers, delivered complex dance routines and pranced about the three catwalks extending from the main stage.

Headliner Pink Sweat$ shared the stage with a gigantic inflated pink teddy bear that almost mirrored the R&B singer-songwriter’s charm. He had a solid backing band, too, and sang live, which made it easier for him to ad lib and chat with the audience.

His soothing voice and the laidback vibe during his set was a welcome change from the danceable DJ sets, highly choreographed K-pop performances and pumped up rock and hip-hop acts. It was everything the audience needed to relax. Fans sang along when he performed crowd favorites “Honesty” and “At My Worst.”

James Reid’s long awaited, long overdue set finally came to fruition at the tail-end of day 2. Easily one of the country’s most underrated recording artists, Reid, who was popularly

known as one-half of JaDine, the love team he shared with former flame Nadine Lustre, conquered the stage with the enthusiasm and energy of someone who did not have to mount a music festival for the first time or manage complications arising from one. He sang tracks from his album, “love scene:” live, and shared the stage with American singer Destiny Rogers for a duet of “Lie to Me.”

Reid is one of the brand ambassadors of Maya, which copresented the festival. From the time Maya released its campaign featuring the singer-actor-entrepreneur, it was only a matter of time before the brand would work with James and the rest of Careless on something big.

“We really appreciated the bold vision that they had for creating a destination festival in the Philippines that could help going and going and growing into something that the rest of the region will want to fly over for,” said Pepe Torres, chief marketing officer of Maya, in an interview with Super. It only made sense for Maya to partner with Careless in making the festival happen.

“Wavy Baby” music festival was far from perfect, but the music, the performances, and the good vibes that came with it were more than enough to make the festival goers happy on those two very special days. They probably thought, “It’s just mud!” like Dumbfoundead said. Nothing, not even the rain, could dampen their mood at an event that they had all been waiting for.