Wavy Baby Music Festival: What Worked and What Didn’t

Last weekend, Careless Music held its very first Wavy Baby Music Festival in Cebu. With an amazing lineup of both local and international artists paired with a lot of hype, the event became one of the most anticipated events this month. Unfortunately, not everyone had the greatest experience. Here’s what worked and what didn’t for Wavy Baby Music Festival, according to festivalgoers:

What didn’t work: There was mud everywhere in the venue

Due to the unexpected rain during the two-day event, the festival grounds became muddy, which prevented attendees from fully enjoying the show. According to a festival-goer, some areas even had mud that was ankle-deep. There was also a weird smell around the venue (one described it as something like “poultry”), most likely due to the mix of mud and rain and people.

A food tenant also aired their frustration over the “unhygienic” area. Since most of the grounds were muddy, even the area for food tenants was affected.

It also didn’t help that Wavy Baby was scheduled on the same weekend as the much-awaited Sinulog Festival, which made its comeback this year. This probably meant that there weren’t a lot of choices for Wavy Baby in terms of venue, since most were already reserved for events for Sinulog.

What worked: People were still having fun

For the festival-goers, somehow, the event was still fun. But one attendee said it seemed like people were jamming to the music and having fun simply because they were already there. “Andun na kasi sila.”

What didn’t work: There was little to no backup plan

For a huge, open-ground event like Wavy Baby Music Festival, it was surprising that there seemed to be minimal plan B for circumstances out of their control, like the weather. According to a festival-goer, when it rained, they weren’t able to find shelter since there weren’t any tents or something similar.

While the organizers did their best to solve the issues (i.e. pouring gravel over the mud), it wasn’t applied to the whole event area. According to a festival-goer, the gravel was only poured over the VIP area, while the rest of the grounds stayed muddy and other festival-goers struggled to walk. The hay they put over the mud also didn’t help with the mobility issues.

What worked: The artists

At least the ones who got to perform. They were good, they hyped the crowd, and everyone was having fun despite the challenges. Festival-goers who stayed throughout the night shared clips of the artists having fun on stage with the audience dancing around despite the mud on the ground.

Local acts including Mandaue Nights, Ben & Ben, December Avenue, and Urbandub and foreign acts like PinkSweats, Sunmi, BamBam, and The Rose took the stage during the two-day event. Careless’ own artists like James Reid, Liza Soberano, and Destiny Rogers also performed for the Cebu crowd.

What didn’t work: A number of local acts weren’t able to perform

One of the biggest issues festival-goers had with the event was how some acts were not able to perform at all. Cebu acts like Sepia Times, The Sundown, and Three-Legged Men issued statements regarding the cancellation of their performances at Wavy Baby, citing “reasons and factors that were out of our hands”. Netizens have speculated that this was due to the schedule changes made (i.e. start time moved from 3 PM to 7 PM), limiting the event time and forcing the organizers to remove some acts from the lineup. Cebuanos are especially disappointed that it was mostly Cebu acts that were affected by the schedule changes and rendered unable to go on stage.

Low ticket sales expected na namin yun…
Putik gets namin
But cutting local acts like sacrificial lambs is not ok

— going to the moon (@localcebuana) January 16, 2023

As of writing, the organizers have yet to issue a statement regarding the concerns and frustrations raised by festival-goers and netizens.

What worked: There was a vision

Wavy Baby has a lot of potential as a music festival, and the organizers had a vision for it. The price was affordable. The stage set-up was beautiful. The lineup combination of local and international was on point. But festival-goers say the planning and preparation had a lot of room for improvement. There should’ve been contingency plans in case of rain and other circumstances out of human control. The venue chosen could’ve been better. All acts should’ve been given a chance to perform.

Here’s to hoping the next one will be a lot better.

What are your thoughts on the Wavy Baby Music Festival? Comment down below.